Doc. 9735

14 March 2003

Expenditure of the Parliamentary Assembly for the
financial year 2004

Report

Committee on Economic Affairs and Development

Rapporteur: Mr Crema, Italy, Socialist Group

I. Draft Opinion

1. Thanks to its structural reform, during the last two years the Assembly has managed to maintain the overall cost of its functioning stable, while increasing its activities and raising its external profile. This reform, undertaken in 2001, which has resulted in a more focused, manageable and flexible structure, bore witness to the Assembly’s willingness to change and improve constantly its working methods so as to make them more cost-effective and more responsive to the ever-evolving needs of its members.

2. The Assembly hopes that the Committee of Ministers will agree to its budgetary proposals for the year 2004, representing an increase of € 161 600 (some 1%) in real terms over its 2003 appropriations. These resources, which are particularly reasonable in relation to the Council of Europe’s general budget (some 8%), are necessary not only to ensure its smooth functioning in the medium term but also to complete the Organisation’s enlargement process, to carry out its expanded monitoring procedures and to pursue its political initiatives.

3. It points out that, given the Assembly’s responsibility for completing the enlargement process in the coming years, additional human and financial resources are required to enable it to cope with its tasks and the Committee of Ministers should increasingly concentrate on ensuring that the Organisation as a whole has the financial means to continue to perform its role as guarantor of democratic security and stability on the continent, a mission which fully justifies a weightier financial commitment from its member states.

4. Given the Organisation’s ongoing budgetary constraints, the Assembly has decided to limit its staffing requests, for the year 2004, to two main priorities: one upgrading from A3 to A4 and one upgrading from A4 to A5. These proposals fall within the Assembly’s overall strategy of having the posts, which have been directly affected by the Assembly restructuring, upgraded in view of the fact that the responsibilities and tasks of these staff members have been increased as a result of the wider terms of reference of the new Assembly committees or structures they serve.

5. Fully sharing the Committee of Ministers’ renewed emphasis on the need for a higher profile of the Organisation’s work, the Assembly wishes to develop further its interparliamentary co-operation and other external relations, as well as its communication policy, by making the fullest use of new possibilities opened up in the media field through technological developments. This would make the Assembly’s activities, public documents and information material more accessible to the general public, governments, parliaments and other institutions.

6. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers carefully consider the possibility of improving the performance of the Assembly’s obsolete voting system, which was installed in the Assembly Chamber in the early 1980s by the European Parliament. In fact, one of the major problems is that the production of many components of this electronic device, including voting cards, has now been discontinued. Failure to meet this reasonable budgetary request could cause serious dysfunctioning in the running of the Organisation’s parliamentary organ. Given all these reasons, the Assembly believes that it is crucial to raise the quality and the efficiency of its voting system so as to have an efficient and modern electronic device which could fully meet its specific needs.

7. The enlargement process has also greatly affected the functioning of the Assembly’s five political groups. In view of the growth in membership of each political group as a result of enlargement and considering also their increased role in the life of the Assembly, their secretarial and financial resources, which were only modestly increased in 2003 after five years of budgetary austerity, should now be increased in a way that also fully covers the financial deficit so far incurred.

Appended to this Opinion are :

i.       a table of requested increases for 2004 compared with the appropriations for 2003;

ii.       brief explanations for the proposed changes.

VOTE III of the ordinary budget – Expenditure of the Assembly TITRE III du budget ordinaire – Dépenses relatives à l’Assemblée	Appropriations for 2003 Crédits ouverts au budget de 2003 EUROS	Changes in real terms proposed for 2004 Modifications en termes réels proposées pour 2004 EUROS
HEAD 0301 – Staff CHAPITRE 0301 – Dépenses de personnel Sub-heads/Articles 0000001 - Remuneration of staff recruited on established posts Rémunération du personnel recruté sur le cadre des emplois permanents 0000003 - Remuneration and accessory charges of temporary staff Rémunération et charges accessoires du personnel temporaire 0000005 - Salary, allowances and social charges of the Secretary General of the Assembly Rémunération, indemnités et charges sociales du Secrétaire Général de l'Assemblée 0000007 - Overtime – statutory and other allowances Heures supplémentaires – indemnités statutaires et autres 0000013 - Secondment of national civil servants to the Assembly Fonctionnaires nationaux mis à disposition de l’Assemblée 0000016 - Recruitment, arrival and departure expenses – Home leave Frais de recrutement à l’arrivée et au départ – congé dans le pays d’origine ………………………………………. TOTAL HEAD 0301 TOTAL DU CHAPITRE 0301…………………………………………..	6 946 200 1 152 200 175 500 21 300 61 000 61 000 8 417 200	8 100 40 000 48 100
HEAD 0302 – Allocation to the Assembly’s political groups CHAPITRE 0302 – Dotation des groupes politiques de l’Assemblée 0000370 - Allocation to the Assembly’s political groups Dotation des groupes politiques de l’Assemblée……………………….. TOTAL HEAD 0302 TOTAL DU CHAPITRE 0302…………………………………………	623 900 623 900	53 500 53 500

