EN Official Journal of the European Union C 318/1

REPORT ON BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

SECTION I OF THE EU BUDGET

FINANCIAL YEAR 2006

(2007/C 318/01)

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 3

1. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN 2006 IN GENERAL 3

1.1. Revenue 4

1.2. Initial budget and amending budget 4

1.3. Commitments, payments and carryovers to 2007 4

1.4. Automatic and non-automatic carryovers to 2006 4

1.5. Appropriations from assigned revenue 4

1.6. Transfers 5

1.6.1. Use of provisional appropriations 5

1.6.2. Property acquisition policy 7

1.6.3. Information policy 11

1.6.4. Other transfers 11

1.7. Cancellations 12

2. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 12

2.1.1. Chapter 10 ‘Members of the Institution’ 14

2.1.2. Chapter 12 ‘Officials and temporary staff’ 14

2.1.3. Chapter 14 ‘Other staff and outside services’ 15

2.1.4. Chapter 16 ‘Other expenditure relating to persons working with the Institution’ 15

2.1.5. Chapter 20 ‘Buildings and associated costs’ 15

2.1.6. Chapter 21 ‘Data processing, equipment and furniture: purchase, hire and maintenance’ 16

2.1.7. Chapter 23 ‘Current administrative expenditure’ 16

2.1.8. Chapter 30 ‘Meetings and conferences’ 17

2.1.9. Chapter 32 ‘Expertise and information: acquisition, archiving, production and dissemination’ 17

2.1.10. Chapter 40 ‘Expenditure relating to certain institutions and bodies’ 17

2.1.11. Chapter 42 ‘Expenditure relating to parliamentary assistance’ 18

2.1.12. Chapter 44 ‘Meetings and other activities of current and former Members’ 18

3. OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS ACHIEVED 18

3.1. Communication policy 18

3.2. Enlargement 18

3.3. Better EU legislation 19

3.4. Better financial management 19

4. LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

1. Tables

Table 1 Use of 2006 appropriations 3

Table 2 Transfers by legal basis 5

Table 3 Use of Provisional Appropriations in Chapters 100 and 104 6

Table 4 Purpose of transfers of Provisional Appropriations 7

Table 5 Purpose of transfers in respect of buildings policy 7

Table 6 Use of Provisional Appropriations for the purpose of buildings policy 9

Table 7 All appropriations transferred for the purpose of buildings policy 10

Table 8 Main sources for the ‘mopping up’ transfers C30 and C31 10

Table 9 Transfers other than those from provisional appropriations for buildings or information policy 11

Table 10 Evolution of 2006 and 2005 final appropriations 12

Table 11 Staff by Directorate-General 14

2. Figures

Figure 1 Distribution of 2006 expenditure by chapter 13

Figure 2 Evolution of appropriations between 2005 and 2006 by chapter 13

5. ANNEXES 20

5.1. Summary of ‘C’ transfers 20

5.2. Summary of ‘P’ transfers 31

5.3. Implementation of 2006 appropriations 32

INTRODUCTION

This report presents the budgetary and financial management by the European Parliament during financial year 2006. It outlines the financial situation and the events which have had a significant influence on activities during the year (in parts 1 and 2) and gives a brief account of the achievement of the objectives for the year (in part 3). The annual activity reports of the authorising officers by delegation are transmitted to the budgetary authority separately.

The report has been drawn up in accordance with Article 122 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (OJ L 248, 16.9.2002) (1) (hereafter ‘Financial Regulation’ or ‘FR’), Article 185 of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for implementation of the Financial Regulation (2) (hereafter ‘Implementing Rules’ or ‘IR’) and Article 13(2) of the Internal Rules on the implementation of the European Parliament's budget (3).

1. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN 2006 IN GENERAL

2006 was the last financial year covered by the financial perspective for 2000-2006 (Agenda 2000) (4). Parliament's final appropriations totalled € 1 321 600 000.

Table 1 below presents the implementation of the budget of the European Parliament in financial year 2006:

Table 1

Use of 2006 appropriations

Appropriation type € or % I. Appropriations 2006 Initial appropriations 1 321 600 000 Amending Budget — Final appropriations 1 321 600 000 II. Final appropriations 2006 Commitments 1 306 325 432 represent in % of final appropriations 99 % Payments 1 117 578 610 represent in % of commitments 86 % III. Carryovers to 2007 Automatic carryovers to 2007 (5) 188 746 822 represent in % of final appropriations 14 % represent in % of commitments 14 % Non-automatic carryovers (uncommitted appropriations carried over to 2007) (6) 4 817 000 represent in % of final appropriations 0,4 % IV. Cancellations Appropriations cancelled 15 274 568 represent in % of final appropriations 1 % V. Carryovers to 2006 Automatic carryovers to 2006 (5) 307 163 636 Payments against these carryovers 285 578 104 represent in % of carryovers 93 % Cancellation rate 21 585 532 VI. Assigned revenue appropriations in 2006 Appropriations from assigned revenue in 2006 40 017 311 Commitments 30 778 877 represent in % of appropriations from assigned revenue 77 % Payments 5 858 229 represent in % of appropriations committed arising from assigned revenue 19 % Available appropriations from assigned revenue in 2006 9 238 434 VII. Assigned revenue appropriations carried over to 2007 Appropriations from assigned revenue carried over to 2007 34 831 297 VIII. Assigned revenue appropriations carried over to 2006 Appropriations from assigned revenue carried over to 2006 32 288 714 Commitments 32 054 298 Payments 31 086 918 represent in % of the commitments 97 %

1.1. Revenue

Revenue entered in the initial budget (initial estimates) totalled € 99 025 664. Revenue entered in the accounts as at 31 December 2006 totalled € 126 126 604.

1.2. Initial budget and amending budget

Authorised appropriations in Parliament's initial budget for 2006 totalled € 1 321 600 000, representing a 3,9 % increase over the 2005 budget (€ 1 272 000 000). No amending budget was introduced in 2006.

