Bureaucracy threatens to turn part of the PRR into a mirage

The damage to the country could be incalculable. Last week, the President of the Republic was clear: the PRR “is slipping”. With around 35% of investments in a critical or worrying state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa advised the government to change the law to unblock the bureaucracy machine. A cry of despair that echoes the successive reports of the National Monitoring Committee of the PRR and the successive warnings of many attentive observers, but which have so far produced no effect.

The creation of the new Ministry of State Reform, entrusted to someone who is well acquainted with the intricacies of public administration, seems to be a sign of change. But intention is not enough. Action is needed. And fast. With just over 12 months to implement the RRP funds, there is little room to change course. Unless the European Commission accepts some kind of temporal reprogramming, something that, until now, it has intransigently rejected when it comes to deadlines for implementing EU funds.

The situation is difficult and the fifth report of the National Monitoring Committee of the PRR could not be clearer. The risk is not just losing EU funds. It is failing to achieve the results and impacts that depend on them. It is wasting essential investments for the modernization and development of the country. The obstacles are clearly identified: bureaucracy in licensing, delays in payments, deserted public tenders, lack of construction workforce, IT platforms that get stuck, decisions that take time. All of this feeds a cycle of inefficiency and frustration.

For many companies, the RRP, which should be a lever for growth, has become a financial nightmare. They move forward with projects, get into debt, and payments are delayed, creating cash flow constraints that can be fatal. Therefore, speeding up decision-making processes is now more than just advice. It is an absolute necessity. Just like pragmatically reviewing the Public Contracts Code, as recommended by the National RRP Monitoring Committee and now reiterated by the President of the Republic himself.

It is known that the government has identified these difficulties. It is known that there is awareness of the problem. What is missing is for solutions to be put forward on the ground. Because, between bureaucracy, pre-contractual litigation and political crises, the clock of the PRR and the Portuguese people is ticking. Losing PRR funds means losing much more than money. It means losing time, competitiveness and a historic opportunity to modernize Portugal.

João Rodrigues dos Santos, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Economics and Management area at the European University