HEAD 0303 – Supplies, services and other operational expenditure CHAPITRE 0303 – Dépenses de matériel et autres dépenses de fonctionnement Sub-heads/Articles 0000080 - Official journeys Frais de missions………………………………………………………………. 0000095 - Representational expenditure, other official expenditure and travelling expenses of members of the Assembly / Dépenses de représentation, frais de fonction et de déplacement des Membres de l’Assemblée…………….. 0000115 - Interpretation Interprétation……………………………………………………………….. 0000116 - Translation Traduction………………..……………………………………………. 0000124 - Publishing and printing Publications et impressions………………………………………………. 0000125 – Outsourced production of documents Production externalisée de documents 0000129 - Consultation of experts Consultation d’experts…………………………………………………... 0000162 - Expenditure pertaining to the Private Office of the President of the Assembly / Dépenses du Cabinet du Président de l’Assemblée………… 0000163 - Official expenses of the President of the Assembly Frais de fonction du Président de l’Assemblée…………………………... 0000166 - Expenses for inviting guests of the Parliamentary Assembly Dépenses d’accueil des invites de l’Assemblée parlementaire…………... 0000171 - Organisation of ad hoc conferences Organisation de conférences ad hoc……………………………………... 0000203 - Grant to the International Institute for Democracy Dotation à l’Institut International pour la Démocratie…………………… 0000204 - Modernisation of the Assembly’s equipment Modernisation de l’équipement de l’Assemblée………………………… 0000205 - European prizes Prix européens……………………………………………………………. 0000206 - Operating and maintenance costs of the electronic voting system Coûts de maintenance et d’exploitation du vote électronique…………… 0000250 - Co-operation and monitoring programme Programme de coopération et du suivi des engagements ……………….. 0000392 - Other expenditure not specifically provided for in this vote Autres dépenses non spécialement prévues au présent titre……………... TOTAL HEAD 0303 TOTAL DU CHAPITRE 0303……………………………………………. TOTAL VOTE III TOTAL DU TITRE III……...………………………………………….

357 700 194 200 1 916 800 460 000 624 800 115 400 80 000 82 900 99 500 121 600 133 400 30 500 p.m. 85 000 39 400 652 400 65 000 5 058 600 14 099 700

60 000 161 600

VOTE III — EXPENDITURE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

HEAD 0301 — STAFF

This appropriation covers the basic salaries, allowances (both non-recurring and periodic) and social insurance of the permanent staff of the Secretariat of the Assembly, which comprises 87 posts.

At present, the Assembly structure consists of 10 committees: seven comprised of 80 members (with 80 alternates), one of 76 members and two of 49 members (with 49 alternates). The permanent staff of the Assembly Secretariat comprises 87 posts:

      1 A7       5 B5

2 A6       16 B4

10 A5       12 B3

11 A4       8 B2

19 A2/A3       1 C4

2 B6

To be fully operational, each of the seven committees with 80 members, as well as that of 76, requires four A-grade staff (one Head of Secretariat at A5 level, a Secretary at A4 level and two co-secretaries at A2/A3 level), one B4 administrative assistant and one B2/B3 official. Each of the other two committees of 49 members needs two A-grade staff (one Secretary at A4 level and one co-secretary at A2/A3 level), one B4 administrative assistant and one B2/B3 official.

The current establishment table, however, does not permit the Secretary General of the Assembly to redeploy the Assembly's permanent staff members so as to achieve the desired structure. In fact, two years after the implementation of the reform, several committees have faced difficulties in coping with the increased tasks and responsibilities resulting from their enlarged membership.

