A4-0078/96

Resolution on the guidelines for the 1997 budgetary procedure: Section I - Parliament, Annex Ombudsman, Section II - Council, Section IV - Court of Justice, Section V - Court of Auditors, Section VI - Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the Regions

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the 1996 budget ((OJ L 22, 29.1.1996.)),

- having regard to the Annual Report of the Court of Auditors concerning the financial year 1994 ((OJ C 303, 14.11.1995.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A4-0078/96),

A. whereas the Financial Regulation, as amended by Regulation 2335/95 ((OJ L 240, 7.10.1995, p. 12.)), stipulates that the institutions' estimates must now be accompanied by an annex in the form of a working document with an analytical budget; whereas that analytical budget identifies the administrative expenditure in terms of human resources and appropriations, within each section of the budget, by major sector of activities,

B. whereas the conclusions of the Edinburgh European Council of 12 December 1992 ((Bulletin EC 12-1992, points I.1 to I.88.)) have significant financial implications for Parliament's property needs,

C. stressing that the institutions should continue and step up efforts in connection with the interinstitutional cooperation set up by the budgetary authority when adopting the 1996 budget,

D. whereas the reversal of the trend in the ECU/BF parity over the last four months has not reinstated the January 1994 conversion rate,

E. whereas the 1996 budget has left an amount of ECU 62.378 m available within heading 5 'Administrative expenditure¨,

F. whereas the introduction during recent budgetary procedures of common arrangements for examining administrative expenditure, with the focus on rigour and the cost-effectiveness principle, an approach shared by the Council, might result in the establishment of a pragmatic timetable enabling the two arms of the budgetary authority to dispense with the second reading of the draft budget in this area of expenditure,

G. stressing that, during the 1996 budgetary procedure, in its resolution of 26 October 1995 on the draft budget of the European Union for the financial year 1996 ((OJ C 308, 20.11.1995, p. 122.)) it instructed its competent committee to introduce an appropriate procedure, as of the discharge procedure for the financial year 1994, to examine budget implementation in Sections IV, V and VI and therefore ensure that its decisions are consistent and acted on by the institutions concerned,

H. whereas, in determining expenditure priorities, there should be recognition of the need for increased openness and transparency, to bring the institutions closer to the citizens of Europe,

General framework

1. Takes the view that, on the basis of the macroeconomic forecasts, heading 5 'Administrative expenditure¨ is expected to increase by 3.8%, i.e. to total ECU 4352 m in appropriations at 1997 prices;

2. Notes, however, that the allocation of this volume of appropriations must comply with the provisions of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 29 October 1993 on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure, and in particular Article 19 thereof; notes that this amount must take account of the actual implementation of appropriations authorized and finance, as a matter of priority, expenditure the renewal of which is subject to rules in the Staff Regulations or to compliance with current contractual obligations;

3. Points in this context in particular to the considerable increase in property expenditure and hence in costs connected with the occupancy of new buildings, as well as the increase, put at 11%, in pension scheme expenditure;

4. Takes the view therefore that the guideline rate for nominal expenditure increase ought not to exceed 3%;

5. Calls on each institution to illustrate, by means of the analytical budget on expenditure forecasts for the financial year 1997, the progress that has been made in interinstitutional cooperation and, in particular, the administrative decisions taken and restructuring carried out concerning their internal organization, together with savings in terms of human resources and appropriations;

Human resources

6. Stresses that on the basis of the information contained in the revenue and expenditure account and balance sheet for the financial year 1994, on the one hand, and the rate of occupancy of posts authorized on the list of posts, on the other, it is common practice for institutions to recruit auxiliary staff while authorized posts remain vacant;

7. Points out that, in recent financial years, staffing has increased in all the institutions leaving aside staff increases resulting directly from the impact, in terms of geographical and linguistic balance, of enlargement; points out that the increase varies, according to the category of staff recruited, and therefore prompts redefinition of the institutions' human resources requirements; calls on the institutions, on the basis of the posts (category and grade) created by the budgetary authority in connection with enlargement, to give figures in their budgetary estimates for the number of posts filled and occupied by nationals of the new Member States and the number of vacant posts which fall under this heading;

