EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 212/244

Tuesday 5 May 2009

European Parliament's estimates for 2010

P6_TA(2009)0346

European Parliament resolution of 5 May 2009 on the estimates of revenue and expenditure of Parliament for the financial year 2010 (2009/2006(BUD))

2010/C 212 E/34

The European Parliament,

having regard to Article 272(2) of the EC Treaty,

having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (1), and particularly Article 31 thereof,

having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (2),

having regard to its resolution of 10 March 2009 on the guidelines for the 2010 budget procedure – Sections I, II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX (3),

having regard to the Secretary-General's report to the Bureau on drawing up Parliament's preliminary draft estimates for the financial year 2010,

having regard to the preliminary draft estimates drawn up by the Bureau on 21 April 2009 pursuant to Rules 22(6) and 73(1) of Parliament's Rules of Procedure,

having regard to the draft estimates drawn up by the Committee on Budgets pursuant to Rule 73(2) of Parliaments Rules of Procedure,

having regard to Rule 73 of its Rules of Procedure,

having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A6-0275/2009),

A. whereas a pilot process in which enhanced cooperation between the Bureau and the Committee on Budgets, and early mutual cooperation on all items with significant budgetary implications, was initiated last year and has been maintained for the 2010 procedure,

B. whereas the prerogatives of the plenary in adopting the estimates and the final budget will be fully maintained in accordance with the Treaty provisions and the Rules of Procedure,

C. whereas two pre-conciliation meetings between delegations of the Bureau and the Committee on Budgets took place on 25 March 2009 and 16 April 2009 during which a number of key issues were discussed by the two delegations,

1. Recalls that the general direction of the 2010 budget and the challenges to which it should respond were outlined in its abovementioned resolution of 10 March 2009 on the budgetary guidelines; highlights particularly that optimal and equal access to language facilities for members and actions related to Parliament's enhanced legislative role will constitute fundamental elements of the 2010 budget;

General framework

2. Notes that the overall level of the 2010 budget, as suggested by the Bureau, would stay below the traditional voluntary share of 20 % of heading 5 (administrative expenditure) of the multiannual financial framework; notes that the rate of increase suggested is 3,98 % and that the resulting overall level would be marginally higher than in 2009 at 19,67 % of appropriations under this heading;

3. Decides that at this stage, the overall level of the budget is EUR 1 590 012 726, which represents a rate of increase of 3,92 %, in order to leave a larger margin of manoeuvre for the new parliament in the autumn as well as seeking to make all possible savings; decides to maintain the contingency reserve at the same level as in 2009 (EUR 10 million);

4. Is of the opinion, given the multiannual character of most expenditure items and main projects initiated within the institution, that better medium-term planning needs to be considered for its budget and be made more transparent; considers it very important that the full budget proposal, or at least the vast majority of it, be presented at the estimates stage in the spring and considers that the use of so-called ‘amending letters’ in the autumn must be limited to truly unforeseen events and/or technical updates;

5. Emphasises that timely cooperation between the Bureau and Committee on Budgets in jointly clarifying the budgetary consequences of decisions to be taken should be a fundamental part of how it deals with all major issues, while maintaining the formal prerogatives of each body;

6. Welcomes the prolongation of the pilot project on enhanced cooperation between the Bureau and the Committee on Budgets for a second year and recalls that the principles of trust and transparency are essential; warns against any tendency whereby such cooperation becomes a mere formality, rather than real dialogue, and whereby fundamental decisions are taken prematurely; insists that the spirit of mutual cooperation be kept and improved for the future while respecting the prerogatives of each body; reiterates that prior consultation on issues with significant financial impact is one crucial aspect of the pilot project;

7. Considers that the level of financial resources needed for major issues, including the ratio between internal and external resources needed for major services and projects, is a key element that needs to be carefully considered from a budgetary point of view; urges its executive organs to bear this in mind and to act accordingly with a view to arriving at cost-effective solutions, avoiding duplication of effort, and based on prior analysis of the policy elements;