At present, the Assembly’s Secretariat is organised so that 52 staff serve the Assembly’s ten committees, with the remaining 35 working for the Bureau of the Assembly, the Private Office of the President of the Assembly, the Table Office and the Interparliamentary Relations department, and the Administration, Communication, Information Technology and Research Units. Thanks to the Organisation’s New Staff Policy, eight temporary staff were integrated in the Assembly’s committees in 2003, thereby reinforcing its permanent structure. According to the above-mentioned structure, however, the Assembly’s ten committees should be served by 56 staff. Remedy of this shortfall of four A-grade staff members is an essential precondition to adopting the structure deemed necessary for discharging the Assembly’s tasks and responsibilities.

Given the Organisation’s ongoing budgetary constraints, the Assembly has decided to limit its staffing requests, for the year 2004, to two main priorities, namely:

a. one upgrading from A3 to A4, so as to match the responsibilities and workload of the Secretary of an 80-member committee with the administrative competence of an A4 grade;

b. one upgrading from A4 to A5, so as to match the responsibilities and workload of a staff member performing the duties both of Head of the Assembly Research and Documentation Unit and of the Secretary of a 49-member committee with the administrative competence of an A5 grade;

Upgrading from A3 to A4

Migration, refugee and demographic issues have grown considerably in political importance in recent years. The tragic events of 11 September have added dramatically to the intensity of the political debate and relevant new laws are under consideration in most member states and at European Union level. On the one hand, there is pressure for stricter immigration policies; on the other, a need for immigration to respond to the specific labour market needs of the decreasing populations of most European countries. The work of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography embodies the fundamental principles of the Council of Europe and its Assembly: defending the dignity and human rights of those more vulnerable and less fortunate than other European citizens. Although the staff member concerned by this upgrading request has been performing the duties of a committee secretary for more than five years, her present administrative grade is still not consistent with her increased tasks and responsibilities. Apart from co-ordinating work within the committee secretariat and ensuring the necessary follow-up to the committee’s political decisions, in recent years this staff member has developed a strong sense of initiative as well as an excellent ability to motivate her colleagues through her dynamic approach. Moreover, she has carried out, on several occasions, difficult field missions, which were an essential part of the preparatory work for many of the Assembly’s reports. She has also demonstrated a great ability to undertake diplomatically challenging tasks in a dedicated and highly competent manner by taking full account of the diversity of national situations. Hence, it is in recognition of the committee’s growing workload, her increased responsibilities and her genuine commitment to her work that the Assembly formulates this upgrading request from A3 to A4. The cost of this proposed upgrading would be € 4 100.

One upgrading from A4 to A5

The Assembly regards research as an essential element of innovation and thus as an integral part of its institutional mission. The work of the Assembly Research and Documentation Unit focuses on issues of relevance to its institutional activities, concerning in particular the functioning of political and democratic institutions, respect for human rights, equal opportunities and social cohesion policies as well as cultural, economic, educational, environmental and migration matters. This Unit is also called upon to prepare, inter alia, detailed files for Assembly members, whether representing the Assembly or one of its committees in international and European conferences. This activity, requiring training and commitment, has increased considerably, particularly in recent years, since Assembly members are regularly invited to participate in external events dealing with the whole range of issues addressed by the Organisation’s parliamentary organ.

It is worth noting, however, that there is only one A-grade staff member serving this important Unit. He has sole responsibility for managing the growing level of demand from both Committees and the Private Office of the President of the Assembly, for the selection and the drafting of texts, and for establishing and maintaining external contacts with Assembly members, national parliaments and other international fora. In addition, this staff member performs the duties of Secretary of the Committee on Rules of Procedures and Immunities : this requires not only a profound understanding of the highly technical issues involved, but also a high level of initiative, delicate political sensibilities, an outstanding level of commitment, heavy responsibilities and the personal investment of long working hours. Hence, as a result of the Assembly’s growth in size and far-reaching internal restructuring, the tasks and responsibilities of this staff member have been significantly expanded. The Assembly is therefore convinced that it would be sensible to recognise this fact and to upgrade the post of this staff member, who has been directly concerned in the Assembly’s restructuring and who obtained his last promotion in 1987. The cost of this proposed upgrading would be

€ 4 000.

The overall cost of these proposed upgrading requests for 2004 would be € 8 100.

