A4-0178/97

Resolution on the estimates of revenue and expenditure of the European Parliament and the estimates of revenue and expenditure of the Ombudsman for the 1998 financial year

The European Parliament,

- having regard to its resolution of 13 March 1997 on the guidelines for the 1998 budgetary procedure ((Minutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 15(a).)),

- having regard to its resolution of 24 April 1997 on the proposal for a Decision on the adjustment of the financial perspective to take account of the conditions of implementation pursuant to paragraph 10 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 29 October 1993 ((Minutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 3.)),

- having regard to the Secretary-General's report,

- having regard to the preliminary draft estimates established by the Bureau on 7 April 1997 pursuant to Rules 22(5) and (6) and 165(1) of the Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the provisions of the Financial Regulation, in particular Articles 12, 13 and 55 thereof, and the declaration on the presentation of an analytical budget,

- having regard to its decision of 9 March 1994 on the regulations and general conditions governing the performance of the Ombudsman's duties, and in particular Article 11 thereof ((OJ L 113, 4.5.1994, p. 15.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A4-0178/97),

I. GENERAL FRAMEWORK

1. Recalls that the 1998 budgetary procedure is subject to the financial framework established by the 1993/1999 financial perspective in force;

2. Points out that:

(a) the rate of increase in heading 5 of the financial perspective 'Administrative expenditure' is estimated at 4.34%;

(b) respecting the recommendation of the political group presidents of 14 November 1988 to fix Parliament's budget within an envelope totalling 20% or less of the appropriations foreseen for heading 5 would set the limit for its budget at ECU 908.2 m, which is a nominal increase of 2.7%;

(c) the amounts entered on the budget lines take account of the implementation of the 1996 budget appropriations;

(d) the BEF/ECU conversion rate used to calculate the appropriations requested is 40.0786 BEF to the ECU; the FF/ECU conversion rate is 6.5624FF to the ECU;

(e) salary adjustments and the average rate of inflation have been estimated at 2.6% for the 1997 financial year and 2.7% for the 1998 financial year;

3. Points out that the 1998 financial year should support the cost of the lease for the D3 building for the full 12 months and for the IPE IV building in Strasbourg over eight and a half months;

4. Reaffirms its support for further interinstitutional cooperation to ensure savings and reduce duplication of effort; points out the deficiencies in rapid electronic transfers of information between the institution and its Members through established technologies; insists that more be done with current levels of funding to ensure better exploitation of the advantages of the new information technologies;

5. Insists that proper procedures are adhered to in any cases of public procurement by Parliament through publicized calls for tender;

6. Adopts Parliament's estimates for the 1998 financial year totalling ECU 912 254 325 in expenditure and ECU 52 726 210 in own resources, which correspond to an allocation of 20.09% volume of expenditure allowed for in heading 5 'Administrative expenditure'; estimates the volume for reuse at ECU 3 143 280; intends to amend the global amount with a view to reducing it below 20% of heading 5 'Administrative expenditure', in the first reading of the 1998 draft budget;

II. OWN RESOURCES

7. Expects that the nomenclature concerning its own resources be updated and made more transparent, in particular in the case of attributed reuse of sums pursuant to Article 27 of the Financial Regulation, and that it be harmonised in cooperation with the other institutions and consultative bodies, so that a new nomenclature can be agreed before Parliament's first reading of the 1998 draft budget; consequently supplements the own resources articles with the appropriate remarks;

8. Notes that the sum of its own resources, 91.3% of which are derived from deductions from staff remuneration, finances 5.8% of its expenditure;

III. MEMBERS OF THE INSTITUTION

9. Recalls the position adopted in paragraph 16 of its relevant resolution of 23 May 1996 ((OJ C 166, 10.6.1996, p. 184.)) and paragraph 8 of its resolution of 12 December 1996 ((OJ C 20, 20.1.1997, p. 110.)) and the decision of the Bureau of 29 January 1997 to establish a working group on allowances, charges and expenses for the Members of the institution, and to examine the potential financial impact of the conclusions of this group in the course of the draft 1998 budget; recalls therefore that the budgetary means foreseen should be complemented by such measures as may be necessary to ensure transparency and control of allowances, charges and expenses associated with the working conditions of the Members;

10. Points out that the slight reduction of 0.1% compared to 1997 in the appropriations foreseen for chapter 10 is due to divergent trends of expenditure on various budget lines, such as Members' secretarial expenses, which increase by 2.4%, and the optional pension scheme for Members, which declines by 28%, in part through a fall in the number of Members' participating and the end of the European Parliament's contribution to the deficit of this fund;

