Protocols

Between the Ministry of Finance and the Portuguese Public Finance Council

On 6 February 2015 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Finance and the CFP (only available in Portuguese) covering the drawing up of the Council’s Opinion on the macroeconomic projections underlying the Stability Program and the State Budget Proposal.

This Memorandum defines how the analysis of the macroeconomic forecasts underlying these two budget planning documents is to be conducted by the CFP and describes how the information provided by the Ministry of Finance will be handled.

The MoU is built around the European Semester procedures and is based on the recognition by both institutions of the relevant contribution that the budget process makes to the sustainability of public finances.

Institutional Cooperation in the field of General Government Statistics

Given the experience gained and the changes that have taken place in the meantime in the national and European institutional framework, an Institutional Cooperation MoU in the field of General Government Statistics was signed on 27 March 2017. This MoU replaced the earlier Institutional Cooperation Agreement in the field of Statistics signed on 10 January 2006 by the Macroeconomic Statistics Department of the National Statistical Authority (INE), the Statistics Department of the Bank of Portugal (BoP) and the Directorate-General for the Budget (DGO).

In addition to these three institutions, another 10 entities signed the new MoU: the Public Debt Management Agency (IGCP), the Portuguese Public Finance Council (CFP), the Directorate-General for Local Authorities (DGAL), the Directorate-General for Treasury and Finance (DGTF), the Madeira Regional Statistics Directorate (DREM), the Ministry of Finance’s Office for Economic Policy and International Affairs (GPEARI), the Finance General Inspectorate (IGF), the Azores Regional Statistics Department (SREA), the Court of Auditors (ToC) and Parliament’s Budget Support Technical Unit (UTAO).

The MoU aims to promote cooperation among the signatories in the field of General Government Statistics, in particular as regards the Excessive Deficit Procedure and the European Semester.

Its purpose is to contribute to high quality General Government Statistics and information on budget outturn by developing institutional cooperation mechanisms among the signatories. The aim is to ensure high standards as regards the reliability and consistency of the source data and deadlines for their release, in line with best practice in this field.