1. Introduction
1. In 2009, as the newly elected Secretary General of
the Council of Europe, Mr Thorbjørn Jagland announced his intention
of undertaking a raft of reforms in order to “revitalise the Council
of Europe”. During 2010 a number of measures were taken on human
resources policy aimed at controlling staffing costs (doubling of
the period between seniority increments for permanent staff, streamlining
of staff allowances) and on the field offices of the Council of
Europe.
2. 2011 saw other progress being made on reform, in particular
a recasting of the presentation of the budget and programme including
a reduction in the number of intergovernmental committees and a
major restructuring of the Secretariat General. This culminated,
in 2012, in the implementation of the Council of Europe’s first
biennial programme and budget.
3. As we prepare for the second biennium, I would like the Secretary
General of the Council of Europe to give us an overall progress
report on his reforms so that we can identify the challenges which
the Council will be facing over the next two years, in the context
of the crisis we are experiencing and which the Secretary General
summed up in his address to the Parliamentary Assembly on 22 January
2013 when he spoke of a political and economic situation that was
worrying.
4. At the meeting of the Committee on Rules of Procedure held
in Paris on 18 March 2013, the Deputy Secretary General of the Council
of Europe, Ms Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, and the Lithuanian Ambassador, Mr Gedeminas
Šerkšnys, Chair of the Rapporteur Group on Programme, Budget and
Administration (GR-PBA), talked with the members of the committee
about the issues and difficulties of the next two-year period.
5. Before moving to the heart of the matter, let me address the
question of the Council of Europe’s audited accounts for 2010 and
2011 and the main developments in 2011 and 2012.
2. Audit
of the accounts for 2010 and 2011
6. The French national audit office, the
Cour des comptes, conducted the
external audit of the Council of Europe’s consolidated financial
statements for 2010 and 2011 and found that those statements, drawn
up and presented in accordance with IPSAS,
provided a true
picture of the Council of Europe’s financial situation. The external
auditor was thus able to express an unreserved opinion on the Organisation’s
accounts.
7. Staff costs (including Judges of the European Court of Human
Rights) formed a sizeable proportion of operating expenditure in
2011 (72,6%), and increased by less than 1% between 2010 and 2011,
showing that the Secretary General’s measures to control staff costs
were beginning to take effect. The auditor also recommended the
inclusion of a provision for contingencies, in the case of any dispute
over the application of the Staff Regulations to staff members.
8. The Cour des comptes also
conducted performance audits on various sectors of the Secretariat General.
In 2010, these looked at the management of receipts, human resources,
the snack bar/cafeteria catering complex, the Parliamentary Assembly’s
secretariat and joint programmes with the European Union. In 2011,
five other performance audits were conducted, looking at the management
of special accounts and human resources, and the secretariats of
the Council of Europe Development Bank, the Group of States against
Corruption (GRECO) and the European Court of Human Rights.
9. Following these performance audits, the auditor made a series
of recommendations on a number of operational aspects. Suffice it
to say that the auditor judged the quality of the Assembly’s management
to be good. Generally speaking, the Secretariat has taken account
of, and is acting on, the auditor’s recommendations which were aimed
at improving the operational performance of the various services.
3. 2011, phase two
of the reforms
10. During 2011, the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe set in train a second raft of measures, chief among which
were the introduction of the first biennial programme and budget
(2012-2013) and a review of the relevance of the Council of Europe’s
conventions. During that same period, the Organisation also reviewed
the structure of its intergovernmental committees and the system
of conferences of specialised ministers. Restructuring of the Secretariat’s
operating structures was also carried through, to make them better
suited to the new functions of the Organisation and the challenges
facing it.
11. This restructuring led to the abolition of two directorates
general (Social Cohesion and Democracy and Political Affairs), whose
operations were assigned to the two remaining directorates general.
These were renamed Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule
of Law (DG I) and Directorate General of Democracy (DG II). To co-ordinate
this new grouping, a Directorate General of Programmes was formed
and attached directly to the Deputy Secretary General in 2012. The
other, more political activities (external relations, policy advice
and planning) were placed under the direct supervision of the Secretary
General.
12. As far as staff matters were concerned, 2011 saw not only
changes to the rules on staff members’ seniority increments, with
a doubling of the period between increments and the scrapping of
certain allowances, but also the abolition of 16 permanent posts
and 5 positions.
13. The legal rules applying to conferences of specialised ministers
and intergovernmental committees were also revised, making for more
focused work and better synergies with the Committee of Ministers.
On the matter of conventions, it should be mentioned that two international
treaties were opened for signature: the Council of Europe Convention
on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic
Violence (CETS No. 210), and the Council of Europe Convention on
the Counterfeiting of Medical Products and Similar Crimes involving
Threats to Public Health (Medicrime Convention, CETS No. 211).
14. These two Conventions are extremely important to our Assembly.
Regarding the first of these, the “Istanbul Convention”, the Assembly
has played a major role in promoting its ratification. Regarding
the second, this came into being thanks to very great efforts on
the part of the Assembly and in particular its rapporteur on the
subject, Bernard Marquet (Monaco). This Convention is the culmination
of protracted work initiated by the Assembly through its
Recommendation 1794 (2007) on the quality of medicines in Europe.