11. Fixes the appropriations for item 1004 'travel and subsistence allowances, attendance at meetings and associated expenditure¨ at ECU 48 400 000, an amount that corresponds virtually to the amount of appropriations decided in the 1997 budget (no change from the 1997 rates applicable to travel expenses); requests the working party on a statute for Members of the European Parliament to submit concrete proposals on this matter as soon as possible;

IV. STAFF IN ACTIVE EMPLOYMENT

12. Maintains the establishment plan of the Secretariat at its current staffing level; creates one temporary A7 post in the political groups' secretariat;

13. Authorizes the appropriations for upgradings and the award of 'ad personam' grades and other measures concerning the establishment plan as follows:

(a) in the Secretariat: 6 A5 to A4, 6 A6 to A5, 4 A7 to A6, 8 B2 to B1, 12 B3 to B2, 8 B4 to B3, 26 C2 to C1, 30 C3 to C2, 26 C4 to C3, 12 C5 to C4, 15 D to C5, 2 D2 to D1, 14 LA5 to LA4, 4 LA6 to LA5, 2 LA7 to LA6;

(b) the award of 6 ad personam grades: 1 B1 to A5, 2 C1 to B3 and 3 D1 to C3;

(c) in the political groups' secretariats, 1 A3 to A2 'ad personam', 1 A7 to A6, 2 B3 to B2, 1 C4 to C3;

14. Recalls that the upgraded posts from category D to C will be attributed by transfer or by appointment of candidates who have succeeded in an internal or external general competition;

15. Draws attention to the following aspects of the Secretary-General's report:

(a) presentation of a list of posts in the budget by administrative unit, which provides greater budgetary transparency;

(b) figures for the rate of recruitment of officials who are nationals of the new Member States (of the 305 posts created, 235 posts (77%) have been filled, 185 by officials, 45 by temporary staff and 5 by auxiliary staff);

(c) information on implementation of the termination of service regulations for officials in the Secretariat and for temporary staff in the political group secretariats; to add to the 14 terminations of service (2A, 6B, 3C, 3LA) agreed in the first round 1995/96, 14 further terminations of service (1A3, 2A, 8B, 3C) are being implemented in the second round 1996/97;

(d) information concerning the application of Article 41 of the Staff Regulations under which up to 4 A3 posts are to be deleted in the 1998 budget procedure, in addition to the 13 posts deleted since the 1994 financial year;

(e) the resiting of services and relocation of officials that should ensure, on the basis of an objective evaluation of needs, a balance between existing resources and political priorities, which are clearly defined, for the services to be strengthened;

(f) the criteria adopted justifying the upgradings proposed;

16. Welcomes the Secretary-General's proposals that staff mobility must be fostered, on the basis of a structured programme that applies to the whole of the Secretariat, including the external offices, as is the case in the Commission, and in particular:

(a) that avoids a routine approach to work;

(b) that does not deprive officials, particularly category A staff, of a breadth of experience conducive to the successful assumption of management responsibilities;

17. Draws attention to the increasing volume of work and the constant increase in overtime working; requests the Secretary-General to include a chapter in his report to the Bureau on staff policy giving precise data on the overtime actually worked by the staff as a whole;

18. In this connection recognizes that a total revision should be undertaken of professional training, which is currently too concerned with the extension of linguistic skills, so as to give priority to improving financial, general management and staff management skills;

V. ORGANIZATION OF WORK

19. Recalls the terms of its amendment concerning staff mission expenses, in particular the request that each institution attach to the annual estimate a statement justifying its request for appropriations for mission expenses on the basis of its annual work programme by sector of activity, including expenses in connection with professional training;

20. Enters under item 1301 the following appropriations:

- part-sessions10 083 000

- committee meetings in the three places of work1 190 000

- meetings of committees or delegations away from the

three places of work 285 000

- delegations for relations with the parliaments of third countries480 000

- ACP meetings500 000

- political group meetings in the three places of work275 000

- political group meetings away from the three places of work950 000

- other missions in the three places of work2 270 000

- other missions away from the three places of work1 100 000

- professional training365 000

- joint parliamentary committee delegations250 000

- ad hoc missions away from the three places of work90 000

Total17 838 000

21. Specifies that the appropriations foreseen of ECU 10 083 000 for item 1301, first indent correspond to the same number and location of part-sessions as in 1997 (11 five-day part-sessions in Strasbourg and 7 two-day part-sessions in Brussels); that the difference compared to 12 part-sessions in Strasbourg and 7 part-sessions in Brussels totalling overall ECU 1.866 m (an amount reached through the proportional reduction of the following items: 1110 - auxiliary staff, 1870 - interpreters and conference technicians, 2232 - hire of vehicles, 2311 - telephone, telegraph, telex, television) be placed in chapter 101;