Sub-head 0000003 - Remuneration and accessory charges of temporary staff

In recent years, the workload of the English verbatim team has increased significantly. Statistics show that English is the predominant language in a wide range of debates, representing more than 75 percent of the Assembly’s total proceedings. Along with the steady increase in the verbatim duties in spoken English there has been an increase in the number of English speeches to be recorded in full and printed. Furthermore, the number of undelivered speeches handed in for the record has risen, involving considerable editing. This has placed an additional strain on the verbatim editor and the latter’s limited and over-stretched team. The recruitment of two additional staff members is therefore requested.

Similarly, the French summary team, working hand in hand with the English verbatim one, has to prepare an increasing number of summaries for speeches delivered in English and in other languages. Moreover, the French summary team provides journalists with a complete French summary of all speeches delivered. It would therefore be desirable to recruit two additional staff members for the French summary team.

The total cost of this proposed additional recruitment of temporary staff during sessions would be

€ 40 000.

Sub-head 0000005 - Salary, allowances and social charges of the Secretary General of the Assembly

      The 2004 appropriations under this sub-head should be maintained at the same level in real terms as in 2003.

Sub-head 0000007 - Overtime — Statutory and other allowances

The 2004 appropriations under this sub-head should be kept at the same level in real terms as in 2003.

      Sub-head 0000013 - Secondment of national civil servants to the Assembly

      The 2004 appropriation under this sub-head should be kept at the same level in real terms as in 2003.

Sub-head 0000016 - Recruitment, arrival and departure expenses — Home leave

The 2004 appropriations under this sub-head should be kept at the same level in real terms as in 2003.

HEAD 0302 -       ALLOCATION TO THE ASSEMBLY’S POLITICAL GROUPS

Sub-head 0000370 - Allocation to the Assembly's political groups

The Assembly’s political groups play an increasingly important role in the life of the Assembly. This has been crucial in enabling the Assembly to maintain its operational capacity and organisational efficiency following enlargement. However, if political groups are to be able to play their role to the full, they need to be adequately staffed in terms of both level and number. In the medium term, a gradual increase over several financial years should be aimed for, allowing each group to recruit one administrative officer and one secretarial assistant. It is therefore imperative to increase the financial resources of the five political groups.

The allocation to the political groups is calculated on the basis of a lump sum for secretarial assistance to each of the existing groups and an additional per capita allocation according to membership. Appropriations for 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 amounted to € 614 400. In 2003, the appropriations were increased to € 623 900, an amount which took account of the inflation rate. Each group received a fixed allowance of some € 27 500 and an additional per capita allowance (some € 800 per member). It is important to underline that political groups spend, on average, some 60% of their total appropriations on secretaries whose salaries, for the period 1997-2003, have increased by 15.9% (corresponding to some € 50 000). Thus, even if one takes account of the increase of some € 10 000 that the political groups obtained in 2003, € 40 000 would still be necessary simply to recover the financial deficit associated with the salaries of their staff. This unsatisfactory financial situation has greatly reduced the capacity of political groups to finance other important activities such as seminars, meetings and publications.

In its Opinions No. 206 (1998), No. 212 (1999), No. 219 (2000), No. 225 (2001) and No. 237 (2002), the Assembly asked for a modest increase of around € 10 700 per group (€ 53 500 in all) to cover the cost of one half-time administrative officer. However, this request was not granted. For 2004, an increase of

€ 10 700 in the fixed allowance of each group is once again requested. The total increase requested is therefore € 53 500 (5 x € 10 700), the intention being to have this lump-sum allocation for secretarial services gradually built up over the coming years.

HEAD 0303 -        SUPPLIES, SERVICES AND OTHER OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURE

Since 1975 the appropriations under this head have been voted as a lump sum (budgetary package). The various sub-amounts may subsequently be altered in accordance with Article 31 of the Financial Regulations. Head 0303 includes all operational expenditure of the Assembly, i.e. co-operation and monitoring programmes, publications, interpretation, translation, official journeys, experts, conferences, European prizes, etc.

