A4-0245/95

Resolution on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 1996: Section I - European 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 Article 203 of the EC Treaty,

- having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 29 October 1993 on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure ((OJ C 331, 7.12.1993, p. 1.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 5 April 1995 on the guidelines for the 1996 budget, Section I - European 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 ((OJ C 109, 1.5.1995, p. 49.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 19 May 1995 on the estimates of revenue and expenditure of the European Parliament and the Ombudsman for the 1996 financial year ((OJ C 151, 19.6.1995, p. 388.)),

- having regard to its opinions of 12 October 1995 on the proposal for a Council Regulation introducing special measures to terminate the service of officials of the European Communities as a result of the accession of Austria, Sweden and Finland and on the proposal for a Council Regulation introducing special measures to terminate the service of temporary staff of the European Communities (COM(95)0327 - C4-0336/95 - 95/0179(CNS), (COM(95)0327 - C4-0337/95 - 95/0180(CNS) ((Minutes of that sitting, Part II, Item 6.)),

- having regard to the preliminary draft general budget for the financial year 1996 (COM(95)0300),

- having regard to the draft general budget for the financial year 1996 (C4-0300/95),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinions of the other committees concerned (A4-0245/95),

I. GENERAL FRAMEWORK

(a)Movements in appropriations

1. Points out that, for the financial year 1996, an amount of ECU 4 191 m is earmarked in heading 5 'Administrative expenditure' of the financial perspective, or an increase of 4.2% over the financial year 1995;

2. Stresses that the 1996 preliminary draft budget left a margin of ECU 59.49 m within heading 5, that the institutions' estimates varied within a range of - 9.45% and + 15.41% by comparison with the financial year 1995, and that the Council established the draft budget at ECU 4 022.29 m, thus leaving a margin of ECU 168.71 m;

3. Notes that the outcome of these deliberations, based to a large extent on the work leading to establishment of SAB 1/95, takes account of the 1994 rate of implementation of appropriations; recalls the principles of budgetary rigour and the criterion of cost-effectiveness, to which it continues to demonstrate its attachment;

4. Believes, however, that simply to reduce appropriations without incentives in the area of administrative expenditure management may fail to generate the momentum necessary for future years or limit its impact;

5. Points out that the submission in future, at its request, of an analytical budget accompanying the institutions' estimates represents an appropriate means of identifying the various expenditures on the basis of their purpose;

6. Endorses the approach of forming a margin beneath the ceiling for heading 5 in order to cope with the budgetary implications of variations in the ECU- BF parity; notes in this connection the relative improvement in the situation in favour of the ECU; points out that the use of part of this margin should not be limited to only one institution and should in any case go towards paying ecommitments which have the effect of reducing the budgetary burden in subsequent years;

7. Has decided, by means of amendments, to enter in Chapter 100 'Provisional appropriations', under rent, an appropriation of ECU 37.5 m for Parliament and, for the Court of Justice, an appropriation of ECU 60 m, including an allocation of ECU 10 m to the reserve from Article 200 'Rent';

(b) Staffing

8. Notes that the Council, contrary to its decision not to grant any requests for new staff, has agreed on the one hand to the creation of 42 posts for its General Secretariat and, on the other, six new temporary posts and 22 upgradings for the Committee of the Regions;

9. Stresses the need to pursue a genuine policy of human resources management which puts the institutions on an equal footing, meets the requirement of transparency, offers the necessary guarantees as to its continuity, and justifies all requests for the creation and/or upgrading/conversion of posts;

10. Takes the view that the two proposals for regulations introducing special termination-of-service measures may lead to the maintenance of the current staffing level in the institutions and any new request ought to be met on the basis of mobility of existing staff; requests the Council to adopt the regulations on early retirement;

11. Has decided by means of amendments, in the relevant sections of the budget, to create the appropriate budget structure and, with a view to adoption by the Council of the rules concerning these measures, to enter appropriations in the reserve on the basis of the financial statement accompanying the abovementioned two proposals;