22. Recalls the terms of its resolution of 16 December 1992 on the conclusions of the European Council meeting in Edinburgh on 11 and 12 December 1992 ((OJ C 21, 25.1.1993, p. 105.)) concerning Parliament's places of work;

23. Considers that the expenditure on the financing of the translation and publication of the verbatim report of proceedings, which is politically justified, should be met in part by reducing the production and direct and indirect dissemination costs, without going back on the existing transparency and the current multilingual system;

24. Instructs its competent authority to prepare a report, to be presented before its first reading of the draft budget, on the organisation of meetings of joint parliamentary committees and ACP meetings, taking account of the experience gained by the standing committees in the organisation of their work outside the three places of work, highlighting the savings that this experience has provided for the Union's budget;

VI. MOVEMENTS IN APPROPRIATIONS

25. Notes the conclusion of the trialogues of 8 and 9 April 1997, and the results of the working group on financing Parliament's buildings; while regretting that the most favourable option for the European taxpayer - purchase through direct financing, which was proposed by the Commission subsequent to Parliament's request for a communication - was refused by the Council, agrees to the proposals for the early purchase, if necessary through indirect financing, of its buildings and land in Brussels and Strasbourg, with the effect of significantly reducing the call on contributions from the taxpayers of the Union over the medium term; urges all parties to come to a final agreement on this before the budget conciliation in July 1997, so that the necessary procedures can be initiated;

26. Underlines that the occupation of the D3 and IPE IV buildings will necessitate the surrendering of other buildings in Brussels and Strasbourg, and that the Parliament must take measures to reduce as much as possible the financial cost by making over buildings to other occupiers while moving in to its new buildings;

27. Insists that the results of the work of the interinstitutional group on buildings be provided to the budgetary authority before the budget conciliation in July 1997;

28. Decides to adapt the nomenclature of item 2000 so as to make its purpose clear, and decides to attribute appropriations amounting to ECU 153 179 192 to this item in 1998 and places an amount of ECU 14 776 948 in chapter 100;

29. Points out that this appropriation provides for the calculation of the rent and annual lease payments on the basis of:

(a) financing the purchase of the new D3 and IPE IV buildings over as short a period as possible, preferably over ten years;

(b) receiving the negotiated contribution of the Belgian authorities concerning the D3 land costs and receiving advance payments of 1.8 billion BEF, which has so far been agreed, towards the D3 land development costs for which the final sum is likely to be some hundreds of millions BEF higher, when works, audit and negotiations have been concluded;

(c) surrendering the MAE building and, for part of the year, the Palais and IPE III buildings to other leasees; instructs its Secretary-General, in close cooperation with the Secretaries-General of the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee, to present a plan for the occupation by those two committees of the MAE building from 1 January 1998; this plan should be presented to the budgetary authority before the budget conciliation with the Council in July 1997;

(d) including the rental payments for the Belliard I+II buildings for a transitional year, to allow them to be made over to a new leasee, possibly the Commission, from 1 January 1999; instructs its Secretary-General to inform the budgetary authority of the progress of negotiations with the Commission on this matter before Parliament's first reading of the 1998 draft budget;

30. Demands that, after a period of years of intense investment in information technology, a clear and comprehensive action plan be drawn up which:

(a) defines succinctly the aims now to be achieved, over a specified period, and both the human resources and financial means that need to be committed to achieve this;

(b) foresees an informatics system which reconciles to the maximum degree the following characteristics:

(i) it develops the strategy of providing citizens and journalists throughout the Union and elsewhere with open access to Members, to parliamentary documents and public information in Parliament;

(ii) it guarantees the effective and rational allocation of financial resources;

(iii) it facilitates communication of documentation and information between the Members and the services of the Secretariat, between these services, in their different places of work, and between institutions of the Union, without additional technical difficulties and costs;

(iv) it takes account of the favourable possibilities that the group purchase of licences and maintenance facilities at interinstitutional level provide;

(v) it encourages the choice of user-friendly software, whose availability and continued development production is demonstrated by market trends;

(vi) it ensures gradual adaptation by users, without major disruptive retraining needs;

(vii) it respects the multilingual basis of the institutions' work;

(viii) it ensures data security for Members, for the political groups and for the administrative services of the institution;

(c) allows flexible adaptation to take account of the management of work in the major centres of activity of the Union; enters in Chapter 100 an appropriation of ECU 12 539 000 for lines 2100, 2101, 2102, 2110, 2111, 2112;

