Government measure increases the risk of fraud in European funds

Special public procurement measures for Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) projects come into force this Monday, such as the exemption from a prior visa from the Court of Auditors (TdC). Fraud is feared to increase.

The Court of Auditors’ prior visa waiver, which comes into force this Monday, provides that any European fund advances without depending on the prior decision of this body – regardless of whether its value is small or millions.

Inspection then begins to be carried out simultaneously with the execution of the project.

Approved by the Council of Ministers on September 5, the regime in question applies to acts and contracts intended for the execution of projects financed or co-financed under the PRR, including those that are pending a TdC decision on the date of its entry into force.

This proposal advanced, even though the TdC defended the maintenance of the visa in advance, to guarantee rigor in the application of large amounts of money in a short period of time.

As critics of the (CM) say, this Monday, the measure serves to increase the risk of fraud in European funds.

Rui Cardosodirector of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP) says that “simplification will be used for different purposes of those for whom the resources are intended”.

Also João Paulo Batalhavice-president of the Associação Frente Cívica, agreed with this idea, considering that “we are going back to the crazy 80s, when they made fortunes with European funds and everything was laundered“.

From now on, if the TdC detects signs of illegalityyou can send the case for concomitant inspection and determination of financial responsibilities, but, as the morning man notes, the project doesn’t stop.

“We have been aware from the beginning that it will not be possible to fully execute the PRR if we do not make changes to the usual rules and practices. None of the changes we are proposing to Parliament today puts at risk the fundamental concern of rigor and efficiency in the application of public resources”, argued the Deputy Minister of Territorial Cohesion Manuel Castro Almeidaon September 21st.

Quoted by CM, the TdC says that the prior visa does not generate delay in the execution of contracts, serving to safeguard their transparency.

“If the procedure was properly instructed by the contracting entity [do Estado] and does not present defects that could justify refusal of the visa, the prior inspection does not generate any relevant delay in hiring”, he states.

Initially, the Government proposed the end of the TdC’s prior visa for project contracts financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), but, later, PSD and CDS-PP wanted to extend this rule to all European funds.

The bill ended up being approved with votes in favor from PSD and CDS-PP, abstention from PS, IL and PAN, and votes against from Chega, BE, PCP and Livre.

+ changes

Another of the changes that come into force today concerns the approval of a exceptional regime for administrative actions “urgent pre-contractual litigation that aims to challenge award acts relating to contract formation procedures” for the execution of projects financed by European funds.

In addition, there is the approval of a use of arbitration in public works contracts or the supply of public goods and services financed by European funds, as well as a contract formation regime within the scope of the concentration of services in the Campus XXI building, in Lisbon.

The PRR, which has an execution deadline of 2026, intends to implement a set of reforms and investments aimed at recovering economic growth.