The European Court of Auditors (ECA) says in a report released this Wednesday that there are shortcomings in oversight and accountability to the European Commission in the context of the recovery and resilience mechanism, which funds national reform plans.
The TCE of believes that the rules in force only guarantee “limited verified information at EU level that financed investment projects […] comply with Union and Member State rules”.
Recalling that the MRR translates into a “new payment model in which the disbursements from the Commission to the Member State are based on the achievement of milestones and targets”, the ECA emphasizes in the document that “the absence of such information affects the guarantee the Commission can provide on the protection of the Union’s financial interests and results in an accountability gap at EU level”.
In practice, this means that the inspection carried out by the European Commission “cannot obtain much information about whether and how these national controls are carried out” and therefore “without the guarantee that these rules are complied with, there is an error accountability at Union level”, emphasizes the European auditor in a statement.
According to the TCE, this may be due to non-compliance with the rules on public procurement, state aid and eligibility.
Underlining that “the Commission is authorized to recover sums arising from illegal activities”, the TCE regrets that the community executive has not yet published “guidance on what to do in the event of a relapse in a funded measure” .
Furthermore, Brussels does not intend to “oversee how [os países] verify that the investment projects financed by the MRR comply with national and Union rules,” adds the European auditor.
The TCE therefore requests the Community Board to “find ways to correct warranty errors at EU level”.
The HRC entered into force in the EU in February 2021 to mitigate the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is at the heart of the Recovery Fund, an instrument agreed by European leaders in July 2020 to disburse up to around €724 billion (at current prices) in grants and loans to member states to help countries implement reforms and investments by 2026.
Currently, Portugal is the sixth country in the European Union with the most funds raised for the PRR, approximately EUR 5.14 billion (EUR 4.07 billion in grants and EUR 1.07 billion in loans), and is the fourth with the highest implementation at a rate of 17%, according to the latest data from the European Commission on the implementation of plans at European level.
As disbursements are made on a compliance basis, Portugal has already achieved 52 objectives and six objectives through the 35 investments and 23 reforms implemented out of a total of 284 investments and 57 reforms agreed with Brussels, allowing it to receive 31% of the funds .
The Portuguese PRR has a total allocation of €16.6 billion, €13.9 billion in grants and €2.7 billion in loans.
Source: DN
