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Doc. 7702
6 November 1996
REPORT1 giving an opinion on the budgets of the Council of Europe for financial years 1996 and 1997
(Rapporteur: Mr THEIS, Luxembourg, Group of the European People's Party)
Summary
Each year, the Assembly is required to transmit its opinion to the Committee of Ministers on the Council of Europe's budget as a whole. In this opinion, the Assembly makes recommendations and political observations on:
- the budget for the current year (1996)
- the budget forecasts for the following year (1997)
As regards the 1996 budget, the Assembly welcomes appropriate adjustments in its Ordinary budget in order to deal with the new tasks assigned to the Organisation.
As regards the 1997 exercise, the Assembly regrets that due to the lack of information on the draft budget, it could not express its opinion.
The Assembly firmly asks that this situation will not be repeated in the 1998 exercise.
I. Draft opinion
1. The Assembly took note that the Ordinary Budget of the Council of Europe has been adjusted satisfactorily in order to deal with the consequences of the enlargement of the Organisation which has been carried out during this year.
2. However, the Assembly regrets not being able to express an opinion on the draft budget for 1997 due to lack of information.
3. In this context, the Assembly recalls its Recommendations 1038 (1986) and 1155 (1991) on the powers of the Assembly in budgetary matters and reiterates its request to be associated with the elaboration of the budget of the Organisation for the forthcoming exercises, as well as its earlier request for the member states to create a specific heading for the Council of Europe in their national budgets.
4. Consequently,
A. With regard to the 1996 budget, the Assembly
i. welcomes adjustments in the Ordinary Budget which allowed the Organisation's enlargement in 1996 to be carried out more adequately;
ii. expresses concern over the modest allocation for computerisation expenditure and the insufficient human resources in the Computer and Telecommunications Division to cope with the expansion of the computer network;
iii. notes that its request to the Committee of Ministers to carry out a feasibility study on the introduction of budgetary programming over several years needs to be resumed, has not been followed;
B. With regard to the budget prospects for 1997, the Assembly
i. regrets that the procedure followed for the elaboration of the budget did not enable it to possess the required information to express its opinion;
ii. calls on the Committee of Ministers to reconsider this procedure in order to clarify it further and thus enable the Assembly to form its opinion on the 1998 budget by providing it with sufficient information.
II. Explanatory report
by Mr THEIS
A. Introduction
1. Each year, the Assembly is required to submit an opinion to the Committee of Ministers on the political implications of the Council of Europe budget as a whole. The Assembly's opinion makes general recommendations on the Council's operation, which are based on:
i. the budget for the current year (1996)
ii. budget forecasts for the following year (1997).
2. At the time of the preparation of this report, the Rapporteur did not possess satisfactory information on the Council of Europe budgetary outline for 1997.
B. 1996 Budget
i. General remarks
3. Your Rapporteur has noted a further growth of the Organisation in 1996 and, referring to the Committee of Ministers' reply (Doc. 7565) to the Parliamentary Assembly Opinions Nos. 187 and 192 (1995), welcomes appropriate adjustments in its Ordinary Budget as opposed to a budgetary standstill situation in 1995.
4. The 1996 Ordinary Budget was prepared on the basis of 36 member states. Its financial ceiling was initially fixed (July 1995) by the Committee of Ministers at 830 million FF, which represented an increase of 3.75 % compared to 1995.
5. In the context of the continuing enlargement of the Council of Europe, a new budgetary vote (Vote X) was created in the 1996 Ordinary Budget to provide for the projected accessions of new member countries. Eventually adjustments for the accession of Ukraine and "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" amounted to 13 million FF placed on vote X and implied raising the overall 1996 budget to 843 million FF, i.e. a growth of 5.4 %.
6. The accession of the Russian Federation was the last factor that affected the global Organisation's budget for 1996. With the contribution of this country of approximately 32 million FF, the revised 1996 Ordinary Budget, as adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 3 April 1996 (Resolution 10), reached 875 million FF (an increase of 9.4 % over the 1995 Ordinary Budget).
