Implementation of EU funds in Portugal

Subject: Implementation of EU funds in Portugal

The Portuguese Court of Auditors has raised serious concerns about how efficiently and effectively the Portuguese Government has implemented EU funds. The Court notes that, at the end of 2022, EUR 353.9 million had been received from a budget allocation totalling some EUR 24 billion.

In view of the above:

1. The Portuguese Court of Auditors’ concerns relate to the early implementation of funds and to shortcomings and inconsistencies in accounting records and monitoring. In the light of these concerns, will the Commission draw up an action plan or review to ensure funds are used properly and efficiently in Portugal?

2. The Court of Auditors notes repeated delays in the payment of traditional own resources to the Commission, with additional costs in interest totalling approximately EUR 45 million over 10 years. Is the Commission aware of any attempts by the Portuguese Government to address those delays and what measures does it recommend be taken to ensure those payments are made efficiently in future to prevent similar financial losses?

3. Can the Commission publish data on Portugal’s implementation of EU funds up to 31 December 2023, broken down by funding programme?

Submitted:11.1.2024

Answer given by Mr Hahn on behalf of the European Commission

(5 April 2024)

1. The EUR 353.9 million mentioned concerns the pre-financing received by Portugal for the 2021-2027 programming period pertaining to the European Structural and Investment Funds (1) (ESIF) following the adoption of the Partnership Agreement in July 2022 and of the respective operational programmes in December 2022. This pre-financing is not linked to the implementation itself and will be cleared against future payment claims. The 2021-2027 ESIF can be implemented until 2027, with the n+2 rule applying to the last year of the programming period.

The Commission follows closely with all Member States the execution of ESIF funds. Technical assistance and support are available to help Member States in the execution of their EU-funded programmes.

2. Council Regulation No 609/2014 (2) sets the framework for making available own resources, including interests for late payment where applicable. Any interest due follows directly from the provisions of this regulation. The total amount of interest Portugal has paid since 1994 in relation to delays in making traditional own resources (customs duties) available is lower than EUR 45 million. The total number of cases of delays by Portugal in making traditional own resources available is also low.

Since Portugal collects over EUR 300 million traditional own resources (TOR) for the EU budget each year, the Commission considers that the amount of interest paid by Portugal in relation to TOR is neither particularly high nor frequent.

3. Data on the implementation of EU funds broken down by funding programme and Member State is publicly available in the Open Data Platform (3).

1 ∙ ⸱ https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/find-funding/funding-management-mode/2014-2020-european-structural-and-investment-funds_en

2 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014R0609

3 ∙ ⸱ https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/stories/s/EU-budget-execution-overview/2jjj-66bt