8. Takes the view that it appears extremely difficult to contemplate, in 1997, the creation of new posts and that all requests by the institutions should be covered by redeployment of existing human resources; calls on the institutions to give details of the practical measures taken to improve the operation of their administrative departments and recalls its resolution of 21 April 1994 on the staff policy of the Community institutions ((OJ C 128, 9.5.1994, p. 366.)), and in particular the need to carry out a regular evaluation of the establishment plan ('screening');

9. Calls on the institutions, in view of the scope afforded by interinstitutional cooperation with regard to organizing joint competitions to recruit regular staff, to optimize the organizational arrangements and tests for the different types of competition, with a view to selecting the candidates with the best professional skills matching the tasks conferred on the institutions and to achieve good equal opportunities practice, including the agreement of an interinstitutional code of conduct for the employment of disabled persons;

10. Takes the view that such optimization, which ought to result in better- quality recruitment, should increase productivity, permit budgetary savings and introduce comparable criteria between institutions; gives notice that it will take account of the outcome of this approach during consideration of the 1997 draft budget;

11. Calls furthermore on the institutions to assess, over a period of five years, the impact of professional training, indicating in particular the disciplines chosen, the number of hours given over to them, the cost and number of persons per discipline, the impact on the organization of work, and the rate of participation per official and by category of staff, plus teachers of language courses for Members; states its intention to examine the results of this assessment before the first reading of the 1997 draft budget;

12. Stresses that it will take into consideration any request to upgrade or convert posts wherever suitable grounds are given for such requests in a report committing the appointing authorities concerned on the basis of a policy of human resources planning and management with clearly defined criteria;

Appropriations

13. Notes that the report drawn up by the Commission on the institutions' property programmes and the financing terms, in response to the budgetary authority's requests, elaborates arrangements which may be chosen (outright purchase, leasing, purchase with borrowing, rental- only);

14. Considers it essential therefore that, setting aside the current contracts with a view to acquiring new buildings, any new property- related request should be the subject of a regular assessment, specifying the actual space requirements of the institution or consultative body concerned, including the financial implications on the basis of a 10-year forecast and taking account of optimized occupancy of current buildings;

15. Stresses that the Community constitutes its own property assets; therefore invites all the institutions, as part of continuing interinstitutional cooperation work, to draw up a proposal enabling property expenditure to be grouped together within one section of the budget, with due regard for the provisions of the Financial Regulation and, in particular, the articles therein concerning sound financial management, cost-effectiveness and the structure and presentation of the budget;

16. Recalls that, on the basis of the financial statements submitted by the Court of Justice to the budgetary authority in the course of the relevant procedures, the 1995 and 1996 budgets include no appropriations for the rental of the Court of Justice building; believes, therefore, that the Court of Justice should indicate in its budgetary estimate the technical constraints due to the building work and the conditions for the revision of the lease for the Court building;

17. Recalls the progress made in developing cooperation in information policy between the European Parliament and the Commission in recent months: strongly urges that such cooperation should continue, in an interinstitutional framework, to proceed towards the long-term goal of an EU information system;

18. Calls on the institutions to continue work on harmonizing budgetary nomenclature and to present, in their estimates, an invoicing system for activities developed on the basis of interinstitutional cooperation;

19. Takes the view that any new action or reorganization of the activities of the institutions concerned, and hence any structural revision enabling them to optimize the way in which they work and perform the tasks conferred on them by the Treaty, should respect the spirit of budgetary discipline and be accompanied by a financial statement illustrating the multiannual impact in terms of both appropriations and human resources;

20. Calls in this context on the institutions to identify their expenditure items which involve a one-off cost and which, if necessary, might be financed early, in 1996, by means of an SAB;

21. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to all the institutions and consultative bodies concerned.