Portugal has received authorisation from the European Commission to access €500 million from cohesion funds to help cover the damage caused by the fires.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The Portuguese government has said it will deploy its EU cohesion funds for a speedy
00:05reconstruction of parts of the country devastated by wildfires.
00:09Authorities say work has now started to assess the extent of the damage in the north and
00:14centre of Portugal.
00:16The decision comes after a meeting between Prime Minister Luiz Montenegro and the EU
00:21Commission.
00:22This dialogue with the President of the European Commission led to the decision of the Commission
00:29to allow Portugal to access 500 million euros of the cohesion funds that are destined for
00:41the next few years and to cover the damage it suffered with a share rate that can exceptionally
00:51be up to 100%.
00:53According to the Portuguese Prime Minister, investigation was also ongoing to find the
00:58culprits setting fire to forests in certain instances.
01:02The investigation will seek to determine the motivation of the perpetrators and their sponsors.
01:09The fires that hit the northern and central regions of the country last week caused nine
01:14deaths and more than 160 injuries.
01:17The fires consumed about 135,000 hectares of forest between September 15 and 20, totaling
01:24almost 147,000 hectares of area burned this year, the third worst record in the last decade.
01:31Joana Marom Carvalho for Euronews in Lisbon.