The European Court of Auditors is currently reviewing how the European Commission and EU member states, including Greece, manage and monitor funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the €577 billion fund established to support Europe’s economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. The audit aims to determine whether sufficient levels of traceability and transparency are ensured in the way the funds are distributed and used. Auditors are focusing in particular on whether EU money can be clearly tracked from the moment it is disbursed to member states through to the final recipients, and whether the available data is adequate and accessible enough to guarantee transparency and accountability.
The issue is considered especially important because the Recovery and Resilience Facility operates differently from traditional European Union spending programmes. In most EU programmes, payments are linked directly to actual expenses incurred by beneficiaries such as farmers, contractors or service providers. By contrast, under the Recovery Facility, payments to member states are made only when they meet predefined milestones and targets related to reforms and investment projects, rather than being tied to specific expenditures.
The European Court of Auditors is examining whether the monitoring systems put in place by the European Commission and national governments properly record final recipients of funding, project contractors, beneficial owners and sources of financing. The audit also evaluates whether control systems are capable of preventing and detecting fraud, corruption and conflicts of interest.
Traceability and transparency are seen as essential for protecting the European Union’s financial interests and maintaining public trust in how EU funds are managed. The ongoing audit is therefore expected to address a key question: how easy it is in practice to trace where the €577 billion from the Recovery Fund ultimately ends up.
According to the European Court of Auditors, the findings will be presented in a report that is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
