In statements to Lusa, ANMP president Luísa Salgueiro acknowledged that this term of responsibility is “obviously” a mechanism for speeding up processes and that “IHRU [Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Institute] has been blocked and is not responding to applications”.

However, the president of Matosinhos City Council also advised “caution to know how these terms of responsibility will be triggered”, specifying that the Court of Auditors must be consulted on this measure.

“We do not want later, nor is it possible [...], for mayors to be held responsible themselves,” she stressed.

“These are measures, in terms of announcement, that can be positive, but it depends on how they are implemented,” she said, emphasising that ANMP is awaiting the legislative diplomas to understand how they will be put into practice.

In an interview with Lusa on Friday, the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, announced that the Government will institute a “term of responsibility”, to be signed by local authorities, to “ensure the continuation of the application” for PRR funds, delaying its evaluation.

The minister justified that this will allow contracts to be signed with municipalities “now”, so that they can “allocate the funds” and “launch tenders, whether for projects, works or whatever they deem necessary” within the scope of applications for European funds.

“Municipalities have to take responsibility for what they have submitted,” the minister stressed, explaining that the evaluation will be carried out later.

This is because, of the more than 7,000 applications submitted to the PRR in the area of housing, “more than 6,000 are still pending [...]”, which “is worrying”, Miguel Pinto Luz noted.

“The current government inherited a very difficult situation,” he pointed out, adding that he does not intend to “blame anyone”.

In reality, he said, IHRU “was not prepared” for “the volume of applications” received.

“At the pace we are working today, I would say that we could reach the end of this year and not have all the applications approved,” he acknowledged.

In view of this scenario, and after “close dialogue” with the European Commission, the PRR mission unit, other ministries and the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities, the Government proposed “changing the burden of proof”.

The implementation of the PRR “is for yesterday”, the minister justified.

Read Also: ANMP: Decentralisation and local finances will be “deserving of attention” (Portuguese version)