Speaking on the sidelines of a conference organized by Abreu Advogados, Gonçalo Matias emphasized that in initial discussions, “all parties, from Chega to the Socialist Party, acknowledged the need to amend the organic law of the Court of Auditors, recognizing that the model […] has no parallel in Europe.”
“Our idea is to reduce the prior review and not have the prior review as a rule,” the minister explained, expressing hope for opposition parties’ openness to revising the organic law.
“We want an overseeing court; we do not want to reduce oversight, but we want a modern court, suited to a robust democracy like ours,” stated the minister.
In Europe, “there are countries that have prior reviews, but they are not comparable to ours; many countries do not have prior reviews, and many do not have a Court of Auditors,” exemplified the official, also promising to discuss the matter with the Court of Auditors’ president.
The objective is a “Court of Auditors’ law befitting a developed and sophisticated country like ours,” he explained, highlighting the need to reconsider the prior review.
On Monday, the minister announced that Professor Rui Medeiros is leading the reform of the Court of Auditors’ organic law.
Rui Medeiros is a full professor at the Faculty of Law of the Portuguese Catholic University, where he served as Director from 2002 to 2005, and he is a partner at Sérvulo & Associados.
