Reply to Recommendation 1344 (1997) - Enlargement of the Council of Europe: the budgetary and administrative powers of the Assembly

Doc. 8080

21 April 1998

Enlargement of the Council of Europe: the budgetary and administrative powers of the Assembly

Reply to Recommendation 1344 (1997)

from the Committee of Ministers

adopted on 16 April 1998 at the 628^th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies

In replying to Recommendation 1344 (1997) on the enlargement of the Council of Europe: the budgetary and administrative powers of the Assembly, the Committee of Ministers also takes into account two earlier Recommendations adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly: No. 1155 (1991) on the powers of the Assembly in budgetary matters, and No. 1250 (1994) on the enlargement of the Council of Europe and the budgetary prospects.

With regard to the specific recommendations made in paragraph 4 of Recommendation 1344 (1997), the Committee of Ministers wishes to make the following points:

The draft budgetary calendar proposed for the preparation of the 1999 budget provides first, that the formal document by the Secretary General on budgetary prospects and proposal for the ceiling should be transmitted for information to the Assembly's Committee on the Budget, and secondly that there should be an exchange of views with the Assembly before the final decision on the budgetary ceiling, which is envisaged to be taken in May. In execution of this second provision, the Chair of the Ministers' Deputies' Rapporteur Group on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (GR-AB) has proposed the holding of a joint meeting. The Committee of Ministers believes that it has responded to the legitimate concerns of the Assembly in this area.

Concerning the proposed mechanism for direct consultation with the Assembly concerning Vote III of the ordinary budget, the Committee of Ministers believes that it is necessary to hold regular consultations of the kind envisaged in the preceding paragraph in order to discuss all issues of common interest in the budgetary and administrative fields.

Regarding the proposal concerning the competence of the Assembly in relation to staff appointments, the Committee notes that, according to present procedures for recruitment or promotion/transfer, the Clerk or his or her representative sits as a member of the panel charged with making recommendations to the Secretary General in the context of his statutory responsibility for the recruitment of staff. The Committee takes the view that any fundamental shift of competence in this field could be examined in the light of the conclusions of the Committee of Wise Persons.