The Azores will have to make more than 600 million euros of investments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) over the next two years, in order to fully implement the 725 million euros that the region has under its direct management, once the reprogramming of funds has been completed.

This at a time when only 110.7 million euros of investments under the RRP have already been paid out in the Azores, as revealed by the Economic and Social Council of the Azores, which is part of the Temporary Specialized Commission for Monitoring the RRP-Azores (see box).

According to the Regional Secretary for Finance, Planning and Public Administration, Duarte Freitas, "in 2024 and 2025, we will have at least 300 million euros from the RRP to implement in each of these years and this shows the scale of the task we have ahead of us, in a responsibility that belongs to everyone" and which is a true "national challenge".

Duarte Freitas was speaking at the event "RRP Investments in the Azores - Two Years of Results", which took place at Teatro Micaelense in Ponta Delgada.
It should be noted that the Azores initially had an overall budget of 580 million euros in the RRP for management by the regional government, to which a further 64 million euros have been added this year from the reprogramming of the RRP approved in Brussels. On top of this, there is a further 31 million euros from the REPowerEU plan, which aims to speed up the energy transition in Europe, and 50 million euros from the reprogramming of the RRP due to the increase in the cost of raw materials and services since 2020. In total and under regional management, there are 725 million euros that will have to be implemented by December 31, 2025.

The Azores can also access more funds from the RRP through applications to national programs. In this case, 38 million euros have already been allocated to projects by regional entities.