7. In December 1995 the Committee of Ministers also authorised the use of an unspent 21.9 million FF credit balance of the 1994 Ordinary Budget in the form of an ad hoc supplement to the 1996 Ordinary Budget (see appendix III), thus putting a total of 897 million FF at the disposal of the Organisation.
ii. Breakdown by votes
8. The breakdown of the 1996 Ordinary Budget by votes is given in appendixes I and II. The figures quoted represent the appropriations made in 1996 and do not incorporate the 1994 credit balance.
9. Apropriations for all budgetary votes increased by at least 2.3 % in 1996. It should be noted that the lowest increase was that of the Parliamentary Assembly, in spite of its increasingly complex performance in the framework of expansion and remodeling of existing structures.
10. In its Opinion No. 192 (1995) on the budgets of the Council of Europe for the financial years 1995 and 1996 the Assembly addressed the Committee of Ministers with a number of concrete proposals for consideration when drafting the 1996 Ordinary Budget.
11. Firstly, the Assembly asked member states to create a specific heading for the Council of Europe in the national budgets. The Rapporteur cannot but observe that this proposal has not yet been taken into account and hopes that more attention will be given to the subject in the course of 1996.
12. Last year, the Assembly was concerned by an inexcusibly modest allocation for the computerisation of the Organisation. Compared to 1995 (including supplementary allocation of 5.5 million from the ad hoc supplement to the ordinary budget of that year), the computerisation expenditure, which is split in the Ordinary Budget into maintenance expenditure under Vote I (Sub-head 1301) and investment expenditure under Vote VIII (Sub-head 8102), has decreased by 45.2 %. This downward trend is mainly due to the fact that there has been no allocation for computerisation investment in 1996.
13. In its Recommendation No. 1294 (1996) on the development of computerisation within the Council of Europe, the Assembly invited the Secretary General to act as quickly as possible in allocating the Computer and Telecommunications Division (CTD) proper human resources to cope with the expansion of the computer network. However, the creation of one post for the CTD in 1996 does not seem to be a sufficient measure.
14. In the meantime the Assembly pioneered its Internet server project aimed at improving its documentary research scale and facilitating access of external institutions and individuals to the Assembly's public documents. Such a powerful information and management tool proves to be efficient and potentially cost-saving; it will soon become an inevitable working method with the Council of Europe's external partners which implies due investment into the Organisation's computer hardware and development of the new information and communication policy concept without delay.
15. In 1995, the Assembly also asked the Committee of Ministers to carry out a feasibility study on the introduction of programming over several years which would enable the Council of Europe to exercise its activities more effectively and more efficiently. Your Rapporteur is not aware of any action taken by the Committee of Ministers to process the Assembly's request.
16. The Committee of Ministers' decision to create in 1996 17 permanent posts must be welcomed. It is the consequence of the enlargement of the Council of Europe followed by a more complex diversity of the tasks it performs. The accessory charges for the recruitment and remuneration of new staff members are spread under various sub-heads of Votes I, III, and IV throughout different directorates of the Organisation.
17. A considerable increase of 21 % under Vote IX is mainly due to the opening of a Special Account entitled "New Initiative of the Secretary General" regarding the new global cooperation programme designed to promote democratic process in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. This programme, spanning over 1996-1998 with a total budget of nearly 100 million FF, undergoes a preparatory stage in 1996 and was granted 7 million FF from the Ordinary budget, as well as 6.5 million FF from the ad hoc supplement to the 1996 Ordinary budget, for this purpose. In its Opinion No. 192 (1995) the Assembly gave its full support to the Secretary General's initiative.
18. Finally, your Rapporteur remarks that, despite the minimal addition to the Assembly (Vote III) for 1996, the Parliamentary Assembly continues to operate efficiently thanks to a good management of human and material resources and to the dedication of its staff.