15. Four other conventions also entered into force:
- the European Convention on Consular
Functions (ETS No. 61);
- the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value
of Cultural Heritage for Society (CETS No. 199);
- the European Convention on the Adoption of Children (revised)
(CETS No. 202);
- the Protocol amending the Convention on Mutual Administrative
Assistance in Tax Matters (CETS No. 208) (on which the Assembly
was consulted and gave a detailed opinion ).
16. 2011 also saw the launch of the “One in Five” campaign to
stop sexual violence against children, in which our Assembly played
an energetic part through efforts to publicise it at parliamentary
level. It was made possible thanks to a generous contribution of
€100 000 from Germany.
17. On the matter of the situation of Roma in Europe, we should
mention the Council of Europe’s new approach to Roma issues, with
the creation of a transversal team to serve as an interface for
the different projects undertaken within the Council of Europe,
and the creation of a new Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues
(CAHROM).
18. Lastly, as regards the European Court of Human Rights, the
Steering Committee for Human Rights was tasked with following up
on the measures agreed at the high-level conferences at Interlaken
(February 2010) and Izmir (April 2011), including guidelines for
selecting applicants for the post of judge at the Court and preparations
for the European Union’s accession to the European Convention on
Human Rights (ETS No. 5, “the Convention”).
4. 2012
19. New measures implemented in 2012 include the matter
of the new biennial programme and budget. This two-year programming
period accords with the wishes expressed by our Assembly. But is
the outcome in line with what our Assembly had wanted, namely that
appropriations not spent in year N should be carried forward without
restriction to year N+1, as suggested in
Opinion 281 (2011) on the budgets of the Council of Europe for financial
years 2012-1013? Nothing is less sure.
20. In reality it is not, because in effect the biennial budget-programme
is a budget which in operational terms is still for one year, though
its planning spans two years. Thus the budget for 2012 was signed
off at the end of the financial year, but a few activities whose
completion had been delayed were carried forward to 2013 along with
the budget appropriations earmarked for them, to a total of €255 000.
So the Committee of Ministers proved unwilling to go all the way
and adopt a true two-year budget.
21. Nevertheless the merit of this exercise was that the secretariat
did not have to do a lot of work to prepare the budget for 2013,
since it had been adopted already along with the budget for 2012.
Debate on the budget was thus confined to the various adjustments
needed for the 2013 budget.
22. On the matter of human resources, the Secretary General continued
his policy of cutting staff costs in 2012, removing 24 posts and
2 positions from the Table of Posts. Under pressure from the Committee
of Ministers, the Secretary General also put forward a new draft
of a 3rd pension scheme for new Council of Europe staff. This scheme
is an addition to the two existing schemes (the co-ordinated pension
scheme and the new pension scheme – common to the Council of Europe
and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)).
This new scheme applies only to the Council of Europe and will be
far less favourable to future pensioners (in terms of final benefits
paid). Contrary to the main orientation of Assembly
Resolution 1882 (2012) on decent pensions for all, the compulsory retirement
age was not increased and the reform led to a reduction of 12.5%
of the accumulate rate. This may have a negative impact on the quality
of staff recruited to the Organisation.
23. Reform of the Council of Europe’s field offices and the new
approach to programming helped to increase the overall volume of
extraordinary receipts, thanks to closer links with major donors’
capitals, the European Commission and the European Union delegations
on the ground. A total of over 37.7 million euros was paid to the
Council of Europe in voluntary contributions in 2012, compared with
32.5 million in 2011.
24. The Assembly for its part received €164 000 in voluntary contributions
for the parliamentary part of the campaign to promote the Istanbul
Convention (violence against women) and the “One in Five” campaign
to stop sexual violence against children.
25. As far as Council of Europe activities in the area of participatory
democracy are concerned, we should mention in particular a number
of events of importance to the Organisation and our Assembly: the
first World Forum for Democracy, held in Strasbourg, the Conference
of Presidents of Parliaments, and a youth assembly held as a side
event to the Assembly’s October 2012 part-session.
26. This year was also marked by the election of the new Commissioner
for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, and the Council of Europe’s new
Deputy Secretary General, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni.
27. It should also be noted that 2012 was a very difficult year
for the European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity
(North-South Centre), which our Assembly has supported from its
beginnings: a number of member States withdrew from the Centre during
the year. In 2009, our Assembly adopted
Recommendation 1893 (2009) which called on the Committee of Ministers to open up
membership of this Centre to all member States of the Council of
Europe. I remain convinced that the North-South Centre has a valuable
part to play in co-operative dialogue with our neighbouring countries.
28. Concerning the rule of law, I would draw particular attention
to the finalising of the convention on trafficking in human organs,
an issue vigorously addressed by our Assembly, and the drafting
of a legal instrument as called for in its
Resolution 1782 (2011) on the investigation of allegations of inhuman treatment of
people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo*.
29. Concerning the human rights pillar, one must highlight the
success of the Brighton Conference which was tasked with drawing
up a detailed programme of work on the efficacy of the system of
the European Convention on Human Rights at European and national
levels. The first outcome of this is the adoption of a draft Protocol
No. 15 amending the Convention, on which the Assembly adopted an
opinion in April 2013.