(c) Interinstitutional cooperation

12. Stresses that this budgetary procedure is particularly influenced by the work of the interinstitutional working party on the rationalization of administrative expenditure; stresses that the annexed conclusions adopted by that working party were approved during budgetary conciliation on 24 July 1995;

13. Is convinced that the introduction of an interinstitutional cooperation mechanism would make it possible to achieve economies of scale through a gradual change of mentality with regard to administrative expenditure management; is convinced that this mechanism should act as an incentive for managers of administrative budgets, make interinstitutional cooperation 'transparent' while safeguarding each institution's financial autonomy, be brought into line with the administrative budget realities of each institution so that the budgetary authority can treat them equally, prevent the emergence of additional management costs and duplication of effort, in particular with regard to staff, not abuse budgetary nomenclature so as not to distort the nature of the budget, and allow data to be compared;

14. Has decided, by means of amendments, and after hearing the other institutions, to create the appropriate budget structure and reduce the appropriations against budget items where savings have clearly been made and to enter lump sums in Chapter 100 'Provisional appropriations' for activities such as recruitment or professional training or for activities financing other operating expenditure on the basis of contracts concluded with third parties;

15. Calls on the institutions to report as of the financial year 1997, when their estimates are submitted and, in particular, in the analytical budget, on progress achieved in the areas covered by such cooperation with regard to appropriations, staffing and administrative measures taken;

II. Section I - European Parliament

16. Takes the view that the volume of appropriations earmarked in the 1996 estimates is sufficient to ensure proper functioning of the Institution and also to enable new, justified requirements to be financed;

17. Points in this connection to the requirements concerning Members' allowances, interpreting and buildings; notes, moreover, the savings to be made with regard to the appropriations in Chapter 11 'Staff in active employment' and against Item 2000 'Rent' following ceding of the Ardenne building to the Committee of the Regions;

18. Regrets that the Council and the Commission did not wish to create a lawyer- linguist service common to the three institutions; notes that the Council proposed engaging in close cooperation at a practical level to meet Parliament's concerns in this area;

19. Considers itself duty-bound therefore to create such a service, which would benefit from the experience gained to date and would provide the necessary environment to enable Parliament to make full use of its legislative powers; is convinced that the manpower required to meet all that service's language requirements can to a large extent be provided through redeployment in language department sectors and calls only for the creation of a limited number of new posts;

20. Stresses, however, the advisability of establishing the necessary links between this new service and the other Parliament services, in particular those directly involved in the legislative procedures;

21. Points out that, when the 1996 estimates were adopted, it did not grant upgradings for the political groups' temporary staff; calls on the political groups to make arrangements for the management of their manpower by introducing a system of career planning; points out that such planning should ensure that transparent uniform rules are applied for all the political groups' temporary staff and should offer a measure of security for the staff concerned;

22. Takes the view that the other requests for posts, in particular that for an informatics assistant (B) for the Committee on Budgetary Control, must be met through redeployment;

23. Has decided by means of amendments:

(a) to create one permanent A1 post intended for the head of the EPICENTRE, with the corresponding appropriations being entered in Chapter 100; releasing these appropriations will be dependent on:

- an effective system of interinstitutional cooperation being intended;

- the presentation by the services of a clear and detailed concept for the Epicentre;

(b) to create seven LA7 posts for the lawyer-linguist service, with the corresponding appropriations being entered in Chapter 100; notes that releasing these appropriations will be dependent on interinstitutional cooperation;

(c) to create two permanent LA3 posts intended for the Interpreting Directorate (Finnish and Swedish Divisions); instructs the Administration to initiate the procedures for filling these two posts immediately so that they can be completed by the end of the first half of 1996;

(d) to upgrade the following temporary posts for political group staff: one A5 to A4, four A6 to A5, two A7 to A6, three B2 to B1, two B3 to B2, four B4 to B3, five B5 to B4, seven C2 to C1, three C3 to C2, 13 C5 to C4;