C. 1997 Budget
19. At the time of drafting this report, the Rapporteur regrets not having enough information available to express an opinion on the 1997 Budget.
20. This situation is unacceptable. The Rapporteur hopes that it will not be repeated in 1997. The Committee of Ministers should conduct a dialogue with the Assembly to reconsider the procedure of the elaboration of the budget of the Organisation in order to clarify the situation and thus provide the Assembly with sufficient information to enable it to express its opinion on the 1998 budget.
APPENDIX I - TABLE 12
BUDGET FIGURES FOR THE LAST THREE FINANCIAL YEARS SHOWING TRENDS IN APPROPRIATIONS, IN FRANCS
|
Votes |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
Variations in nominal value compared to 1995 |
% variations |
|
GENERAL BUDGET I. Common expenditure (staff, supplies, publications, information, etc.) II. Intergovernmental activities (Work Programme) III. Parliamentary Assembly a. Staff b. Political Groups c. Budgetary package d. Interparliamentary activities Total IV. Court and Commission of Human Rights and Tribunal in matters of state immunity V. Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe VI. Sundry institutional expenditure (Social Charter and European Convention for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) VII. European Commission against racism and intolerance Human Rights Information Centre VIII. Investment expenditure IX. Assistance for developing and consolidating democratic security X. (Temporary) Expenditure arising from the expansion of the organisation Total |
446 021 000 78 320 000 (52 272 000) (3 081 000) (9 587 000) / 64 940 000 110 071 000 11 931 000 10 217 000 3 600 000 20 000 000 38 900 000 n/a __________ 784 000 000 |
473 022 000 77 500 000 (53 218 000) (3 281 000) (11 637 000) (2,500,000)3 70 636 000 112 261 000 12 575 000 10 754 000 3 612 000 1 600 000 38 040 000 n/a __________ 800 000 000 |
490 929 000 88 954 000 (54 100 000) (3 530 000) (11 635 000) (3 000 000) 72 265 000 128 889 000 13 900 000 12 615 000 4 190 000 12 340 000 46 040 000 4 978 748 875 100 748 |
+ 17 907 000 + 11 454 000 (+ 882 000) (+ 249 000) (- 2 000) (+ 500 000) + 1 629 000 + 16 628 000 + 1 325 000 + 1 861 000 + 578 000 +10 740 000 + 8 000 000 + 4 978 748 + 75 100 748 |
+ 3.78 % + 14.8 % + 1.7 % + 7.6 % -0.0001 % + 0.2 % +2.3 % + 14.8 % + 10.5 % + 17.3 % + 16 % + 671 % + 21 % n/a ________ + 9.4 % |
APPENDIX II - TABLE 2
ORDINARY BUDGET 1996
BREAKDOWN BY VOTE
|
VOTES |
Appropriation |
|
VOTE I - Common expenditure VOTE II - Expenditure pertaining to Intergovernmental Programme of Activities VOTE III - Expenditure of the Parliamentary Assembly VOTE IV - Operational expenditure of the European Court and Commission of the Human Rights and the European Tribunal in matters of state immunity VOTE V - Expenditure of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe VOTE VI - Sundry institutional expenditure VOTE VII- European Commission against racism and intolerance and Human Rights Information Centre VOTE VIII- Investment expenditure VOTE IX - Assistance for developing and consolidating democratic security (ADACS) VOTE X - Expenditure arising from the expansion of the organisation (after transfers to different votes) TOTAL |
490 929 000 88 954 000 72 265 000 128 889 000 13 900 000 12 615 000 4 190 000 12 340 000 46 040 000 4 978 748 875 100 748 |
APPENDIX III - TABLE 3
