Following two infringement procedures launched in 2017 against Portugal and Slovakia, the European Commission decided on Wednesday 19 April to refer these two countries to the EU Court of Justice for failing to correctly implement the Late Payments Directive.
This requires public authorities to pay their bills within 30 days, or within 60 days in respect of hospitals.
However, Portugal and Slovakia have failed to meet their obligations on numerous occasions. In the case of Lisbon, several public administrations recorded particularly long payment delays on the Azores archipelago and the island of Madeira. Progress made in this respect has been judged insufficient by the European Commission since the start of the infringement procedure.
In Slovakia, several public hospitals have failed in their duty to pay their suppliers.
In addition, the Commission indicated on the same day that it had sent several letters of formal notice and reasoned opinions to Belgium, Greece and Italy for not having correctly transposed or applied the Late Payments Directive. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)