24. Has entered against Item 2232 'Hire of vehicles' an amount of ECU 0.2 m and in Chapter 100, for the same item, an amount of ECU 0.2 m; instructs the Secretary-General to submit a report on the conditions for the conclusion of contracts with third parties for the hire of cars, taxis, coaches and goods vehicles with or without drivers;

Has also entered in Chapter 100:

(a) for Article 106 'Members' secretarial expenses' an amount of ECU 5.241 m; instructs the Quaestors to propose arrangements for operating a scheme for the direct payment, on the authority of Members, of remuneration for their assistants and calls on the parties concerned - the Bureau, the Quaestors and the Committee on Budgets - to meet before 30 November 1995 to find an equitable solution to the problem of assistants before the adoption of the 1996 budget;

(b) for Item 1033 'Optional pension scheme for Members' an amount of ECU 2.53 m corresponding to the share, one-third to two-thirds, pending the outcome of an audit on the origin of the deficit which has been established, future forecasts and an independent check on the actuarial calculations for this fund;

(c) for Item 1870 'Freelance interpreters' an amount of ECU 3.5 m, pending the conclusions of the Bureau report on this area;

25. Reiterates its continuing concern that there should be rigour and stresses its need for sufficient administrative resources to implement its calendar of business;

III. Section IV - Court of Justice

26. Points out that, in its estimates, the Court had asked for 21 new posts to be created and 110 posts to be upgraded; notes, however, that these requests were not accompanied by a report on staffing policy;

27. Has decided, by means of amendments, to reduce the standard abatement from 6.5% to 4.5% in respect of the appropriations for staff in active employment, to create three temporary A6 posts and to upgrade two B4 to B3, one C2 to C1, one C3 to C2 and two D3 to D2 permanent posts;

28. Notes that the increase in appropriations for operating expenditure over the financial year 1995 has virtually been absorbed by the increase in appropriations against Chapter 20 'Immovable property' and that the appropriations against other chapters have been set at a markedly lower level than for 1995; stresses that this position, corrected to take account of the impact of enlargement, should be revised in respect of certain lines, while taking account of the cumulative rate of increase since 1994;

29. Has decided, by means of amendments, to top up the following lines: Article 255 'Miscellaneous expenditure on the organization of and participation in conferences, congresses and meetings', Article 205 'Security and surveillance of buildings', Article 203 'Cleaning and maintenance', Item 2200 'New purchases of office machines', Article 230 'Stationery and office supplies', Item 2351 'Uniforms and working clothes, work tools', and Article 241 'Telephone';

IV. Section V - Court of Auditors

30. Takes the view that the volume of appropriations, for the various operating expenditure areas in particular, is sufficient to ensure proper functioning of the institution and to enable it to cope with the task of verifying regularity and sound financial management;

31. Stresses the need to grant budget cover for the number of posts actually remunerated over 12 months which cannot be reduced, and hence to provide a volume of appropriations enabling the number of posts authorized in the establishment plan to be utilized in a suitable fashion;

32. Has decided, by means of amendments, to reduce the standard abatement from 7% to 3.5% in respect of the appropriations for staff in active employment;

V. Section VI

(a)Economic and Social Committee

33. Recalls the positions it has taken with regard to human resources management and, in particular, the objective of adopting an establishment plan structure meeting the twin requirement of transparency and operational need of the ESC; points out that any decision by the Appointing Authority along these lines should be based on the interests of the service and the criterion of cost-effectiveness;

34. Has decided, by means of amendments, to upgrade two permanent A7 posts to A6 and one permanent A6 post to A5 and to specify in the list of posts the status of the posts, including the temporary posts allocated to the presidency and to groups I, II and III;

35. Takes the view that the volume of appropriations for operating expenditure can almost fully meet the ESC's operational needs and that the limited top- up totalling ECU 74 300 is necessary in the light of further details which have been provided with regard to studies, publications and grants;

