Giving an opinion on the expenditure of the Assembly for the budgetary year 1998

Report (1)

Doc. 7817

30 April 1997

Rapporteur: Mr Alphonse THEIS, Luxembourg, Group of the European People's Party

Summary

Each year, the Assembly submits an opinion to the Committee of Ministers on its operational expenditure.

The Assembly's priorities for 1998 are motivated by the importance it attaches, on the one hand, to the final phase of enlargement and, on the other hand, to the monitoring of commitments and resulting expenditure, including that occasioned by the new states which enjoy special guest status.

I. Draft opinion [link to adopted text]

1.Since the Assembly adopted, in June 1996, Opinion No. 197 (1995) on its own 1997 budget, Croatia has joined the Council of Europe. The number of Council of Europe member states is now 40 and the number of members of the Assembly (representatives and substitutes) has grown to 572. In addition, the parliaments of four European countries enjoy special guest status, which means twenty special guest parliamentarians take part in the Assembly's activities.

2.It is vital to ensure the continued smooth functioning of its work both in the plenary session and in the committees, which requires further reinforcements in the Secretariat. For obvious reasons, given the limited number of Assembly staff, the priority is to increase the staff of the Table Office which currently relies essentially on the head of the Office who is combining these duties with those of the Deputy Clerk of the Assembly.

3.The Assembly wishes to use the new posts to pursue its policy of including nationals of the new member states into its secretariat.

4.The Assembly's priority for reinforcing its secretariat is also motivated by the importance it attaches to the final phase of enlargement and also to the monitoring of commitments.

5.The Assembly is completing the final phase of the Council of Europe's enlargement and is faced with a difficult situation which demands the assistance of an adequate secretariat capable of preparing the files and making the preparatory contacts for these future accessions.

6.Moreover, in 1997, the Assembly saw an increase in its activities and responsibilities in a field set to become a priority, namely the monitoring of compliance with the obligations and commitments undertaken by member states. On 25 April 1997, a new committee on monitoring was set up.

7.The Assembly also wishes to improve the functioning of its plenary sessions in particular by introducing electronic voting and developing its research and documentation resources to render its system of electronic management fully operational.

8.Lastly, following the decision taken in 1996 to use Russian as a working language, on a par with German and Italian, the Assembly considers that it must do its utmost to inform its members by circulating adopted texts in these working languages and ensuring more effective interpretation from and into these languages.

9.The Assembly wishes to continue to expand its programme of interparliamentary cooperation which makes a major contribution to the consolidation of democratic institutions in the member states.

10.The Assembly therefore thinks it necessary increase its appropriations for :

1. the Table Office secretariat and the committee secretariats;

2. the documentation and research service;

3. working conditions of the Assembly, particularly on a linguistic and technical (electronic voting) level;

4. its programme of interparliamentary cooperation.

11.The Assembly stresses that these proposals are prompted by expenditure resulting from enlargement and from the new states enjoying special guest status.

12.Appended to this opinion are:

1. a table of requested increases for 1998 compared with the appropriations for 1997;

2. brief explanations of the changes.

A.    Table of requested increases in real terms in 1998 compared with initial appropriations for 1997

VOTE III - EXPENDITURE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

HEAD 3.1 -    Staff

Sub-head 3101 -    Salary, allowances and social charges of the Clerk of the Assembly

The 1998 appropriations for this sub-head must be kept at the same level in real terms as in 1997.

Sub-head 3102 -    Remuneration of staff recruited on established posts

This appropriation covers the basic salaries, allowances (both non-recurring and periodic) and social insurance of the staff of the Office of the Clerk, which comprises the following 74 posts :

3 A6 posts	1 B6 post
8 A5 posts	6 B5 posts
12 A4 posts	10 B4 posts
17 A2/A3 posts	15 B3 posts
	2 B2 posts

Creation of posts:	Cost
1 A4 posts	651 317 FF
3 A2/A3 posts	1 245 149 FF
2 B4 posts	648 000 FF

Upgrading of posts requested:

1 B5 post to B6

19 000 FF

Increase requested 2 563 466 FF

Detail of the creation and upgrading of posts requested:

a.Increase in staff for the Table Office:

i. creation of one A4 post

This request for a new post had already been made in Parliamentary Assembly Opinion no.197 (1997).

