UPDATE 1-EU to send team to help Portugal with troika goals

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BRUSSELS Oct 7 (Reuters) - The European Union' executive said on Friday it would send a team of experts to Portugal to help it redirect EU funds to implement economic reforms agreed with a troika of the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank.

The European Commission said the team -- led by Herve Carre, former director general of the EU statistics agency EUROSTAT -- was being sent at the request of the Portuguese government.

It said the team would help Portuguese authorities "in reprogramming and reprioritising Community funds in a way which mutually reinforces the objectives of the programme agreed with Troika".

In August, the Commission proposed increasing the EU's contribution to financing projects in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Latvia and Hungary to help boost growth in these countries.

The amount of money from the EU's structural funds to these countries would remain the same, but their governments would need to contribute less cash on their own to get the remainder of the cost of the project from the EU.

Portugal stands to get an additional 629 million euros ($850 million) in project funding from Brussels under the plan.

The proposal has to be approved by EU ministers and the European Parliament to enter into force and the Commission said it hoped it would happen by the end of this year. ($1 = 0.741 Euros) (Reporting By David Brunnstrom; editing by Charlie Dunmore)