Talks between the Council of Europe
and the European Union to finalise the agreement on the accession
of the European Union to the Convention resumed in mid-June 2012
and came to a preliminary overall agreement on the modalities of
accession in April 2013
5. Priorities for
2014-2015
30. The Council of Europe is preparing for its second
biennium. But the present financial position of many member States
which have embarked on stringent austerity policies and the European
Council’s recent decision to cut the European Union budget for 2014-2020
– even though this measure has been thrown out by the European Parliament
– are not factors contributing to a very positive attitude towards
our Organisation’s budget.
31. Many of our member States are keen to see the amount of their
contribution unchanged, and in some cases reduced, so that the Organisation’s
budget will show nominally zero growth (no allowance inflation).
If this scenario is applied to the ordinary budget, the loss of
earnings for the Organisation can be expected to be between 5 and
6 million euros for 2014 and a similar sum for 2015 (based on 2%
inflation applied to budget totals of 300 million euros).
32. The Council of Europe must find, in-house, the resources needed
to absorb the various mandatory adjustments and other costs resulting
from various cost increases, and it must continue to reduce the
current ratio of staff costs to operational expenditure.
33. In view of these difficulties, I think the Committee of Ministers
should change the current rule on budget funds unspent at the end
of the financial year, which must under Article 70 of the Financial
Regulations be returned to member States. They should instead be
left available to the Organisation. This procedure might in any
case be applied to the surplus remaining after year one of the two-year
cycle.
34. At a time of budgetary restrictions affecting most of our
member States, our Organisation must also strive to make savings
and manage our resources better. The reforms and policy aims of
the Secretary General of the Council of Europe are consistent with
that aspiration. But it must be borne in mind that at this time
of crisis member States have an even greater need to work together
and pool their efforts in order to preserve the democratic stability
of the European continent and help those countries where tensions
are strongest. To do this, the Council of Europe needs resources,
and care should be taken not to jeopardise our Organisation’s statutory
functions.
35. In this situation, our Assembly cannot stand aside from the
effort required of us all and refuse to reduce its expenditure.
This reduction is needed due to compulsory adjustments (related
to the payment of seniority-based increments to staff and the cost
resulting from the salary adjustment for 2013) that the Organisation
must assume. The draft resolution on the Assembly’s expenditure
gives more detail of what it needs
to do (namely to reduce our budget by €145 000 and €80 000 in 2014
and by €50 000 in 2015, 70% of which concern staff costs in the
Assembly Secretariat).
36. On the matter of reforms, I am surprised that we have not
as yet had any progress report. It would be helpful to have this
kind of document so that we can see if the reforms implemented have
indeed helped to revitalise the Council of Europe.
37. As for the strategy choices identified by the Secretary General
for 2014 and 2015, I endorse these since they are also covered by
our Assembly’s work programme. A number of topics need to be mentioned
because they are of particular concern to our Assembly, for example
the combating of violence against women or the protection of children
against exploitation and sexual abuse, and action against trafficking
in counterfeit medicines or human organs.
38. Regarding the synergies to be found in-house, I am in favour
of this, provided they are fully consistent with the specific statutory
rules governing the bodies that make up the Council of Europe. I
can see that it makes sense to bring together activities on governance
at local and regional levels under the aegis of the Congress and
to have enhanced co-operation between, on the one hand, the European
Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and our
Assembly and, on the other hand, the other structures of the Organisation
active in the area of election assistance.
39. Regarding financial aspects, I note that the Council of Europe
receives constant support both from the European Union (to the tune
of 25 million euros a year, for a number of years now), and from
member and non-member States, which is additional to obligatory
contributions and is estimated to total 10-12 million euros. As the
proportion of off-budget resources is tending to increase, this
is an avenue that might usefully be explored, and I would like to
point to the Deputy Secretary General’s initiative which aims to
get the Council of Europe included on the OECD’s list of organisations
eligible for official development assistance (ODA). That list is
open to all organisations whose budgets can be regarded wholly or
partially as development aid. Inclusion on it would enable the Organisation
to receive considerably more in off-budget contributions.
40. Lastly, I must mention staff policy, which is subject to numerous
reforms meeting with a varying degree of acceptance. I would simply
reiterate that what matters to the Organisation is that it should
be possible for the most competent individuals to join the Council
of Europe, so that it has the staff best qualified to meet its requirements
and can also keep its current staff, who safeguard its institutional
memory, and maintain the quality of its work, continuing at the
same time to operate in its two official languages.
41. In conclusion I should point out that because the Secretary
General announced his priorities for the 2014-2015 two-year cycle
late – on 22 April – I have not had time to prepare a fuller and
more detailed opinion. This is an important document, which marks
out the direction the Organisation is to follow over the next two years,
and in future I would like to see it being presented earlier, so
that the Assembly’s rapporteur on the budget and the Committee on
Rules of Procedure have more time to study it and prepare their
opinions. I will simply note the decision of the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe to stop inviting journalists during the part-sessions
of our Assembly.