The flagship EU<\/b> fund for recovery from pandemic<\/b>, the so-called Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM)<\/b>, is characterised by gaps in traceability and transparency of spending<\/b>, according to a new report by European Court of Auditors (ECA)<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Publicly available information on the recipients of funds<\/b>, the actual costs of the measures <\/b>and the results achieved are not satisfactory.<\/p>\n
The critical findings of the ECA are published at the same time as EU lawmakers are negotiating the next seven-year Union budget, which is inspired by the MFA’s spending model based on “funding not linked to spending”<\/b>. Traceability and transparency have a key role to play in protecting EU finances. They ensure that money is tracked from its source to its final destination and that citizens know where it ends up and for what purpose it is spent.<\/p>\n
MFA finances reforms and investments based on the achievement of pre-defined milestones and target values<\/b>. It is the first time the EU has resorted to funding that is not linked to spending on such a large scale. “The lack of full transparency as to how the money is spent is shaking citizens’ confidence in public finances,” said Ms Ivana Maleti\u0107<\/b>, ECA member responsible for the audit. “We do not have a full picture of how the MAA funds are used. Citizens are entitled to know how public funds are used, in which hands they end up and how much of them are actually spent. Future EU budgets must avoid these transparency gaps that the PPS shows.”<\/p>\n
The ECA found that although the funds are traceable and transparent to a certain extent, the picture remains incomplete. In terms of traceability, countries are generally compliant with regulatory requirements and indeed most are able to track ODA payments from source to end-user. However, not all of them collect the required data in a systematic way<\/b>, and there are cases where information is only provided upon request, which contributes to delays of up to several months. This means that this information is not as useful for accountability and analysis purposes.<\/p>\n
The European Commission does not collect data on the actual amounts<\/b> paid for individual ODA measures, even when Member States have this information available. This lack of information undermines the Commission’s ability to assess the efficiency of the use of ODA funds by Member States. Moreover, at Member State level, information on the actual costs of the ODA measures is important for adjusting cost estimates and for ensuring that the funding received by each country is not too far from the actual costs. However, countries do not systematically use actual cost data to update estimates in case of cost savings or cost overruns.<\/p>\n
Although there were cost overruns for some measures, in some countries the actual costs<\/b> for most of the measures in the ECA sample that were completed were lower than estimated<\/b>. If this trend continues, the total funding received by a Member State from the PMA is likely to deviate more than adequately from the actual costs. In terms of transparency, the Commission and Member States shall publish information in accordance with the rules applicable to the EAFRD and ensure sufficient transparency regarding the fulfilment of the milestones and target values. However, as these are often output-oriented rather than results-oriented, information on results and the achievement of overall targets is scarce<\/b>. In addition, the transparency rules of the MDBs do not provide for full disclosure of the flow of funds.<\/p>\n
Although all Member States publish the required list of the 100 final beneficiaries<\/b> receiving the most funding, this does not give an accurate picture of the overall use of the money. Firstly, more than half of the recipients are public bodies, such as ministries, and Member States are not required to publish the subsequent payments made by these authorities to contractors through public procurement, and indeed they do not. Secondly, none of the 10 countries audited by the ECA exceeded the minimum number of 100 final recipients in the lists they published. Therefore, public information on who ultimately benefits from the PMA and to what extent is incomplete.<\/p>\n
The PMA was set up in February 2021 as an emergency programme to help EU countries recover from the pandemic and build resilient economies. The fund is implemented by the Commission under its direct management and it is the Commission that bears the ultimate responsibility. Its maximum value was \u20ac723.8 billion<\/b> and by the end of January 2026 the Commission had committed \u20ac577 billion<\/b> (\u20ac360 billion in grants and \u20ac217 billion in loans) for all 27 member states. The MFF finances measures in areas such as green and digital transition and will be implemented until August 2026<\/b>, with payments to member states continuing until the end of the year. Consistency, strategy and transparency are required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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