31. Requests the Secretary-General to explore the possibility of real joint management (Administration-Staff Committee) of the appropriations entered in Article 160 'Special assistance grants' and Article 162 'Welfare expenditure';

32. Furthermore requests that a report be drawn up, before the first reading of the 1998 draft budget, on the possibilities of, and potential savings from, concluding contracts with different companies providing telecommunication services in each of its working places;

33. Recalls that in adopting the 1997 budget, it expressed grave reservations about the Epicentre project, for which appropriations remain in reserve, pending the presentation of a substantiated report on the development of the project; considers that the investment in infrastructure so far should be exploited in a revised project;

34. Enters in Chapter 100 the following appropriations:

(a) ECU 1 225 000 for lines 2250, 2251, 2252 and chapter 21 concerning the Epicentre, inter alia, until a programme of action has been agreed to ensure essential library and documentation services for Members in the main workplaces; requests that a detailed analysis be submitted, before Parliament's first reading of the 1998 draft budget, concerning the use of budget funding for the different activities associated with the Epicentre from the 1995 financial year to the present;

(b) ECU 6 000 000 for line 205 - Security, pending the appropriate decisions by the Bureau on the application of the security system in 1998 and also the submission of precise information on the tasks assigned to security staff on the basis of these specifications;

(c) ECU 1 200 000 for line 1840 - Restaurants and canteens, until details are provided, before Parliament's first reading of the 1998 draft budget, on the direct and indirect subsidy granted in each place of work and for each unit, the extent of re-use of revenue provided by these services to the Institution, the terms and duration of the contracts with the suppliers of the services, and until a plan is presented by the Secretary- General to the Bureau to phase out the direct monetary subsidy from the annual budget to such service providers, and to try to increase re-use and revenue for such in-house services; reduces the overall amount on the line by ECU 1 m; instructs its Secretary-General to review, in the context of interinstitutional cooperation, the operational arrangements of the staff shops in the various places of work with the aim of achieving economies of scale in the budget of the European Union;

(d) ECU 5 000 000 for line 203 - cleaning and maintenance, until suitable detailed information is provided on the terms and duration of these contracts, and the procedures used for their conclusion;

35. Instructs in particular the Secretary-General to update the vademecum on the functioning of the Advisory Committee on Procurements and Contracts and, for other commercial in-house services (banks, shops, newsagents, travel agents etc.) to provide full details on the same matters as for canteens and restaurants in paragraph 34(c) above, itemizing their financial impact in terms of revenue and expenditure;

36. Instructs the Secretary-General to provide, before Parliament's first reading of the 1998 draft budget, a complete list of regularly renewable contracts for which it is responsible, that pass before the advisory committee, detailing their purpose and their cost, with the date and results of the last evaluation undertaken on the services or goods financed;

37. Instructs its Secretary-General to contact the political group secretaries- general and the secretaries- general of the political parties at European level with the aim of following up the recommendations made in its resolution of 10 December 1996 on the constitutional status of European political parties ((OJ C 20, 20.1.1997, p. 29.)): asks, furthermore, the Secretary-General to conclude the negotiations with the political groups on the implementation rules of items 3705, 3706 and 3708;

38. Instructs its Bureau to undertake an ecological audit of the buildings and working methods in the working places of Parliament, taking account of current and future needs as decided by its competent bodies;

39. Merges budget line 261 into budget line 260 without changing the total amount overall and reduces pre-attributed amounts by a third in order to retain a margin for the most urgent research needs;

40. Recalls its resolution of 10 April 1997 containing the comments which form part of the decision giving discharge to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the 1995 budget ((Minutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 1(b) (II).)), and in particular those dealing with on the high level of cancellation of appropriations;

41. Enters a sum of ECU 3 497 493 in Chapter 101 'contingency reserve';

VII. OMBUDSMAN

42. Notes that, in accordance with the provisions of Article 12 of the Financial Regulation, the Ombudsman has forwarded to the European Parliament before 1 May 1997 estimates of his revenue and expenditure for the financial year 1998, amounting to ECU 2 636 002 in expenditure and ECU 264 421 in revenue;

43. Notes at this stage of the procedure the request for the creation of one temporary A7 post for informatics work, and the upgrading of 1 C3 to C2, and 2 C5 to C4;

44. Reserves the right therefore to reexamine these proposals, and other articles and items in the EP's budget to enter remarks pertinent to the Ombudsman's activities in the Annex, during the first reading of the draft budget drawn up by the Council;

45. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the institutions concerned and to the Ombudsman.