Under this budgetary head, the only point of concern is the Assembly’s voting system. This device was installed at the beginning of 1980s by the European Parliament, which decided to offer it to the Assembly when it left the Council of Europe’s premises in 1999. As it was the cheapest possible option, in 2000 the Assembly took the decision to use it by partially modifying the software so as to meet its specific needs. In the course of 2002, the Assembly was informed by the external firm responsible for ensuring the maintenance and the functioning of the voting system, that the production of some of the technical components of this system, in particular voting cards, had now been discontinued. Moreover, the limits of the software installed in this obsolete voting system are such that it is not possible to register, at the same time, more than 1 024 identifying numbers, which are assigned to Assembly members whose rotation is high. This could engender additional problems. By way of example, it could happen that one Assembly representative, who has left the Assembly for a certain period of time, returns to the Assembly and, by mistake, tries to vote with his/her old voting card. Since the identifying numbers available in the software of this voting system are limited, his/her identifying number could meanwhile have been assigned to another Assembly member. The problem arises when these two Assembly members try to cast their respective votes in the Chamber, as the voting system will not enable them to do so. This is a situation which has to be avoided. Given all these reasons, the Assembly believes that it is crucial to raise the quality and the efficiency of its voting system so as to have a modern device which would fully meet its specific needs. According to the preliminary estimates provided by the external firm, the total cost of a more up-to-date voting system would be some € 60 000.

II. Explanatory memorandum by the Rapporteur

1.       The purpose of this report is to analyse Vote III of the Council of Europe’s ordinary budget, in particular the appropriations allocated to the Assembly to cover staff expenditure, the costs associated with the functioning of political groups, supplies, services and other operational outlays, as well as the financing of the Organisation's interparliamentary co-operation programme. This focusing inevitably means that the common services of the Council of Europe, which form an integral part of the Assembly’s operations, are not discussed.

2.       The Rapporteur has therefore concentrated on proposals for the Assembly’s appropriations for the year 2004, in compliance with existing budgetary procedures. The requests, once approved by the Assembly, will be transmitted in the form of an opinion to the Committee of Ministers.

3.       The Rapporteur emphasises that, in formulating his requests, he has paid careful consideration to the economic, social and budgetary situation in Council of Europe member states. Although several European countries are currently going through periods of austerity, it is nevertheless important for the Assembly to be in a position to fulfil its new and growing tasks and responsibilities without undue financial limitations. This is all the more true in the light of the Assembly’s structural reforms, undertaken in 2001, which bore witness to its willingness to change and to improve its working methods constantly so as to make them both more cost-effective and more responsive to the ever-evolving needs of its members.

4.       After carefully examining the functioning and the current structure of the Assembly, the Rapporteur proposes upgrading the present administrative grade of the staff member who has performed the duties of secretary of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography for more than five years. He intends to formulate this upgrading request from A3 to A4 in recognition of the staff member’s growing workload and increased responsibilities. He also suggests upgrading the present administrative grade of the staff member performs the duties of Secretary of the Committee on Rules of Procedures and Immunities and those of Head of the Assembly Research and Documentation Unit. This requires not only a profound understanding of the highly technical issues involved, but also a high level of initiative, delicate political sensibilities, an outstanding level of commitment, heavy responsibilities and the personal investment of long working hours. Hence, as a result of the Assembly’s growth in size and far-reaching internal restructuring, the tasks and responsibilities of this staff member have been significantly expanded. The Rapporteur is therefore convinced that it would be sensible to recognise this fact and to upgrade the post of this staff member, who has been directly concerned in the Assembly’s restructuring and who obtained his last promotion in 1987. This point is very important as it concerns career prospects, which are indeed vital not only to ensure that the Assembly’s staff remain motivated to do a good job for their committees and the Assembly as a whole, but also to recruit young and qualified new staff.

5.       These staffing requests fall within the Assembly’s overall strategy of having its ten parliamentary committees served by 56 staff members, as the present structure of committee Secretariats is at risk of proving inadequate to maintain the quality of work and the ability, essential in a political body, to respond to unforeseen events in an efficient and rapid manner. This strategy is based on two main elements. First, the internal restructuring has significantly expanded the terms of reference of the Assembly’s committees, which are currently served by 52 permanent staff. Second, the Organisation’s enlarged membership has greatly increased the tasks and the responsibilities of the Assembly’s Secretariat, which is hard-pressed and under strength. Since the financial resources made available to the Council of Europe are limited, the Rapporteur believes that the Assembly’s desired structure should be attained over a reasonable period of time in order not to place an excessive financial burden on member states.