1.3. Commitments, payments and carryovers to 2007

Commitments totalled € 1 306 325 432, or 99 % of final appropriations (2005: 99 %). Payments totalled € 1 117 578 610, or 86 % of commitments entered into (2005: 75,40 %). Automatic carryovers to financial year 2007 totalled € 188 746 822, or 14 % of the appropriations committed (2005: 24,59 %). Uncommitted appropriations at year-end carried forward to financial year 2007 totalled € 4 817 000, or 0,4 % of the final appropriations (2005: 0,02 %).

1.4. Automatic and non-automatic carryovers to 2006

Automatic carryovers totalled € 307 163 636. Payments against them equalled € 285 578 104, or 93 % (2005: 92,32 %).

Non-automatic carryovers totalled € 4 817 000 and were carried over to Article 214 ‘Technical equipment and installations’.

1.5. Appropriations from assigned revenue

Assigned revenue made available in 2006 totalled € 40 017 311 (2005: € 35 841 144). The commitment rate was 77 % (2005: 76 %). Payments totalled € 5 858 229, or 19 % of commitments entered into (2005: 11,65 %). The balance of unpaid commitments (€ 30 778 877 as compared with € 24 009 012 in 2005) and available appropriations (€ 9 238 434 as compared with € 8 665 875 in 2005) were carried over to financial year 2007. Together with the appropriations carried over from previous years, total appropriations arising from assigned revenue and carried over to 2007 amounted to € 34 831 297.

Assigned revenue carried over to 2006 totalled € 32 288 714 (2005: € 31 412 881). Commitments entered into totalled € 32 054 298 (2005: € 31 289 725), and payments in 2006 represented 97 % of commitments entered into (2005: 95 %).

1.6. Transfers

During the year, 29 C transfers were approved. Twenty of these were authorised under Articles 24 (7) and 43 (8) of the Financial Regulation. They totalled € 124 114 975, or 9 % of final appropriations (in 2005: 15 transfers accounting for 14 % of the final appropriations). The year-end ‘mopping-up’ transfers, C30 and C31, are included in the above amount and involved a total of € 37 246 425 (2005: € 124 144 556).

A further 7 C transfers under Article 22(2) (9) of the Financial Regulation were approved by the President. They totalled € 7 666 300, or 1 % of final appropriations (2005: 12 C transfers accounting for 1,67 % of final appropriations).

The President also authorised 8 P transfers under Article 22(1) (10) of the Financial Regulation, totalling € 4 724 000 or 0,36 % of the final appropriations (2005: 10 transfers accounting for 0,33 % of the final appropriations).

In 2006, to sum up, there were 37 C and P transfers in total, involving € 173 751 700, or 13 % of final appropriations (2005: 37 transfers accounting for € 203 902 174, or 16.13 % of final appropriations).

Table 2

Transfers by legal basis

Legal basis Amount As % of Final Appropriations C transfers Art. 22 FR (*) 7 666 300 1 % Art. 22, 24 and 43 FR 37 246 425 3 % Art. 24 and 43 FR 124 114 975 9 % P transfers 22,1 4 724 000 0,36 % C + P transfers 173 751 700 13 %

The transfers can be grouped under the following headings:

1.6.1. Use of provisional appropriations

1.6.2. Property acquisition policy

1.6.3. Information policy

1.6.4. Other transfers

1.6.1. Use of provisional appropriations

This section looks at the use of appropriations from Chapter 100 ‘Provisional appropriations’ and Chapter 104 ‘Reserve for information and communication policy’. However, the use of appropriations from these two chapters as well as from chapter 2009 ‘Provisional appropriation to cover the Institution's property investments’ to acquire immovable property is discussed under section 1.6.2. Property acquisition policy. These chapters, included in Title X ‘Other expenditure’, are referred further in this report as ‘provisional appropriations’.

Table 3

Use of Provisional Appropriations in Chapters 100 and 104 (11)

From item To item Heading Appropriations transferred to item from provisional appropriations Other appropriations transferred to item Initial appropriation Appropriation after transfers Transfer (12) Chapter 100 1610 Expenditure on recruitment 73 000 — 290 000 363 000 C2 1612 Further training 405 000 — 2 640 000 3 045 000 1402/01 Conference interpreters: interpreters and conference technicians 10 000 000 6 200 000 29 490 000 45 690 000 1420/01 Outside services: translation of the Verbatim Report of Proceedings 2 000 000 600 000 3 948 000 6 548 000 2000/02 Rent: Strasbourg 2 000 000 — 13 774 408 15 774 408 2007/03 Fitting-out of premises: Brussels 8 000 000 — 4 135 000 12 135 000 C24 2100/05 Purchase, servicing and maintenance of equipment and software, and related work: purchase, replacement and maintenance of infrastructure and development software 4 000 000 — 3 470 000 7 470 000 C8 Chapter 104 2140/12 Technical equipment and installations: audiovisual — D5 Building 2 600 000 — — 2 600 000 C26 3248/03 Expenditure on audiovisual information: Web TV 1 000 000 — — 1 000 000 C13

The appropriations were released from Chapters 100 and 104 after the information requested by Parliament had been forwarded to the Committee on Budgets, or the Bureau had taken a decision (13), or positive recommendations of the Conference of Presidents and of the Bureau (14) had been received in connection with the purpose of the transfer as presented in Table 4:

Table 4

Purpose of transfers of Provisional Appropriations

Item/Sub-Item Amount transferred Purpose of transfer Transfer 1402/01 10 000 000 Improvement of language support and availability of interpretation facilities for political groups and their working parties; C2 1420/01 2 000 000 1610 73 000 Further progress in reducing the vacancy rate of new posts created for the period 2003-2005 1612 405 000 2000/02 2 000 000 Updated plan for acquisition of property in the short and medium term, including options to purchase premises for Information Offices and Europe Houses 2007/03 8 000 000 Update plans for fitting out of premises and decision not to build two meeting rooms in Strasbourg C24 2100/05 4 000 000 Information and communication technology projects including the new electronic voting system C8 2140/12 2 600 000 The purchase of the first part of audiovisual equipment for the D5 building C26 3248/03 1 000 000 Information and communication policy and Web-TV C13

1.6.2. Property acquisition policy

This paragraph concerns the use of appropriations in Chapter 100 ‘Provisional appropriations’, Chapter 104 ‘Reserve for information and communication policy’ and Item 2009 ‘Provisional appropriation to cover the Institution's property investments’ in connexion with buildings policy. It also looks at transfers from other items for this purpose.