The Head of the Table Office is responsible for the organisation and working methods of the Parliamentary Assembly. He/she ensures that parliamentary procedure and rules are observed and performs the duties of deputy Clerk of the Assembly     responsible for committee coordination. The creation of a post of deputy to the Head of Table Office would help to guarantee the smooth functioning of the Office, in particular during plenary sessions and meetings of the Standing Committee. The tasks of the Head of the Table Office also include ensuring compliance with voting procedures, drawing up lists of speakers, monitoring the tabling of amendments (as well as motions for recommendations and orders) and checking whether they are in order. In these circumstances, it is necessary that he/she should be assisted by an A4 administrator.

ii.    Upgrading of a B5 post to B6

The responsibilities and workload of the person responsible for the administrative and secretarial unit of the Table Office have multiplied considerably in recent years. This staff member supervises a team of secretaries and is responsible for the registration and publication of all Assembly documents, especially those on the agendas of the Assembly plenary sessions and the Standing Committee's meetings, and the material preparation of amendments. By way of example, the number of documents increased from 237 in 1995 to 262 in 1996, whereas the number of amendments went from 261 to 404 in the same period. This staff member is also responsible for compiling and updating the biographies of Assembly members, the list of national delegations and of committee and sub-committee membership.

b.    committee secretariats:

creation of two A2/A3 posts and two B4 posts

Further to Resolution 1107 (1997) on the committee structure of the Assembly, adopted in January 1997, two categories of committee instead of four were created : 9 committees with 65 members and 4 committees with 45 members.

As already stated in Opinion no. 197 (1996), if these committees are to be operational, it is necessary for :

• the 9 committees with 65 members (and 65 alternates) to have at least 3 grade A staff (a secretary and two co-secretaries), one B4 administrative assistant and one B2/3 official;

• the 4 committees with 45 members (and 45 alternates) to have two grade A staff (one secretary and one co-secretary), one B4 administrative assistant and one B2/3 official.

This would give a total of 35 grade A staff and 26 grade B staff.

The secretariat of these committees is currently the responsibility of: 28 A-grade officials (3 A5, 10 A4, 15 A2/A3) and 18 B-grade staff (2 B5, 5 B4, 10 B3 and 1 B2), meaning that there is a shortfall of 7 A-grade staff and 8 B-grade officials.

However, in the light of the budgetary context for 1998, your rapporteur is simply requesting the creation of 2 A2/A3 posts and 2 B4 posts to reinforce the committee secretariats. This should mean that nationals of new member states can continue to be added to the secretariat and that the secretarial team will be sufficient to prepare the files and make the preparatory contacts for future accessions.

c. Computer applications and the Assembly's "Internet" site

Since the creation of its Internet site in 1996, the Assembly has been a pioneer in opening up the Council of Europe to the World Wide Web. As the site now has a document search tool, members of the Assembly and its external partners can have access to most of the Assembly's public documents and to information on the activities in progress. The management and development of the site is a very considerable responsibility which, as in other services, cannot be assigned to a single administrator. The creation of an A2/A3 post is therefore requested.

Sub-head 3103 -    Recruitment, arrival and departure expenses - Home leave

Sub-head 3104 -    Overtime - Statutory and other allowances

The 1998 appropriations for sub-heads 3103 and 3104 must be kept at the same level in real terms as in 1997.

Sub-head 3105 -    Remuneration and accessory charges of temporary conference staff

An increase of around 2.5 million French Francs would be necessary to cover the following :

• the increase in interpretation costs resulting from the introduction of Russian as a working language of the Assembly;

• the increase in translation costs resulting from the decision to translate adopted texts into the Assembly's working languages;

• the costs resulting from the purchase of software for the electronic voting system and the recruitment of temporary staff for its maintenance. The plan is to take over the European Parliament's electronic voting system when it moves in 1998.

• extra costs resulting from the interviewing of candidates to the post of judge for the new European Court of Human Rights.

 Sub-head 3106 -    Provision for adjustments to remuneration

Sub-head 3107 -    Placement of national parliamentary officials on secondment to the Assembly

The 1998 appropriations for sub-heads 3106 and 3107 must be kept at the same level in real terms as in 1997.

HEAD 3.2

Sub-head 3201 -    Allocation to the Assembly's political groups

Given the budgetary situation, it is proposed that the 1998 appropriations for this sub-head be kept at the same level in real terms as in 1997.

HEAD 3.3 -     Supplies, services and other operational expenditure

Given the budgetary situation, it is proposed that the 1998 appropriations for this sub-head be kept at the same level in real terms as in 1997.

Since 1975, the appropriations under the following sub-heads have been voted in a lump sum (budgetary package). The various amounts in this package may subsequently be altered under Article 31 of the Financial Regulations.

