Changes to the TdC place him “where constitutionally he should be”

“[It is] a project that strengthens the control of the Court of Auditors, moving it to the place where it constitutionally should be, which is the concomitant and successive supervision and not the prior supervision,” Gonçalo Matias told the deputies of the Local Administration and Regional Planning Committee.

The Minister has rejected the fact that these amendments seek to remove the Court of Auditors, but ultimately reinforces the concomitant monitoring.

“There is a reduction in prior supervision and an increase in concurrent and successive supervision. This increase, moreover, corresponds to an increase of means – the law itself determines this increase of means ", said.

According to the governor, the reduction of prior supervision will allow the release of judges to the audit section.

The minister again defended the end of the prior audit because he considered it an “ineffective instrument”, since less than 1% of contracts submitted to the Court of Auditors were rejected.

“ It creates a procedure that is heavy, which is time-consuming, without any advantage, because it is refused in less than 1% of cases. On the contrary, where supervision is really concerned is the concomitant and successive one”

Gonçalo Matias insisted that this is “a new law” and not “a set of patches”.

“ We are talking about real structural reform, because the Court of Auditors [...] assumes a central role in our constitutional system, has a constitutional seat and has a fundamental role in controlling the financial legality of the State, so reforming the Court of Auditors corresponds to a real structural reform for what can be of important value to our legal system”.

The Minister also stressed that the proposed changes could have an impact on smaller authorities.

“ We cannot impose on these authorities an infernal system that lets them do nothing and allows the Court of Auditors to challenge political choices”, he noted, giving the example of decisions for a garden or a cemetery.

Gonçalo Matias explained that in addition to strengthening the audit section of the TdC, also the General Inspection of Finance (IGF) should play an increased role, as it may “support smaller municipalities or smaller entities that have the most difficulties” in these processes.

The governor was also receptive to the proposal of the Member of the Liberal Initiative Carlos Guimarães Pinto, who suggested the creation of an evaluation for two years.

In the proposal, the Government proposes that contracts up to EUR 10 million should no longer be subject to prior supervision of the TdC and can be controlled in the model of successive (posterior to the entry into force) or concurrent (while they are being implemented).

In the current law, public entities, such as state authorities and services, are obliged to submit the prior supervision of the TdC to public contracts above 750 thousand euros, without VAT, or EUR 950 thousand if the total value of the acts is or appears to be related to each other.