Government creates working group to prepare post-2027 European funds

The Government has determined the creation of the Working Group for the preparation, programming, and negotiation of the National and Regional Partnership Plan (GT PPNR), relating to the programming period of the post-2027 shared management European funds. The decision is contained in Order no. 13353/2026, published in the Diário da República, 2nd series, no. 212, of November 2, 2026, and signed by the ministers of the Presidency, Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Internal Administration, and Agriculture and Sea. The political coordination of the process is assumed by the member of the Government responsible for cohesion policy, Manuel Castro Almeida, who also ensures interministerial coordination.

The decree is part of the negotiation of the European Union multiannual financial framework for 2028-2034, in which the European Commission proposes a profound change to the architecture of the programming instruments, integrating into a single Fund the shared management funds that were until now divided among distinct coordination structures. The new model is based on a programming and monitoring mechanism identical to that of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), based on the definition of targets and milestones, and the European Commission has already issued general guidelines requiring alignment with the European Semester. The preparation of the PPNR must also be articulated with the revision of the Portugal 2030 Strategy, which must be completed, regarding strategic goals and assumptions, by the end of the current year.

A single fund with five policy domains

The integration into a single instrument covers funds that until now were under the responsibility of different government areas:

• Cohesion policy funds;
• Shared management funds of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP);
• Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF);
• Internal Security Fund (ISF);
• Border and Visa Management Instrument (BVMI).

The order maintains that this concentration “makes it indispensable to ensure, from the negotiation phase, a close articulation between the global political and technical coordination of the PPNR and the specific coordination of each of these domains.” Sectoral political coordination is distributed among four ministers: António Leitão Amaro (Presidency, migration), Manuel Castro Almeida (Economy and Territorial Cohesion, cohesion), Luís António Trindade Nunes das Neves (Internal Administration, internal security and borders) and José Manuel Fernandes (Agriculture and Sea, CAP and CFP).

Six representatives and deadlines of 10, 30, and 60 days

The GT PPNR includes representatives from five entities:

• Two representatives from the Agency for Development and Cohesion, I. P., one of whom ensures coordination;
• One representative from the entity responsible for the coordination of the CAP;
• One representative from the entity responsible for the coordination of the CFP;
• One representative from the entity responsible for the coordination of migration;
• One representative from the entity responsible for the coordination of internal security and border management.

The deadlines set in the decree are as follows:

• 10 days, from the date of publication, for government areas to designate their respective representatives;
• 30 days to submit an activity program with proposals, actions, a calendar, and methodology to political coordination;
• 60 days to submit the governance model of the PPNR and the organizational model of the negotiation process.

Regions, partners and costs

The methodology of the activity program must provide for the involvement of sectoral ministries, representatives of the Autonomous Regions, and the Coordination and Regional Development Commissions (CCDR), as well as a roadmap to ensure the full participation of economic and social partners in the drafting of the PPNR. The group may create working subgroups for specific chapters of the Plan and for sectoral regulations, and it is also responsible for ensuring objectives of technological modernization, administrative simplification, and interoperability of systems and data. Current management structures and public entities with responsibilities in potentially co-financed policies are required to collaborate with the group, whose technical and administrative support is provided by the Agency, I. P.. The order determines that no payment of any kind, including attendance fees, is due to the members of the group or those who collaborate with it.

The decree invokes articles 14, 15, 21, and 27 of Decree-Law No. 87-A/2025, of July 25, and takes effect from the date of publication; the signatures of the four government officials have different dates, between October 8 and 28, 2026.

The anticipation of this work is presented by the Government as a condition so that, “upon the approval of the PPNR, the conditions are met for the programs to start swiftly and without delays.” For the beneficiaries of European funds — from municipalities to sectoral entities in agriculture, fisheries, and asylum and border policies — what is at stake is the governance architecture, the information systems, and the human resources that will determine the speed of notices and payments for the next cycle.

Source: Diário da República, 2nd series, no. 212, of November 2, 2026, Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Internal Administration, and Agriculture and Sea (official reference: Order no. 13353/2026).