12/09/2022 (Agence Europe) – At the informal meeting of EU finance ministers last weekend in Prague (see separate news item), Portugal’s Fernando Medina called for Member States to be given more time, beyond the current regulatory deadline of 2026, to implement their national plans under the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan. Record inflation, fuelled by soaring energy prices, is pushing up investment and supply costs, so the Portuguese authorities believe it is better to wait for inflation to return to an appropriate path before initiating certain investments. The European Commission argues that granting more time would require a legislative revision of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation or even the Own Resources Decision allowing the EU institution to borrow on the markets to finance Next Generation EU. (MB)