Specific issues

Posts and restructuring

8. Takes good note, within the context of considerable increases already granted for 2009, of the proposals for the restructuring of services and changes to the Establishment Plan as put forward by the Bureau; underlines its wish to consider the question of the related budgetary resources once a complete picture has been given of all the requests made, including those for groups, and stresses that it will be willing to carefully consider the package at that time, taking into account the need to improve Parliament's enhanced legislative role; therefore decides not to authorise the creation of 30 new posts at this stage; notes that the level of redeployment of posts suggested is very low and encourages further efforts on this issue;

9. In this context, takes note that at its meeting on 1 April 2009, the Bureau unanimously approved the re-structuring plan for DG INLO in relation to the maintenance and management of the Parliament's buildings and the creation of specialised central services to improve the quality of budgetary control and of public procurement procedures; stresses that the final decisions concerning the appropriate level of resources, for DG INLO as well as for other services, are part of the first reading of the budget in the autumn according to the normal procedures; stresses that the choice to be made, from a budgetary point of view, relates to the level of property expertise Parliament needs to have in-house so as to ensure that the maintenance tasks entrusted to external suppliers will be properly defined and their performance adequately controlled; in this context, notes that the single external report cited deals mainly with building security, but also maintenance and management issues and how they can be improved;

10. Considers it essential that the medium to long-term building strategy plan is presented in good time before the first reading in the autumn in order to be able to make the budgetary decisions; therefore, warmly welcomes the Secretary General's commitment to present a draft to the Bureau as soon as possible in the new term; agrees with the Bureau to reduce the building reserve at this stage of the budget procedure to EUR 18 500 000 until the introduction of the appropriate level of appropriations once the strategy in this area has been more clearly defined;

11. Attaches importance to the new security policy to be elaborated and the objectives to be pursued in this sector, naturally bearing in mind the specific character of a parliament and the need for openness alongside security; considers that, as a function of those strategic and operational needs, the corresponding budgetary resources can be considered during the 2010 procedure; welcomes the Bureau's statement concerning an optimum use of resources and, particularly, its indications concerning a cost-effective balance between internal staff and external agents; is worried, however, that the operational and financial implications in the medium to long-term for creating a new Directorate, with four entire divisions, are not clearly laid out;

12. Is looking forward to receiving, in parallel, the cost-savings plan already drawn up within DG Presidency, as requested in 2008, and continues to express worry concerning the cost developments for operational budget lines related to security and security-related equipment;

13. Initially welcomes the proposals for reorganising its services for human resource management and is pleased that the objectives of increased coherence, clarity of mission, and the creation of synergies should be guiding principles; warmly welcomes that this should be achieved within the existing resources, including internal redeployment, but, at the same time, would like to have some further assurances as regards the medium to long-term implications;

Multilingualism

14. Reiterates its wish that equal access to language facilities for members is an essential element of the 2010 budget; is satisfied that an effort has been made from the Administration's side to accommodate this wish but considers that this obviously needs to be combined with the best possible use of resources;

15. Invites the Bureau and Committee on Budgets to urgently address the Inter-Institutional Working Group on multilingualism in order to prepare a proposal (technical level) in order to make sure that inter-institutional cooperation in this field, especially as concerns the use of any free capacity, is improved; is disappointed, for instance, that the system in place for better sharing of translation between institutions is hardly used at all; expects to see a proposal on where possibilities for improvement exist before the first reading; also takes a keen interest in new technical tools for its translation services and asks for information on their development and the related financial consequences during 2010, including the study of the Euramis translation tool; would welcome, in this study, an assessment of whether this tool could lead to improved interinstitutional cooperation in the field of translation, and also efficiency gains and cost savings that could reduce dependence on external translation services;

16. Asks the Secretary-General to provide a cost/benefit analysis regarding the translation in peak times, including the outsourcing to freelancers and an analysis of the possibility of applying alternative working methods;

