Why not...

... use the EU funds to pay off the public debt?

It's unlikely that the rates of return of future projects involving EU funds exceed the current cost of borrowing, especially given all their rent-seeking, crowding-out and misallocation costs.

Sooner or later, Portugal will have to come to terms with the fact that the nature of State intervention in economic activity in the country is such (asymmetric information, waste, cronyism), that the less the State does, the better-off the people will be.

It would be much better to focus on getting right what really makes a difference: courts, schools, hospitals.