AD HOC SUPPLEMENT TO THE 1996 ORDINARY BUDGET
(Credit balance of the 1994 Ordinary Budget)
|
Corresponding Sub-Head |
DETAILS |
Amount |
|
3401 9201 9203 9204 0002 |
Cooperation programme of the Assembly "Demosthenes" Programme Contributions to Themis and Lode programmes Sum allocated to the "New initiative of the Secretary General" Reserve from the 1994 Ordinary Budget Credit Balance TOTAL: |
1 000 000 1 000 000 8 000 000 6 500 000 5 435 607 21 935 607 |
APPENDIX IV - TABLE 4
BUDGET OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PROGRAMME OF
ACTIVITIES FOR 1995 AND 1996
(Vote II of the Ordinary Budget)
|
Intergovernmental programme of activities Vote II |
1995 |
1996 |
|
I. Democratic cohesion : - Democracy - Human Rights - Rule of law II. Social cohesion and quality of life - Social policies - Health - Environment and rational regional/spatial management III. Cultural cohesion and cultural pluralism - Education, higher education, culture and heritage - Youth TOTAL VOTE II : |
22 359 000 13 525 000 41 363 000 77 500 000 |
28 592 000 13 524 000 46 801 000 88 954 000 |
APPENDIX V - TABLE 5
PARTIAL AGREEMENTS
|
1995 BUDGET |
1996 BUDGET |
DIFFERENCE IN NOMINAL TERMS | |
|
PA SOCIAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH FIELD EUROPEAN PHAMACOPOEIA SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND POMPIDOU GROUP PA NATURAL DISASTER PROTECTION AND RELIEF EURIMAGES - Operational expenditure - Programme expenditure PA EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW LISBON CENTRE YOUTH CENTRES - Strasbourg - Budapest PA Youth Card GRAZ CENTRE TOTAL: |
9 271 000 44 505 000 10 308 000 7 579 000 13 242 000 9 744 000 132 256 000 8 626 000 not disclosed 16 361 000 11 110 000 2 250 000 540 000 7 778 364 260 210 364 |
9 412 000 48 352 000 10 418 000 8 267 000 13 273 000 9 630 000 141 413 000 10 191 000 not disclosed 19 966 000 14 466 000 5 500 000 595 000 8 104 373 279 621 373 |
+ 1.5 % + 8.6 % + 1.1 % + 9.1 % + 0.2 % - 1.2 % + 6.9 % + 18.1 % n/a + 22 % + 30.2 % + 144.4 % + 10.2 % + 4.2 % + 7.5 % |
Reporting committee: Committee on the Budget and the Intergovernmental Work Programme.
Budgetary implications for the Assembly: The Rapporteur has not been able to make general proposals for the 1997 Budget. The proposals on expenditure of the Assembly for the budgetary financial year 1997 are presented in Opinion No 197 (1996).
Reference to committee: standing mandate.
Draft opinion adopted unanimously by the committee on 6 November 1996.
Members of the committee: MM. Schreiner (Chairman), Cox and Theis (Vice-Chairmen), Behrendt, Mrs Belohorská, MM Bokov, Boucheron, Bugli, Mrs Calner, MM Cherep, Eörsi, Goovaerts, Sir John Hunt (Alternate: Mr Hardy), MM Jónsson, Kaalund, Kamhi, Kriedner (Alternate: Mr Bühler), Mrs Luthtanen, MM Luís, Mattina, Mautner-Markhof, Melčák, Mitrofanov, Motiu (Alternate: Mr Manescu), Muravschi, Oorzhak, Panteļējevs, Pattison, Pavlidis, Piatkowski, Plattner, Popovski, Pukl, Ragno, Mrs Ringstad, MM Sanz (Alternate: Mr Martínez), Valk.
N.B. The names of members who took part in the meeting are printed in italics.
Secretaries to the committee: Ms Nollinger and Ms Ramanauskaite.
1 1by the Committee on the Budget and the Intergovernmental Work Programme
2 2 The appropriations appearing in this table do not incorporate the credit balance.
3 3 The interparliamentary activities have been transferred from Vote IX to Vote III.