The Secretary of State for the Economy, João Rui Ferreira, reiterated this Sunday, September 15, “the Government’s commitment” to ensure, by the end of the year, the analysis of applications for European funds within 60 days and payments within 30 days.
“There is a commitment, which is public, from the Government – and we are working hard towards this – which is to analyze applications within 60 days and make payments within 30 days until the end of the year.
Therefore, we have to make a huge effort from everyone to get there”, said the minister in statements to journalists on the sidelines of a visit to the Portuguese delegation present at the Micam footwear fair, in Milan.
Emphasizing that the role of the executive is not to “be a barrier”, but rather to “create the conditions for investment”the Secretary of State also announced the intention to move forward with a “continuous warning strategy, so that companies can make investments when it is most appropriate for the business and not when it is most appropriate for the warning plan”.
“The logic must be based on the dynamics of the market and not on the dynamics of the support structure. This is work that must be done involving several State bodies and several components of our government action”, he maintained.
João Rui Ferreira said that he felt, during the visit to Portuguese companies at Micam, that the sector is available to invest”, but acknowledged that he was asked for “more efficiency in the action of the public administration and the institutions that coordinate”.
“Our connection and consultation with companies and associations has been constant”, he assured, stressing that the Government’s objective is to be “agile in responses and payments”, so that it is not “on the administration’s side that there are barriers to companies being able to develop their business”.
Moments later, on the sidelines of the same visit, the spokesperson for the Portuguese Association of Footwear, Components, Leather Goods and Substitutes Manufacturers (APICCAPS) considered that this guarantee from the Government “is an excellent measure for companies” in the sector.
“It is an excellent measure for companies and an incentive for more companies to join promotional initiatives abroad,” stated Paulo Gonçalves, highlighting that “external commercial promotion is a priority for a sector that exports more than 90% of its production”, but that the participation of companies in the main international events implies “a very significant investment”.
According to the Secretary of State for the Economy, when the new Government took office it detected “some issues” regarding the deadlines for analyzing applications for European funds and the respective payments, issues that “were being corrected”.
“From the point of view of tools and platforms, we are acting strongly”he emphasized, ensuring that “the news is positive” and that the process “is better”, but reiterating the “commitment” to “speed things up much more”.
In this regard, the APICCAPS spokesperson said that the association is “aware that in the transition phase of community support frameworks there are always some delays” and that, for this very reason, “it warned companies from the very beginning that this was going to happen”, but stressed that, “finally, the new platform is now operational”.
“We are already able to present expenses, so in a very short space of time all these processes and applications will be normalized”, he stated.
After a year of “strong containment” in 2023 and a “transitional” 2024 – up until June this year, Portugal exported 35 million pairs of shoes worth 818 million euros, which corresponds to year-on-year drops of 1.8% and 15.2%, respectively – the Portuguese footwear sector expects 2025 to be “a year of strong affirmation in international markets”.
“We hope that Micam will be a new dawn. The movement in the corridors seems very interesting to us and we see clear signs of a recovery in international markets”, said the APICCAPS spokesperson.
According to Paulo Gonçalves, “low interest rates and normalized inflation are good news” for the sector, as “they could serve as a stimulus to consumption“, boosting company orders and export performance.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