Four C transfers totalling € 124 071 425 were used to reinforce a number of budgetary lines in the area of property policy, making possible the following transactions, as presented in Table 5:

Table 5

Purpose of transfers in respect of buildings policy

Item/Sub-Item Amount transferred Purpose of transfer Transfer 2003 5 750 000 Purchase of a building in Nicosia 30, Vyronos (Byron) Street, permitting the establishment of a European Union House, jointly with the European Commission C5 2008 550 000 2007/04 300 000 2008 7 100 000 Consulting fees for extension project of the Konrad Adenauer building in Luxembourg C10 2003 63 125 000 The purchase of the WIC/SDM/IPE3 buildings in Strasbourg C18 2001/03 10 000 000 Advance payments against the annual lease payments due for the D4 and D5 Buildings under construction in Brussels C19 31 523 602 To part-finance the D4/D5 Buildings currently under construction in Brussels C30 5 722 823 Further advance payments against the annual lease payments due for the D4/D5 Buildings under construction in Brussels C31

Of the € 124 071 425 transferred in support of buildings policy, over 30 % (€ 38 603 580) came from provisional appropriations. Fuller details of the use of provisional appropriations for the purpose of buildings policy are provided in Table 6.

A summary of all transfers for buildings policy is given in Table 7 below. The first ‘mopping-up’ transfer C30 yielded € 31 523 602 and the second, C31, an additional € 5 722 823. Both were used for an advance payment on the D4/D5 buildings in Brussels.

The main sources of the appropriations ‘mopped up’, together with the main reasons for their availability, are shown in Table 8 below.

Table 6

Use of Provisional Appropriations for the purpose of buildings policy

From item To item Heading (to item) Appropriation transferred to item from provisional appropriations Other appropriations transferred to item Initial appropriation Appropriation after transfer Transfer 2009 2003 Acquisition of immovable property 5 750 000 — — 5 750 000 C5 4 500 000 — 4 500 000 C18 Chapter 104 2003 Acquisition of immovable property 15 500 000 — — 15 500 000 C18 2003 Total 25 750 000 43 125 000 — 68 875 000 2009 2008 Other expenditure on buildings 550 000 — 2 286 887 C5 3 900 000 — 3 900 000 C10 2008 Total 4 450 000 3 200 000 1 736 887 9 386 887 2007/04 Fitting-out of premises: Information offices 300 000 — C5 2007/04 Total 300 000 — 2 000 000 2 300 000 Chapter 100 2001/03 Annual lease payments: Brussels 7 203 580 — 7 203 580 C19 Chapter 104 2001/03 Annual lease payments: Brussels 900 000 — 900 000 C30 2001/03 Total 8 103 580 39 142 845 1 136 000 48 382 425 Total transferred from provisional appropriations 38 603 580





Table 7

All appropriations transferred for the purpose of buildings policy

To item Heading Appropriation transferred Initial appropriation Appropriation after transfer Transfer 2001/03 Annual lease payments: Brussels 47 246 425 1 136 000 48 382 425 mopping up (C30, C31) and C19 2003 Acquisition of immovable property 68 875 000 — 68 875 000 C5, C18 2007/04 Fitting-out of premises: Information offices 300 000 2 000 000 2 300 000 C5 2008 Other expenditure on buildings 7 650 000 1 736 887 9 386 887 C5, C10 Total 124 071 425 4 872 887





Table 8

Main sources for the ‘mopping up’ transfers C30 and C31

Source Area Amount [€] % Main reasons Current administrative expenditure 13 061 673 35 % Savings in telecommunications, IT and postage, less expenditure for the Official Journal, new regulation for visitors was only applicable for the last half year Staff 8 141 800 22 % The rate of recruitment has been lower than expected, impact of new Staff Regulation Buildings 6 883 000 18 % Including € 2,8 m rent savings following the purchase of buildings; repayment of insurance fees Provisional appropriations 5 805 052 16 % Balance of the contingency and information policy provisional appropriations Members of the institution 2 148 600 6 % Slightly lower attendance rate than foreseen and technical surpluses Other 1 206 300 3 % — Total 37 246 425 100 %

1.6.3. Information policy

As shown in Table 3 above, an amount of € 3 600 000 was released from the provisional appropriations by transfers C13 and C26 for the purpose of information policy to permit the purchase of audiovisual equipment for the new audio-visual centre in the D5 building as well as to launch the Web-TV prototype project.

1.6.4. Other transfers

The justification for other transfers which took place in 2006 is presented in Table 9 below. Those transfers involved appropriations totalling € 14 878 275.

