Implementation of the MAR 2020 operational programme

12.2.2019

Question for written answer E-000814-19
to the Commission
Rule 130
Nuno Melo (PPE)

The MAR 2020 operational programme is the vehicle through which the support measures available under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund are implemented in Portugal. Its strategic priorities are as follows:

• —Fostering innovation‐ and knowledge-based competitiveness;
• —Ensuring the social and environmental economic sustainability of the fisheries and aquaculture sector, contributing to the good environmental state of the marine environment and promoting the integrated maritime policy;
• —Contributing to the development of coastal areas, increasing employment and territorial cohesion and increasing the capacity and qualifications of professionals in the sector.

According to recent reports in the Portuguese media, as it stands, less than two years before the end of the programming period, MAR 2020 has an implementation rate of 17.4%.

What, in fact, is the implementation rate to date for the MAR 2020 operational programme in Portugal?

How does the Commission explain the marked disparity between the commitment rate and the implementation rate?

Bearing in mind that the programme will end in less than two years, what is the Commission’s explanation for the low implementation rate?