6.       The Rapporteur has therefore been confronted with two conflicting factors, which have to be carefully considered when formulating any budgetary proposal. On the one hand, the Rapporteur, aware of the budgetary difficulties facing several member states, has to limit to the minimum the Assembly’s financial requests. On the other hand, he considers that the budgetary difficulties, though real and tangible, should not be allowed to jeopardise the overall functioning of the Organisation’s parliamentary organ which acts in the interests of all member states, especially in fostering parliamentary democracy, political pluralism and respect for human rights. Moreover, adjusting the administrative structure of the Secretariat of the Assembly is indeed a priority for member states which are the ultimate beneficiaries of its activities.

7.        The final remark concerns the Assembly’s voting system. This device was installed in the Assembly Chamber at the beginning of 1980s by the European Parliament, which decided to offer it to the Assembly when it left the Council of Europe’s premises in 1999. As it was the cheapest possible option, in 2000 the Assembly took the decision to use it by partially modifying the software so as to meet its specific needs. In the course of 2002, the Assembly was informed by the external firm, responsible for ensuring the maintenance and the functioning of the voting system, that the production of some of the technical components of this system, in particular voting cards, had now been discontinued. Given all these reasons, the Rapporteur believes that it is crucial to raise the quality and the efficiency of its voting system so as to have a modern device which would fully meet its specific needs.

8.       Considering all these elements, the Rapporteur has decided to put forward very modest budgetary proposals for 2004 which take account of both the growing demands arising from the Organisation’s wider geographical scope and from the increase in the Assembly’s responsibilities in terms both of quality and of quantity and the Organisation’s limited financial means. These identified priorities, whose overall cost is fairly small in comparison with the Council of Europe’s ordinary budget, represent a reasonable compromise between the aforementioned contradictory standpoints.

9.       For the year 2004, the Assembly’s limited financial proposals amount to € 161 600, representing a small increase of some 1% over the appropriations allocated to the Assembly in 2003. The Rapporteur believes the increase to be well within the capacity of the Organisation’s budgetary authorities and his opinion has been drawn up in a spirit of realism and in the expectation that the Assembly’s point of view will be fully shared by the Committee of Ministers.

Reporting committee: Committee on Economic Affairs and Development

Reference to committee: standing mandate.

Draft opinion unanimously adopted by the committee on 11 March 2003.

Members of the committee: Mrs Zapfl-Helbling (Chairperson), Mr Kirilov, ZZ …, Mrs Burbiene (Vice-chairpersons), Mr Açikgöz, Mr Adam, Mr Agius, Mr Agramunt, Mr I. Aliyev, Mr Anacoreta Correia, Mr Andov, Mr Arnau, Mr Assis Miranda, Mr Ates, Mr Berceanu, Mr Braun, Mr Brunhart, Mr Budin, Mr Çavusoglu, Mr Cosarciuc, Mr Crema, Mr Djupedal, Mr Duivesteijn, Mr Elo, Mr Eyskens, Mr Figel, Mr Floros, Mr Galchenko (Alternate: Ms Yarygina), Mr Galoyan, Ms Griffiths, Mr Grignon, Mr Gusenbauer, Ms Hakl (Alternate: Mr Grissemann), Mr Haupert, Mr Högmark, Mr Jonas, Mr Kacin, Mrs Kestelijn-Sierens, Mr Klympush, Mr Korobeynikov, Mr Kraus, Mr Lachnit, Mr Le Guen, Mr Leibrecht, Mr Liapis, Mr Makhachev, Mr Masseret, Mr Melcak, Mr Mikkelsen, Ms Milicevic, Mr Naumov, Mr Öhman, Mr O’Keeffe (Alternate: Mr Mooney), Mrs Patarkalishvili, Mrs Pericleous-Papadopoulos, Mrs Pintat Rossell, Mr Podgorski, Mr Popa, Mr Puche, Mrs Ragnarsdottir, Mr Ramponi, Mr Reimann (Alternate: Mr Frey), Mr Riccardi, Mr Rivolta, Lord Russell-Johnston, Mr Rybak, Mr Schreiner, Mr Severin, Mr Seyidov, Mr Slakteris, Ms Smith, Mr Stefanov, Mr Tepshi, Mr Torbar, Mrs Vadai, Mr Voog, Mr Walter, Mr Wielowieyski, Mr Wikinski, Mr Zhevago (Alternate: Mr Poroshenko), Mr Zvonar.

N.B. The names of those members present at the meeting are printed in italics

Head of Secretariat: Mr Torbiörn

Co-Secretaries to the committee: M. Bertozzi, Ms Ramanauskaite and Ms Kopaçi-Di Michele