Table 9

Transfers other than those from provisional appropriations for buildings or information policy

Item/Sub-item Amount transferred Purpose Transfer 402 1 637 658 to enable the Parliament to take into account the increased number of European-level political parties applying for grants for 2006. C1 442 41 300 to amalgamate the two contributions granted in the past to European Parliamentary Association in only one C3 Chapter 101 1 003 317 the follow-up of transfer C1/2006 that was authorised earlier C6 2102/07 400 000 additional expenditure necessary to implement the first stage of the Streamline project. C9 1402/01 6 200 000 to cover the supplementary expenditure due to the higher than envisaged increase of requests for interpretation and to the adaptation of the mission expenses C11 102 120 000 expenditure for additional requests for end-of-service allowances by former Members of Parliament. C12 1220 35 000 applying Art. 50 of the Staff Regulations (15) C14 2026/03 1 161 000 the additional expenditure arising from the extension of the service in view of raising the security level in Brussels. C15 3200/08 107 000 the additional expenditure for an inter-institutional call for tender with the Commission the security needs of all the Information offices. C16 2102/03 108 000 the additional expenditure for the installation of 10 interactive multilingual terminals on a trial basis in Brussels. C17 1613 120 000 additional expenditure following the increase of the mission allowances for officials following adoption of new rules by Council. C20 3000/01 650 000 2024/03 600 000 additional expenditure on energy for Brussels due to the increased energy consumption and the strong price rise. C21 1420/01 600 000 additional expenditure arising from the increase in the number of translated pages and in translation costs. C22 1420/02 1 100 000 2370/01 100 000 additional expenditure following the occupation of new offices. C23 3040 180 000 expenditure for the refreshments service for official and working meetings in the Institution. C25 105 150 000 expenditure for the language courses for the Members of the European Parliament. C27 1004/02 365 000 additional expenditure following the authorisation of new missions for Members. C28 1032 200 000 additional expenditure following the death of several Members. C29 Total 14 878 275

1.7. Cancellations

Appropriations totalling € 15 274 568 were cancelled.

2. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Table 10 below sets out, chapter by chapter, how final appropriations in 2006 were used by comparison with financial year 2005.

As from 2006 a new nomenclature was applied following a significant revision. In Table 10, the 2005 appropriations are presented according to the 2006 nomenclature.

Table 10

Evolution of 2006 and 2005 final appropriations

Chapter Heading 2005 [€] 2006 [€] Change [€] % Change 10 Members of the institution 137 720 744 135 807 540 –1 913 204 –1 % 12 Officials and temporary staff 401 391 310 434 244 341 32 853 031 8 % 14 Other staff and outside services 82 855 725 95 661 048 12 805 323 15 % 16 Other expenditure relating to persons working with the institution 7 968 679 10 847 308 2 878 629 36 % Title I Persons working with the institution 629 936 458 676 560 237 46 623 779 7 % 20 Buildings and associated costs 276 089 079 256 044 533 –20 044 546 –7 % 21 Data processing, equipment and furniture: purchase, hire and maintenance 88 916 473 101 593 057 12 676 584 14 % 23 Current administrative expenditure 12 788 392 10 962 220 –1 826 172 –14 % Title II Buildings, furniture, equipment and miscellaneous operating expenditure 377 793 944 368 599 810 –9 194 134 –2 % 30 Meetings and conferences 23 111 200 26 882 835 3 771 635 16 % 32 Expertise and information: acquisition, archiving, production and dissemination 47 623 580 57 712 477 10 088 897 21 % Title III Expenditure resulting from general functions carried out by the institution 70 734 780 84 595 312 13 860 532 20 % 40 Expenditure relating to certain institutions and bodies 54 770 000 57 934 341 3 164 341 6 % 42 Expenditure relating to parliamentary assistance 130 609 540 133 689 000 3 079 460 2 % 44 Meetings and other activities of current and former members 180 000 221 300 41 300 23 % Title IV Expenditure resulting from special functions carried out by the institution 185 559 540 191 844 641 6 285 101 3 % Title X Other expenditure — — — — Total 1 264 024 722 1 321 600 000 57 575 278 5 %

Final appropriations by chapter were distributed as shown in Figure 1:

It should be noted that four chapters accounted for over 70 % of final appropriations. They are: Chapter 12 ‘Officials and temporary staff’, Chapter 20 ‘Buildings and associated costs’, Chapter 10 ‘Members of the institution’ and Chapter 42 ‘Expenditure relating to parliamentary assistance’.

Three chapters making up Title IV, namely Chapter 40 ‘Expenditure relating to certain institutions and bodies’, Chapter 42 ‘Expenditure relating to parliamentary assistance’ and Chapter 44 ‘Meetings and other activities of current and former Members’, were created in 2006 as part of the change in nomenclature.

2.1.1. Chapter 10 ‘Members of the Institution’

This chapter accounted for 10 % of the 2006 budget.

53 % of the expenditure was from Item 1004 ‘Travel and subsistence allowances, attendance at meetings and associated expenditure’ whereas 25 % came from Item 1006 ‘General expenditure allowance’.

The situation between 2005 and 2006 was rather stable for this chapter.

For Item 1004, the initial appropriation was € 73 151 000 and the final appropriation was € 72 016 000. This covered travel and subsistence allowances for Members' attendance at meetings and associated expenditure: part-sessions, meetings of committees and their delegations, meetings of political groups (Sub-Item 1004/01), meetings of standing parliamentary delegations and of bodies provided for in the ACP-EU Convention and in the agreement establishing the Euro-Mediterranean Forum (Sub-Item 1004/02).

In 2006, Members carried out 12 655 journeys for attendance at part-sessions in Strasbourg and Brussels, 17 741 for meetings of committees in Brussels and 5 400 for meetings of political groups in Brussels. As regards travel outside Parliament's usual work-places, there were 1 038 journeys for meetings of committees and 1 048 for meetings of political groups. There were also 1 020 journeys for meetings of parliamentary delegations.

2.1.2. Chapter 12 ‘Officials and temporary staff’

This chapter accounted for 33 % of the 2006 budget.

The 8 % increase between 2005 and 2006 in this chapter can be largely explained by salary adaptations, promotions and step advances, changes in the establishment plan voted by the budgetary authority and re-grading of certain temporary agent posts.

In this chapter, 96 % of expenditure relates to Item 1200 ‘Officials and temporary staff: remuneration and allowances’. In 2006, 505 posts were published; 413 officials and temporary agents were recruited for the administration and 33 for political groups. The General Secretariat employed around 5 000 officials and temporary staff-members in 2006. The distribution of staff by Directorate-General (DG) is shown in Table 11.

