Resumen de Role of the Portuguese Audit Court in monitoring the Recovery and Resilience Plan: a piece of a hopeful puzzle?

Ricardo Pedro

• This article deals with the legal regime anticipated for the execution of the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan and, in particular, the role attributed to the Portuguese Court of Auditors in the external control of the European funds involved. In view of the need for timely execution of the plan, legislative measures have been approved to facilitate both organic changes (creation of new entities and delegation of competences relating to European funds by existing entities) and procedural changes (reducing the prior control of procedures for approval of public expenditure and making public procurement procedures more flexible). In this context, the Court of Auditors’ powers of control over public procurement were strengthened to ensure good financial management. However, the proper control of European public money requires (much) more from the Court of Auditors, which must actively exercise its general powers of control over European funds and public procurement and, above all, establish a timely, maximised and results-oriented control system as envisaged in the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan.