Entity set up to ensure Europe’s billions are spent correctly without president since government took office
It is a very small soundbite today, with enormous implications: just as the country receives the first tranche of what will be €16.6 billion in so-called European bazooka funding for post-pandemic recovery and resilience – and just as a public ministry report has warned that internal checks fall short – SIC/ Expresso reveal there is no one in charge of the monitoring commission.
António Costa Silva (the architect of Portugal’s Plan for Resilience and Recovery) was expected to head the commission, but he has since been made a minister (of the Economy and Sea).
Says SIC, the president of the commission has to be ‘independent’ – and his/ her brief is to “monitor the execution of the €16.6 billion European bazooka, anticipating problems and proposing solutions”.
The only trouble is there is no president to do any of this. And the first tranche of €1.6 billion arrived last week.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://www.portugalresident.com/bazooka-monitoring-commission-has-no-one-in-charge/&media=https://www.portugalresident.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Costa-Silva-1024x683-1-e1652444231347.jpg&description=Bazooka monitoring commission "has no-one in charge": Entity set up to ensure Europe's billions are spent correctly without president){kind=link}