Table 11

Staff by Directorate-General

Situation of statutory staff as at 1.1.2007

DG Staff % DG for Translation and Publishing 1 305 26 % DG for Infrastructure and Interpretation 807 16 % DG for Presidency 617 12 % DG for Information 576 11 % DG for Internal Policies 358 7 % DG for Personnel 329 6 % DG for External Policies 153 3 % DG for Finance 144 3 % Legal Service 74 1 % Other 730 14 % Total 5 093 100 %

For Item 1200, the initial appropriation was € 452 168 775 and the final appropriation was € 418 825 076. The reasons for this reduction during the year are set out below.

First, as regards vacant posts, the rate of successful recruitment to EUR-10 enlargement posts (in the General Secretariat) stood at the end of 2006 at around 87 %. This suggests that the abatement (15 %) applied to these posts in the estimates corresponded largely to the reality. The vacancy levels for other posts were, however, higher than foreseen (10 % rather than the 7 % fixed as a flat-rate abatement). While vacancy levels dropped somewhat in the General Secretariat, they remained high in the political groups, which had difficulties both with enlargement recruitments and with the rather more demanding selection procedures imposed by the new Staff Regulations. Political group vacancies amounted at year-end to 3.5 % of the total number of posts.

Secondly, there was the impact of the new Staff Regulations. The 2006 estimates were drawn up at a time when the institution had only limited experience of the new Staff Regulations, which introduced significant changes (many of them having downward impact) in the area of ancillary allowances and entitlements. Subsequent experience suggested that the downward impact of these changes had been underestimated, hence real spending was lower than forecast.

Thirdly, the 2006 estimates were established on the basis of the old nomenclature. The margins built into each separate item of the old nomenclature to cater for the unpredictable nature of staff expenditure have been merged in the new Item 1200. This is a transitory phenomenon, since the new structure should enable these margins to be reduced.

2.1.3. Chapter 14 ‘Other staff and outside services’

This chapter accounted for 7 % of the 2006 budget.

The 15 % increase between 2005 and 2006 was largely due to sustained recruitment of Bulgarian and Romanian contract agents in preparation for the EUR-2 enlargement.

In this chapter the majority of spending comes from two items, namely Item 1402 ‘Conference interpreters’ (45 % of the chapter) and Item 1400 ‘Other staff’ (29 % of the chapter).

For Item 1402, initial appropriations equalled € 29 590 000 and final appropriations € 45 153 200. This covers, among other things: the fees, social security contributions, travel expenses and subsistence allowances of auxiliary conference interpreters used by Parliament, expenditure on conference agencies, technicians and administrators used to service the above meetings and services provided to Parliament by interpreters who are officials or temporary staff-members in other institutions, and language-related inter-institutional cooperation.

The total number of meetings with interpretation over the whole of 2006 was 4 180 at the three working places and 218 elsewhere. That represents 91 443 interpretation days, or an increase of 7 % over 2005, 45 723 of which were accounted for by external conference interpreters (AIC).

Item 1400 serves essentially to finance contract staff and session auxiliaries. The structure of spending has been undergoing changes, since, in addition to contract staff recruited under Article 3b of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Community (CEOS), the previous regime governing the population of session auxiliaries ceased to exist as of 1 January 2007. The budget also covers 136 Romanian and Bulgarian staff and a further 136 staff recruited in accordance with Article 3a of the CEOS.

2.1.4. Chapter 16 ‘Other expenditure relating to persons working with the Institution’

This chapter accounted for 1 % of the 2006 budget.

The 36 % increase between 2005 and 2006 was mainly due to the Early Childhood Centre and day nurseries in Brussels.

45 % of the final appropriations in this chapter relate to Item 1654 ‘Early Childhood Centre and approved day nurseries’, a further 28 % to Item 1612 ‘Further training’ and 10 % to Item 1613 ‘Further training: mission expenses’.

For Item 1654, initial appropriations were € 7 508 708 and final appropriations € 4 543 708. Appropriations for Item 1654/01 ‘Early Childhood Centre and approved day nurseries: outside management of Parliament's day nursery and family room in Brussels and ancillary expenditure’ have been increasing steadily because of expenditure related to the new Wayenberg crèche in Brussels.

For Item 1612, initial appropriations were € 2 640 000 and final appropriations € 3 045 000. In 2006, this covered:

— further professional training and retraining courses, including language courses run on an inter-institutional basis. In duly justified cases, some of the appropriations were used to cover the organisation of courses within the institution. The language courses run in Brussels were also open to parliamentary assistants in Brussels;

— expenditure relating to the purchase or production of teaching materials and to the performance of specific studies by specialists for devising and implementing training programmes;

— professional training courses to raise awareness about matters concerning disabled people and training measures in connection with equal opportunities and careers advice, with particular reference to skill profiles;

— mission costs.

As regards professional training in 2006, there were among others 5 862 language courses, 2 720 IT courses, 864 courses concerning financial training and 300 courses organised by the European Administration School.

For Item 1613, initial appropriations equalled € 975 000 and final appropriations € 1 095 000. This item finances missions undertaken in connexion with professional training, the cost of which was affected upwards by the new daily allowances introduced by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1066/2006 (16).

In light of the increasing importance of the external offices in the context of a new information policy, and the additional human resources made available to them by the budgetary authority, a training scheme for the staff concerned, involving periods spent in Brussels familiarising themselves with the workings of the institution, was also developed. The revised training policy adopted by the Bureau also led to an increase in the overall number of missions.

2.1.5. Chapter 20 ‘Buildings and associated costs’

This chapter accounted for 19 % of the 2006 budget.

The 7 % decrease between 2005 and 2006 results from the decrease on Article 200 ‘Buildings’.