36. Has decided, by means of amendments, to enter an appropriation of ECU 35 000 against Article A-260, ECU 30 000 against Item A-2710 and ECU 9 300 against Item A-2940;

(b) Committee of the Regions

37. Considers it essential to recall its deliberations in connection with the 1995 budget, including SAB 1/95, and, in particular, its concern to ensure that this new consultative body will have the necessary manpower and infrastructure resources;

38. Supports the creation by the Council of six temporary A7 posts intended to make it possible to plan arrangements for work by political grouping; points out, moreover, that grouping by political affinity is a priority in so far as it goes beyond any other form of association; points out that the importance of political parties at European level is spelled out by Article 138a of the Treaty;

39. Takes the view that the volume of appropriations for operating expenditure can almost fully meet the operational needs of the Committee of the Regions and that a limited top-up totalling ECU 30 000 is necessary in the light of further details which have been provided with regard to studies, meetings, convocations and mission expenses;

40. Has decided, by means of amendments, to enter an appropriation of ECU 5 000 against Article B-260, ECU 15 000 against Article B-255 and ECU 10 000 against Article B-130;

(c) Joint organizational structure

41. Points out that the Council has entered an amount of ECU 300 000 in Article C-200 'Rent' to cover a possible rental payment for hiring conference rooms on European Parliament premises;

42. Recalls in this connection its decision in favour of proposal for transfer of appropriations No. 28/95 enabling the Committee of the Regions to rent the Ardenne building; notes, moreover, that its Bureau, at its meeting of 19 September 1995, decided in a spirit of interinstitutional cooperation to make available conference rooms in the D1 building to the Committee of the Regions; notes that, for this occupancy, the Committee of the Regions would pay a lump sum per day and per meeting;

43. Calls therefore on the Committee of the Regions to forward to it, in good time, its schedule of work for 1996 in order to introduce a room-booking programme to manage demand and prevent requests from overlapping;

44. Has decided, by means of amendments, to create Article C-206 'Costs of meetings in premises of other institutions', with an appropriation of ECU 97 000, to alter the appropriation against Article C-200 'Rent' to ECU 5.628 m and to delete accordingly the appropriation of ECU 300 000 entered in the reserve which has become superfluous;

45. Shares the Council's intention to promote better management of human resources by fostering inter alia, greater mobility between the three entities; points out, however, that this approach must not be allowed to become a source of conflict between the two Appointing Authorities (ESC and Committee of the Regions) and create confusion among the staff concerned, and at all events calls on the two institutions concerned to take into consideration the conclusions on the rationalization of administrative expenditure and, in particular, those relating to human resources management;

46. Has decided, by means of amendments, to create two permanent B5 posts and three permanent C5 posts by way of support to cover needs in the new Ardenne building and to upgrade three LA5 posts to LA4, five LA7 to LA6, two permanent C3 posts to C2 and three permanent C5 posts to C4;

VI. With regard to the Institutions as a whole

47. Notes that the procedure for establishing the administrative budgets of the institutions other than the Commission reflects the increasingly convergent approaches of the two arms of the budgetary authority; notes that this convergence, improved by interinstitutional cooperation, is becoming noticeable in practice by saving one reading of the draft budget, through the introduction of the analytical budget;

48. Takes the view therefore that this exercise should be continued in order to verify the conditions for realizing the objectives set when the budget is adopted; therefore instructs its competent committee to introduce an appropriate procedure, as of the discharge procedure for the 1994 financial year, to examine budget implementation in Sections IV, V and VI;

49. Notes moreover that, as part of its work, each arm of the budgetary authority approaches the institutions concerned for additional information; therefore sees no objection to reciprocal exchanges of the additional information obtained, so as to avoid duplication of effort; calls on the Council accordingly to adopt this proposal;

50. Notes that the 'Administrative appropriations' (all institutions) section of the draft budget in its amended form leaves a margin of ECU 61 408 000 in heading 5 'Administrative expenditure';

51. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Community institutions and bodies concerned.