17. Requests an update on how such resource sharing could be applied in all the fields in which the institutions have temporarily unused capacities, without diminishing the institution's independence and operational capacities (interpretation, renting out the premises, copy services, etc.);

Legislation

18. Welcomes the fact that the Bureau's proposal follows up on last year's main priority, namely legislative work, but is of the opinion that the posts suggested need to be further analysed and, as stated above, should be considered within an overall package; welcomes the fact that items linked to legislation, and co-decision in particular, were key beneficiaries of budgetary reinforcements made for 2009;

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

19. Recalls that clarification has been asked in the IT sector and expects a clear plan for an overall ICT strategy for Parliament, which is crucial in order to make best use of the resources at its disposal; strongly believes that such a plan must be coherent and strike a careful balance between the necessary ‘centralisation’ and economies-of-scale already implicit with the creation of a new and separate DG for this area, as well as the needs to maintain necessary flexibility at the level of the other DGs; wishes the Bureau to guard against overlaps and double spending; calls on Bureau to ensure that the ICT security and needs of the political groups be an integral part of such a plan;

20. Also notes the proposal for a final phase of the three-year plan to reclaim expertise in this area, reducing the dependence on external consultants, and the proposal for an increase of posts; re-iterates its opinion that significant staff increases should lead to savings in consultant costs and looks forward to a three-year overview of those costs, side-by-side with the staff increases approved and/or suggested;

21. Takes good note of the IT Governance Plan adopted by the Bureau and stresses the importance it attaches to ensuring that priorities are identified in a clear and fair manner so as to utilise limited financial resources in the best possible way for the Parliament as a whole; in this respect, also requests a clarification as to how the ‘provider-client’ relationship functions in the area of ICT and to which degree the ‘clients’ can specify which projects they would like to see done, how the financing for carrying out those projects is arrived at and, ultimately, how it is ensured that these fit into the overall strategy;

Multi-annual projects

22. Reiterates its opinion that a multitude of important initiatives and projects in the field of information and analysis for the benefit of members and staff, such as the new library analytical service, the policy units of committees, in conjunction with the vast array of other available information sources/systems, constitute major developments in its work as well as taking up increasing levels of appropriations; believes, therefore, that budgetary and functional stocktaking, in order to ensure coherence and good use of overall resources can only be beneficial and, in this respect, recalls its previous decision concerning a presentation on this issue; welcomes the efforts made by the administration to implement a Knowledge Management System;

23. Takes note of the fact that the Web-TV project is included at already foreseen levels in the Bureau's proposals; would welcome, nevertheless, some further information on ‘the return’ for this investment, notably in terms of viewing statistics and future perspectives; would also appreciate some indication as to whether Web-TV already has, or will, reduce the need for other types of information in print;

24. Takes note of the Bureau's proposal to enter specific appropriations for expert studies concerning a House of European History; expects a clear overview of the costs envisaged for the project as a whole, including administrative costs, at the latest at the stage of the preliminary draft estimates for the 2011 budget procedure;

25. Wishes to leave the Visitors Centre a real possibility to get on with its business and open as soon as possible, in any case no later than the beginning of 2010; therefore looks forward to a final decision on the management concept, in order to fulfil the stated objectives and, importantly, based on real cost-benefit considerations as concerns the existing options; stresses that, for example, a solution based on out-sourcing should have very limited effects, if any, on the internal establishment plan, and vice versa;

Final considerations

26. Underlines that a more detailed examination of individual budget items should take place before the first reading of the budget in the autumn; will thus examine and take the final budgetary decisions at that time;

27. Incorporating the above, adopts the estimates and recalls that the adoption of the draft budget will take place at first reading in October 2009, in accordance with the voting procedure laid down by the Treaty;

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28. Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the estimates to the Council and Commission.

(1) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

(2) OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.

(3) Texts adopted, P6_TA(2009)0096.