The new trends in administrative decisions in Portugal: the simplex program and the adequate pursuit of public interest

The trend towards the acceleration and simplification of administrative procedures is not new in the Portuguese legal system. However, the globalization of economies, which need to be reconciled with the protection of multiple public interests, has been pushing the legislator to pursue this path. This paper proposes to analyse DL no. 11/2023, of February 10th, included in the simplex programme, which has introduced several simplification and acceleration changes in many legal systems, especially in the environmental field. This is a particularly complex area, which requires great care when implementing solutions that facilitate decision-making, at the serious risk of not adequately pursuing public interests. The preamble of this law clarifies that it " aims to initiate the simplification reform of existing licencing, through the elimination of licences, authorisations, acts, and dispensable or redundant procedures linked to the protection of environmental resources, simplifying the activities of companies without compromising environmental protection (...), the Public Administration focusing, particularly, on monitoring, co-responsibility, and self-control by economic operators. Is simplification reconcilable with environmental public interests? Will it be sufficient, given the irreversibility of much ecological damage, to rely solely on monitoring and surveillance functions, leaving aside the preventive and precautionary functions?