ANNEXCONCLUSIONS CONCERNING THE RATIONALIZATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURE1. PRESENTATION OF REQUESTS FOR NEW POSTSA directory similar to the 'Guide des services' (either a complete version or extracts corresponding to certain activities, depending on the case) will be sent to the budgetary authority in support of requests for new posts. It will include a description of the tasks of each unit and the breakdown of staff by category.

2. PROPORTION OF POSTS FILLED(a) The statement of grounds for new posts will include a table indicating the proportion of posts in the establishment plan that are filled and a table showing the situation as regards posts for which payments are being made; these tables will be updated throughout the budget procedure.

(b) There should be a uniform definition of the notions of vacant and filled posts: a post is filled as soon as it has been offered to a specific candidate.

3. INTERNAL REDEPLOYMENT(a) The budgetary authority must be in a position to assess the impact of any changes in priorities (both positive and negative) on the breakdown of human resources in financial year n on the basis of the budget documents submitted with requests for new posts for that year.

(b) More widespread computerization of departments should pave the way for changes in certain categories of staff, particularly through redeployment. In the case of category C staff, this could mean a change in the relative proportions of clerical officers (for example those employed in accounting tasks in some institutions) and secretaries.

4. MOBILITY INDICATORSEach institution will:

(a) compile statistics on mobility on the basis of a common definition;

(b) ensure that, where vacancy notices are published on an interinstitutional basis, the normal time-limit for receipt of applications is applied;

(c) refrain from recruiting staff from another institution by offering them promotion to a grade for which they lack the required seniority.

5. BUDGET REQUESTS FOR NEW POSTS(a) The three institutions have accepted the principle of 6-month budget cover for new posts.

(b) Each institution will enclose with its request for new posts a calculation of the cost for a full year and in a fully operational environment.

6. ORGANIZATION OF COMPETITIONS(a) It should become the rule that general competitions are held on an interinstitutional basis, with exceptions only where this is duly justified by functional requirements. Appropriate organizational arrangements, including measures relating to staff representation, should be introduced by agreement between the institutions.

(b) The departments responsible for recruitment in the institutions should consult one another regularly to plan their recruitment requirements together and draw up:

- a list of competitions to be held jointly by two or more institutions;

- a list of competitions to be held exceptionally by individual institutions to cover specific and duly substantiated functional requirements;

- detailed arrangements for drawing on reserve lists.

(c) Even if a competition is not organized on an interinstitutional basis, institutions may still cooperate:

- in logistics (e.g. by making rooms available, etc.); and

- by making joint use of the reserve list (subject to a code of conduct for the distribution of and access to the list).

(d) To ensure that the institutions are on an equal footing when it comes to recruitment, a guiding principle should be that staff are recruited to all the institutions in the basic grade.

From now on, recruitment in the basic grade (A7/8, LA 7/8, B5, C5 and D3) will, in principle, be only by interinstitutional competition.

7. LANGUAGE TRAININGLuxembourg(a) The new system in force in Luxembourg should be consolidated.

(b) Parliament (lead institution for administration in Luxembourg) will report in early 1996 on the savings which have been made.

Brussels(c) Closer cooperation: the institutions will compile a list of all cases where training courses overlap and draw up a programme of joint courses for the session beginning in October 1996.

(d) The administration of language training should be merged and carried out by a single institution (economies of scale, pooling of staff). In practice, courses could be taught on the premises of one or other institution.

(e) Contractual arrangements with teachers

i. The principle of opening up services to competition is approved. The institutions will together study the full implications of competitive tendering and how it should be planned.

ii. In this context the terms of contracts between the institutions and teachers will be studied from a legal angle, a report will be produced on the rights to be observed and planning measures will be drawn up, particularly with a view to guaranteeing the quality of service and a smooth transition.

iii. The first phase, consisting of the pooling of language courses, should begin in October 1996.

8. GENERAL TRAINING(a) The institutions are asked to identify ways of checking that proper use is being made of training to meet the functional needs of the institutions.