In this chapter, 27 % of the spending comes from Item 2003 ‘Acquisition of immovable property’, 19 % from Item 2001 ‘Annual lease payments’, 14 % from Item 2000 ‘Rent’ and 13 % from Item 2026 ‘Security and surveillance of buildings’. The remaining expenditure is mostly on cleaning and maintenance (Item 2022), fitting-out of premises (Item 2007) and energy consumption (Item 2024).

Item 2003 initially had only a token entry, whereas the final appropriations amounted to € 68 875 000. This covered the purchase of the Winston Churchill (WIC), Salvador de Madariaga (SDM) and IPE3 buildings in Strasbourg and of the premises of Parliament's external office in Nicosia.

For Item 2001, initial appropriations came to € 1 136 000 and final appropriations to € 48 382 425. This item provided the financial resources necessary for an advance payment on the annuity for the D4/D5 buildings in Brussels.

For Item 2000, initial appropriations stood at € 39 426 776 and final appropriations at € 36 346 776. Purchase of the WIC, SDM and IPE 3 buildings in Strasbourg led to a saving on this item in respect of rents for the 4th quarter of 2006 (€ 2 255 000). Similarly, purchase of the buildings in Copenhagen, The Hague, Nicosia and Valetta generated savings (€ 500 000) in rents. Late occupation of the premises in Warsaw led to lower than forecast recurrent expenditure (€ 130 000); while the use of assigned revenue made it possible to liberate € 120 000 of 2006 appropriations.

For Item 2007, initial appropriations came to € 11 415 000 and final appropriations to € 19 295 000. The appropriation was used for works in Brussels including, among others, refurbishment of the self-service canteen, access facilities for the disabled, the Hall of the ASP building and the fixed link between the ASP and the D4/D5 buildings.

2.1.6. Chapter 21 ‘Data processing, equipment and furniture: purchase, hire and maintenance’

This chapter accounted for 8 % of the 2006 budget.

The 14 % increase between 2005 and 2006 in this chapter can largely be explained by an increase on two articles: Article 210 ‘Equipment, operating costs and services relating to data processing and telecommunications’ and Article 214 ‘Technical equipment and installations’. Les grandes évolutions de crédits intervenues en 2006 par rapport à 2005 sont justifiées par les principaux facteurs suivants:

For Item 2100

— rewiring of buildings in Brussels and Strasbourg; wiring of Information Offices; installation of telephony, cable relay and videoconferencing facilities in Brussels; increase in Computer Centre capacity; e-mail developments;

— better monitoring of office system maintenance expenditure;

— ELectronic Voting and Information System project (ELVIS) for Chamber modernisation in connection with the information system on voting in the Chambers; new video services, streaming, etc.; electronic signature, etc.

For Item 2102

— broadening the scope of Computer Centre activity; administration of the new documentary management software package; increase in supplier support;

— annual increase in maintenance as a result of adding applications developed in the previous year to the portfolio of applications to be maintained;

— lower than expected volume of support requirements for using open-source software as a result of introducing a rigorous technical framework for applications development and ‘best user practices’ rules.

In this chapter 39 % of the expenditure is from Item 2100 ‘Purchase, servicing and maintenance of equipment and software, and related work’, 30 % from Item 2102 ‘Outside assistance in connection with the operation, development and maintenance of software systems’ and 22 % from Article 214 ‘Technical equipment and installations’.

For Item 2100, initial appropriations amounted to € 38 090 062 and final appropriations to € 39 382 062. This appropriation covered mainly expenditure on the purchase, hire, servicing and maintenance of equipment and software for the institution, and related work. This equipment and software relates essentially to systems at the data-processing and telecommunications centre, computing at departmental level and in the political groups, and the electronic voting system.

For Item 2102, initial appropriations equalled € 29 099 829 and final appropriations € 30 607 829. They principally covered the cost of outside assistance from service bureaux and data-processing consultants in connection with the operation of the data-processing centre and the network, the production and maintenance of applications, support for users, including Members and political groups, the carrying out of studies, and the drawing-up and input of technical documentation.

For Item 2140, initial appropriations amounted to € 21 567 116 and final appropriation to € 22 314 166. This covered among other things the purchase, hire, maintenance and repair of technical equipment and installations relating to the equipment for the audiovisual sector in the D5 building.

2.1.7. Chapter 23 ‘Current administrative expenditure’

This chapter accounted for 1 % of the 2006 budget.

The 14 % decrease in this chapter between 2005 and 2006 was due mainly to decreased expenditure for Article 230 ‘Stationery, office supplies and miscellaneous consumables’ and for Article 236 ‘Postage on correspondence and delivery charges’.

62 % of the expenditure in this chapter came from Article 235 ‘Telecommunications’ and 19 % from Article 230 ‘Stationery, office supplies and miscellaneous consumables’.

Initial appropriations for Article 235 amounted to € 8 275 000 and final appropriations to € 6 850 000. The appropriation for Article 235 was used among other things for upgrading the EPINET HD network to 10 Gigabits/s, increasing the throughput of Internet links and incorporating political group telephone use. Bandwidth increases for both Internet and Information Office connections were negotiated on a constant-price basis and no further use was made of the remote access service.

For Article 230, initial appropriations came to € 3 132 220 and final appropriations to € 1 891 220.

2.1.8. Chapter 30 ‘Meetings and conferences’

This chapter accounted for 2 % of the 2006 budget.

The increase of 21 % between 2005 and 2006 was due to an increase for Article 300 ‘Staff mission expenses’ and Article 304 ‘Miscellaneous expenditure on meetings’. The change in Article 304 resulted from creation of new sub-items as part of the change in nomenclature. In 2005, the expenditure was covered by Item 1004 ‘Travel and subsistence allowances, attendance at meetings and associated expenditure’.

78 % of the chapter's appropriations are intended primarily for Article 300 ‘Staff mission expenses’.

For Article 300, initial appropriations came to € 20 867 935 and final appropriations to € 21 067 935. This appropriation covered expenditure on transport costs, daily mission allowances and ancillary or exceptional expenses incurred in the performance of a mission, including those relating to tickets and reservations.

