Portugal must want to be at the front in the European Union

Portugal needs to have the "mindset of those who want to be at the front" of the European Union and let go of the mindset of being a country "that is always expecting help", claimed Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, refusing to have a "situation of dependence" by Portugal for ever in place.

Luís Montenegro, who was giving a speech at the "Europe, what future?" conference, part of the "RTP Conferences – Civil Society", said that "we must set as a national goal letting go of being a cohesion country, our ambition for Portugal is to be a net contributor to the European Union and be solidary with those who are new" to the EU.

For this, "we need to be more thorough in using the funds available to us. We must be self-critical: we have not made the most of the European funds, today, we should have better results than when compared to the funds we had in the past" and we must look at the execution of the RRF and PT2030 funds "with this self-critical glance".

The Prime Minister added that we must have "a country that invests in a strategic manner and not thinking about the instant effect, as happens sometimes, where we need to spend the money" so we don’t lose it: "this is not the mindset of those who want to be in the front line".

Growth

Luís Montenegro recalled that when Portugal joined the then European Economic Community in 1986, its GDP per capita was 58% of the European average and today it stands at 75%, noting that the greatest growth in wealth in the country happened until 2000, when it reached 71%.

This "means that the pace of coming closer in the first 15 years was outstanding and the pace in the following 20/25 was practically stagnated", he stated, adding that the country "must not make this path eternal", and must ambition "to be in the front line".