 Sub-head 3301 -    Publishing and printing

Sub-head 3302 -    Official expenses of the President of the Assembly

Sub-head 3303 -    Expenditure pertaining to the Private Office of the President of the Assembly

Sub-head 3304 -    Representational expenditure, other official expenditure and travelling expenses of members of the Assembly

 Sub-head 3305 -    Official journeys

Sub-head 3306 -    Expenses for inviting parliamentary delegations of non-member states

Sub-head 3307 -    Consultation of experts

Sub-head 3308 -    Organisation of ad hoc conferences

Sub-head 3309 -    Strasbourg Conference

Sub-head 3310 -    Other expenditure not specifically provided for in this vote

Sub-head 3311 -    Modernisation of the Assembly's equipment (computerisation and office automation)

Sub-head 3312 -    Europe Prizes

HEAD 3.4 -    Parliamentary activities

Sub-head 3401 -    Co-operation programme of the Assembly

The Parliamentary Assembly's activities have grown considerably in the field of monitoring of commitments and cooperation with national parliaments (training of civil servants, parliamentarians, cooperation in the legislative field, assistance or observation missions, etc). This programme has made a major contribution to the consolidation of democratic institutions in the member States. In order to allow parliamentarians from all member States to participate without discrimination, an increase in the order of one million French Francs would be necessary.

This increase is equivalent the reduction in this sub-head made for 1997.

II. Explanatory memorandum by Mr THEIS

1.The Assembly is required each year to give its opinion on Vote III of the Council of Europe's ordinary budget, that is the part of the Organisation's budget relating to appropriations allocated to it to pay for expenditure on staff, for the allocation to the political groups, for supplies, services and other operational expenditure and for the costs stemming from the activities of its programme of interparliamentary co-operation. The common services of the Council of Europe from which the Assembly benefits are financed through appropriations made under Vote I of the budget, which is not the subject of this opinion.

2.I therefore, in accordance with the budgetary procedure in force, restrict myself as rapporteur to putting forward, on the basis of the budget for the current year, a number of proposals as to the appropriations which should be included in the budget for next year. These proposals, once approved by the Assembly, will be transmitted in the form of an opinion to the Committee of Ministers, at the same time as the draft budget for 1998, which will be drawn up by the Secretary General. The texts governing the current budgetary procedure are in the appendix.

3.To allow the Parliamentary Assembly to continue to cope with its new tasks and its growing role within the Organisation, it appears necessary to request increases in appropriations under the following sub-heads:

- Sub-head 3102 (Remuneration of staff recruited on established posts)

The creations and upgradings of posts asked for, some of which had already been requested by the Assembly in its Opinions Nos. 187 (1995) and 197 (1996), should make it possible, firstly, to increase the number of staff in the Table Office and committee secretariats and, secondly, to continue to manage and develop the Assembly's website on the Internet, a field in which the Assembly has had a pioneering role within the Organisation.

- Sub-head 3105 (Remuneration and accessory charges of temporary conference staff)

The increase of 4 000 000 francs granted in the 1997 budget is proving insufficient. Moreover, additional appropriations are also needed for the acquisition of software for the electronic voting system and the recruitment of temporary staff to maintain it. I therefore consider it necessary to request a 2 500 000 francs increase in real terms in the appropriation under this sub-head.

- Sub-head 3401 (Co-operation programme of the Assembly)

The Parliamentary Assembly's activities have been stepped up in the spheres of commitments monitoring and co-operation with national parliaments (training and information for parliamentary officials, co-operation in the legislative field, observer missions, and so on). I therefore propose a 1 000 000 francs increase in the appropriation under sub-head 3401.

4.In conclusion, the above requests as a whole represent an increase of about 6 063 466 francs over the appropriations allocated to the Assembly for 1997.

This increase takes account both of the budgetary and economic situation in the large majority of Council of Europe member States and of the need for the Assembly to strengthen its budgetary resources in order to accomplish the tasks entrusted to it.

Reporting committee: Committee on the Budget and the Intergovernmental Work Programme.

Budgetary implications for the Assembly: The Assembly requests from the Committee of Ministers an increase of its appropriations in real terms of 5 063 466 FF for staff expenses and 1 000 000 FF for the programme of interparliamentary co-operation.

Reference to committee: standing mandate.

Draft opinion adopted unanimously by the committee on 22 April 1997.

Members of the committee: MM Schreiner (Chairman), MM Cox, Theis et Goovaerts (Vice-Chairmen), MM Aleffi, Behrendt, Mrs Bielikova (Alternate: Mr Prokes), MM Bokov, Boucheron (Alternate: Mr de Cosse-Brissac), Mr Bugli, Mrs Calner, MM Cangemi, Cherep, E�rsi, Fernandez Aguilar, Galanos, Sir John Hunt, MM J�nsson, Kaalund, Kamhi, Mrs Karamitro, MM Koulouris, Kriedner, Mrs Luhtanen, MM Lu�s, de Marco, Melc�k, Melescanu, Mestrovic (Alternate: Mr Eltz), Muravschi, Oorzhak, Pantelejevs, Pattison, Piatkowski, Plattner, Popovski, Mrs Ringstad, Mr Rupar, Mrs Schicker, MM Valk, Vishnyakov.

N.B. The names of members who took part in the meeting are printed in italics.

Secretary to the committee: Ms Nollinger.

[1] By the Committee on the Budget and the Intergovernmental Work Programme