There were 27 824 missions in 2006 covering 87 973 days: Most of the missions were between Parliament's three places of work (Brussels: 5 278 missions, Strasbourg 19 932 missions and Luxembourg 2 134 missions)

2.1.9. Chapter 32 ‘Expertise and information: acquisition, archiving, production and dissemination’

This chapter accounted for 4 % of the 2006 budget.

The 21 % increase between 2005 and 2006 in this chapter arose from the increase on Article 324 ‘Production and dissemination’.

36 % of the chapter's appropriations relate to Item 3244 ‘Organisation and reception of groups of visitors, Euroscola programme and invitations to opinion multipliers from third countries’, a further 17 % relate to Item 3242 ‘Expenditure on publication, information and participation in public events’, and 15 % concern Item 3248 ‘Expenditure on audiovisual information’.

For Item 3244, initial appropriations totalled € 23 920 000 and final appropriations € 20 854 382. During 2006, the European Parliament welcomed some 170 000 visitors to its premises in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg.

For Item 3242, initial appropriations amounted to € 9 870 000 and final appropriations to € 9 830 032. These means covered, in particular, expenditure on publications, including electronic publications, information activities, and participation in public events, trade fairs and exhibitions in the European Union Member States and the accession countries.

As far as the organisation of the events is concerned, a number of events was organised, including for example European Day for the Victims of Terrorism (600 young people participating and substantial coverage in Spain, France and the UK; the Juanes concert against landmines which attracted some 1 300 visitors and wide media coverage; and the exhibition to mark the 20th anniversary of the accession of Spain and Portugal to the EU, which was opened by Presidents Borrell and Barroso together with Prime Ministers Zapatero and Socrates and which also attracted widespread interest.

As regards publications, well over a million copies were produced, including re-prints of the European Parliament brochure and of the Troubled Waters cartoon. In addition, stickers, leaflets, posters and placemats to promote the new website were issued.

For Item 3248, initial appropriations totalled € 8 650 000 and final appropriations € 8 501 000. Among other things, this covered expenditure relating to the Web TV project.

Live streaming over Internet was used for all plenary meetings in 2006; 24 other meetings and events were also relayed over Internet.

2.1.10. Chapter 40 ‘Expenditure relating to certain institutions and bodies’

This chapter accounted for 4 % of the 2006 budget.

The increase of 6 % on this chapter between 2005 and 2006 resulted from the increase on Article 400 ‘Current administrative expenditure and expenditure relating to the political and information activities of the political groups and non-attached Members’.

84 % of its appropriations relate to Article 400 ‘Current administrative expenditure and expenditure relating to the political and information activities of the political groups and non-attached Members’. Initial appropriations for this item totalled € 49 622 000 and final appropriations € 48 706 000.

2.1.11. Chapter 42 ‘Expenditure relating to parliamentary assistance’

This chapter accounted for 10 % of the 2006 budget.

Article 422 ‘Parliamentary assistance’ accounts for 99,7 % of its appropriations. Initial appropriations for Article 422 amounted to € 136 289 000 and final appropriations to € 133 689 000.

The situation between 2005 and 2006 was rather stable in this chapter.

2.1.12. Chapter 44 ‘Meetings and other activities of current and former Members’

This chapter accounted for 0,02 % of the budget.

The 23 % increase in this chapter between 2005 and 2006 resulted from an increase in Article 442 ‘Cost of meetings and other activities of the European Parliamentary Association’. Article 442 accounted for 55 % of the expenditure under this chapter. Initial appropriations equalled € 80 000 and final appropriations € 121 300.

3. OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS ACHIEVED

This part of the report outlines briefly the objectives of the General Secretariat 2006 as well as measures taken to achieve them. These are presented more fully in the annual activity reports of the authorising officers by delegation.

3.1. Communication policy

This objective included making the Parliament a focal point for debate on the future of Europe, further developing multilingualism and progressing with the major communications projects (web TV, internet and visitors' centre).

Concerning the debate on the future of Europe, Citizens' Forums were organised by the Information Offices in the Member States concerned. The aim was to engage in a series of debates, to enable as wide a cross-section of European citizens as possible to participate, make their views and concerns known and give them the chance to have their say on the future of Europe. Raising subjects that are of particular relevance to the region or country is a key part of the approach. The aim is to be as inclusive as possible — with the general public, members of the European Parliament, local politicians, national MPs, civil society groups and the media all being involved. Debates were held on the following subjects: enlargement of the European Union. globalisation and the European social model, social and economic policies, industrial restructuring and its effects, maritime issues, people's expectations from Europe and increasing awareness of the role of the Parliament, EU membership in the regional context, labour market policies, the fight against international criminality, the EU budget, regional policy, the CAP, equality and education.

As regards multilingualism, Parliament's Europarl website is published in 22 official EU languages. All the part-sessions in 2006 were covered by LIVE streaming on Internet in all EU languages. Other important meetings and events were also retransmitted on the Internet.

Work on the major communication projects: EP Web-TV Channel, the Visitors' Centre and installation of audio-visual equipment in the new D5 building was pursued intensively and reached crucial stages of development. Each task involved complex and detailed planning and programming, including the launch of lengthy tendering procedures and detailed reporting for the decision-making process.

3.2. Enlargement

This objective included in particular completing recruitment of staff, especially linguists, from all 10 new Member States and paving the way for the successful integration of Bulgaria and Romania.

As regards the recruitment of officials and temporary staff to posts earmarked for the EU 10 Member States, around 1 000 posts have been created since 2003 and 87 % of them were filled by the end of 2006 (17). As far as the EU 2 enlargement is concerned, the 113 posts created in 2006 have all been filled. It proved possible to cover the immediate staffing needs arising from the attendance of the 53 Bulgarian and Romanian Observers at the meetings of the European Parliament during the whole of 2006.

