“The agreement is fully in place and will be fully executed, and therefore no school will be left without funding; otherwise, the agreement would not be executed. The answer has been given. And, as I hope, I have been completely clear about this. All schools will be funded,” said Manuel Castro Almeida in parliament, in response to a request from the Socialist Party.

Castro Almeida was referring to an agreement signed in July 2023 between the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) and the then Socialist Government, within the scope of the decentralisation of powers in the area of ​​education to the municipalities, which provided for works paid for by the central State in 451 schools.

The minister stressed today that "the agreement will be fully complied with before the deadline" set by the Socialist Party and that the municipalities will be financed "according to the list of unit prices approved by the Socialist Party Government" in 2023.

According to Castro Almeida, "the amount involved, almost 2 billion euros, is a really impressive amount," which "requires an abnormally high volume of investment," because "for several years there has been a disinvestment" in schools.

The request from the Socialist Party followed concerns raised by mayors about the lack of answers from the Government regarding financing solutions for works that are not completed by the end of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), which ends on August 31 of this year.

On 24 June, the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) urged the Government to ensure financing mechanisms for these works that will not be able to meet the deadlines of the PRR, stressing the need for financial predictability.

The president of ANMP, Pedro Pimpão (PSD), then sent a letter to the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, defending financing solutions for ongoing PRR-funded works that will not be completed by the end of August.

At the end of a meeting held last week, the president of the Intermunicipal Community of the Coimbra Region (CIMRC), Helena Teodósio, also highlighted the concerns of the mayors, noting that there is the prospect of financing through the European Investment Bank (EIB) for schools that are under construction, but this financing is not 100% and it is not yet known who will be eligible to apply.