Plan 100 Review Session: Accelerating Business Investment Through European Union Funds

Today, 4 March, sees the Plan 100 Review Session, chaired by the Prime Minister, António Costa, and attended by the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Pedro Marques. The event takes place in Arcos de Valdevez, at the Eurocast manufacturing facilities, one of the companies covered by Plan 100, part of Groupe GMD.

To accelerate business investment, the Government launched Plan 100, setting itself the target of paying €100M to companies within its first 100 days in office. Plan 100 brought together a set of measures to streamline access to European Union Funds under Portugal 2020, with the aim of facilitating and boosting business investment. Those measures converged on:

• Making it easier for companies to access advance payments;

• Reducing the guarantee coverage rate required of companies;

• Creating a new mutual guarantee facility.

The RESULTS of Plan 100 are now being presented: by 3 February, €114M in incentives had been paid to companies under Portugal 2020. These incentives will leverage 607 projects, representing a total investment of €661M. They involve 2,134 companies and will generate 3,805 direct jobs and €2,219M in exports.

Under the event programme, at 3pm there will be a visit to the Eurocast plant, followed by a welcome from the Mayor of Arcos de Valdevez and the screening of a video presenting Groupe GMD's foundry division.

At this Plan 100 Review Session, the Director-General of Groupe GMD, Gilles Pechet, will share the experience of foreign direct investment in Portugal, followed by a short video about Plan 100. The Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Pedro Marques, will then speak on the role of European Union Funds in stimulating the economy and on the delivery of Plan 100.

The closing session is led by the Prime Minister, António Costa. Eurocast Portugal, S.A. is a subsidiary of Groupe GMD, a French group specialising in components for the automotive industry, present in several countries, with more than 3,700 employees and a turnover of €645M in 2014.