As far as interpretation is concerned, EU 10 language needs were covered satisfactorily and in full for plenary sittings in 2006; coverage matched requests during weeks set aside for the political groups, but remained incomplete in committee/delegation meeting weeks. Adjudication was necessary to allocate resources still characterised by a shortage of interpreters, particularly for Latvian, Slovak and Slovene. As far as Maltese is concerned, it proved difficult to recruit qualified interpreters. It was normally possible to cover plenary sittings with free-lance interpreters, but not to meet all requests for interpretation into this language.

Regarding translation, around 80 % of posts in the EU 10 units have been filled. The challenge of moving to a 20-language regime can be considered as having been successfully met: all the languages added following the EU 10 enlargement are now fully covered, except for Maltese. Translations into Maltese for plenary and for committee documents are generally available on time. The recruitment situation for Maltese translators is expected to be satisfactory from late spring 2007. The Romanian and Bulgarian Translation Units consist of 60 % for Romania and 50 % for Bulgaria of the normal staff complement for such services, employed as contract staff. In addition, the interpretation services of the EU institutions share a list of accredited freelance interpreters for each of these two languages.

In the buildings field, alteration work in Strasbourg and Brussels on the Chambers, meeting rooms and offices for the new Members and their assistants continued in line with projections. In Nicosia, a building was purchased, permitting the establishment of a European Union House. In Bucharest and Sofia, small-scale temporary ‘satellite’ offices were opened, leases for the premises having been signed in 2005.

3.3. Better EU legislation

This objective included completing ‘Raising the Game’ reforms, commissioning impact assessment studies and supporting the drive to simplify legislation.

The ‘Raising the Game’ exercise is one of the most ambitious administrative reorganisations of Parliament departments ever undertaken. It has entailed the reorganisation of the support structures for parliamentary committees (establishment of two directorates-general; setting up of policy departments; possibility of using expertise budgets and project teams), the setting up of a Tabling Office responsible for verifying texts, and expanding the Library.

At the end of 2006, the support machinery put in place for parliamentary work enabled Parliament to take up the challenges created by the increase in its powers and responsibilities. Subject to a number of adjustments, the ‘Raising the Game’ project can be considered as completed.

3.4. Better financial management

This objective covered more training for financial actors, implementing the action plans arising out of self-assessment and internal audit activities, identifying possible improvements to the financial regulation and preparing for entry into force of the Members' statute in 2009.

As regards training for the financial actors, cross-cutting modules and thematic modules were organised in 2006. The cross-cutting modules included introductory sessions and courses on general principles, while the thematic modules concerned for instance the budgetary procedure, public procurement, internal control and self-assessment, acts of budgetary implementation, and treatment of VAT. Specific training on the financial software used in Parliament has also been given.

The action plan adopted by the Secretary-General in his capacity as principal authorising officer by delegation is updated annually in light of the annual reports by the authorising officers by delegation and of the Internal Auditor's reports. These action plans lay down priorities in the form of implementation timetables (short, medium and long terms). Since the first central action plan in 2003, the most important achievements have been to:

— set up centralised financial units under the management authority of the competent authorising officer by delegation;

— fill the vacant finance-related posts;

— enhance the know-how of finance staff, in particular by organising a large number of finance-related training courses;

— set up and strengthen verification structures;

— identify sensitive duties;

— control payment periods laid down in rules and regulations;

— incorporate management of authorising officer powers as a function within FINORD (18);

— develop a central register of contracts and grants awarded.

As far as the Financial Regulation is concerned, Parliament's needs have been signalled to the Commission so that they are taken into consideration when Financial Regulation and the Implementing Rules are revised. The Internal Rules for implementation of Parliament's budget will be brought into line as needed with the modifications to the latter texts adopted respectively on 13 December 2006, 20 July 2005 and 2 August 2006 and with the modification to the Implementing Rules to be adopted by the Commission in 2007.

Concerning the Statute for Members, the Bureau set up a working party and mandated it to establish a schedule for implementation and to provide policy guidelines for preparations for entry into force of the Statute in 2009. The working party examined a significant proportion of the issues arising and expects to complete its tasks by the end of 2007.

(1) As corrected by the Corrigendum 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 (OJ L 25, 30.1.2003, p. 43) as last amended by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) no 1995/2006 of 13 December 2006, (OJ L 390, 30.12.2006).

(2) As last amended by Commission Regulation (EC, EURATOM) No 1248/2006 of 7 August 2006 amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities. OJ L 227, 19.8.2006, p. 3

(3) PE 349.540/BUR/ANN/DEF.

(4) Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure (OJ C 172, 18.6.1999).

(5) Articles 9(1) and 9(4) of the Financial Regulation.

(6) Articles 9(1), 9(2)(a) and 9(5) of the Financial Regulation.

(7) Budgetary authority decision.

(8) Budgetary authority decision for transfers involving provisions.

(9) Decision by the institution, after notification of the budgetary authority, for transfers from one title to another (capped at 10 % of the appropriations for the financial year), from one chapter to another, and from one article to another.

(10) Decision by the institution for transfers within an article.

(*) ‘FR’ stands for the Financial Regulation.

(11) This table summarises use of appropriations from Chapters 100 and 104 except in respect of buildings policy.

(12) Only for appropriations transferred to item from provisional appropriations.

(13) Item 2007/03, transfer C24.

(14) Item 3248/03, transfer C13.

(15) Regulation No 31 (EEC), 11 (EAEC) laying down Staff Regulations of Officials and Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (OJ P 45, 14.6.1962, p. 1385) as last amended by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 31/2005 of 20.12.2004 (OJ L 8, 12.1.2005, p. 1) and last corrected by Corrigendum (OJ L 51, 24.2.2005, p. 28) (Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 723/2004).

(16) OJ L 194, 14.7.2006.

(17) Situation on 30.11.2006; the figure includes recruitment procedures confirmed until the end of 2006.

(18) Financial software in the European Parliament.