(b) As with language training, interinstitutional cooperation must be made a general principle and any overlap between courses eliminated. A programme of joint courses for all institutions in Brussels and Luxembourg will be drawn up for implementation from the first half of 1996, taking into account the fact that many of Parliament's staff are in Strasbourg during part-sessions.

(c) Notices of forthcoming training courses will be sent to all the institutions in good time to enable those interested to enrol.

9. PLANNING OF REQUIREMENTS AND METHODS OF FINANCING(a) In preparation for the review in 1996 of expenditure under heading 5 of the financial perspective (conclusions of the Trialogue of 25 November 1994), the estimated requirements of all the institutions should be compared with realistic funding prospects.

(b) With a view to making savings in the long term the Trialogue should therefore be requested to give a mandate on 30 June 1995 to an interinstitutional working party:

i. to assess the various institutions' requirements in terms of buildings up to 1999 (final year of the present financial perspective);

ii. to study the various possible options for financing these requirements (cash purchase; rental with purchase option; straightforward renting);

iii. to base their proposals on a study of the costs involved in each of these options.

(c) The secretariats of the various institutions should cooperate on a plan to make optimum use of suitably-equipped conference rooms in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg.

10. CLEANING, MAINTENANCE AND SECURITY GUARDSThe institutions should keep each other fully informed of the terms under which they award various types of contract; a consultation mechanism will be set up.

11. CRECHES(a) A considerable degree of interinstitutional cooperation has already been achieved in this field. This should be consolidated.

(b) The demands of the budgetary authority regarding users' contributions have been met: it has been decided that the scales of parental contributions in Brussels and Luxembourg will be harmonized, which will require an acceleration of the catching-up operation in Brussels.

(c) With due regard for the quality of service provided, efforts have already been made to find the least expensive forms of management:

i. in creches under direct management, by gradually replacing officials with staff employed under private-law contracts;

ii. in the new creches in Brussels (Eastman and Clovis), by contracting out (international invitation to tender for Clovis);

iii. in Luxembourg, by hiring blocks of places in private creches.

12. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY(a) The Interinstitutional Information Technology Committee should be mandated to monitor practice on an on-going basis. The committee will be responsible for making proposals on the development of joint information technology applications.

(b) Current cooperation should be continued and extended in the following areas:

- pay;

- production of budget documents;

- production and distribution of press cuttings;

- competition procedures;

- translation;

- production and transmission of texts under the interinstitutional legislative procedure.

13. MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTER EQUIPMENT(a) Advance coordination of any computer equipment purchases should be developed into a proper interinstitutional procedure without making procurement procedures any longer.

(b) In order to evaluate the pros and cons inherent in a joint procurement procedure, the institutions should carry out a pilot experiment. The Interinstitutional Information Technology Committee must determine the type of equipment most suitable for the experiment.

(c) In order to obtain maintenance on the best possible terms, the institutions should launch a joint negotiating procedure with certain suppliers.

(d) As part of the review of the rules governing the management of equipment, the institutions should harmonize the regulations in the course of 1996. Joint criteria should be adopted, in particular, as regards the life of the equipment and the conditions for taking it out of service.

(e) With a view to a joint approach to equipment identification, the institutions should exchange their experiences on using optically readable bar code systems.

14. HARMONIZATION OF INFRASTRUCTUREThe institutions should improve their joint communications infrastructures by continuing with work under the INSIS programme so as to reduce training costs, among other things.

15. AGENCIES(a) The initiatives already taken by the agencies to pay the Commission for taking on certain administrative management tasks on their behalf (such as pay, establishment of individual entitlements) should be encouraged and expanded, since promotion of this type of cooperation allows economies to be made by avoiding duplication of tasks.

(b) When taking on officials from the institutions, the agencies should take due account of the officials' actual position in the institution from which they are moving and avoid upgrading them inappropriately. A strict code of conduct should be established for this purpose.

(c) The Board of heads of administration should seek agreement among all the institutions on a common position on the agencies, taking special account of the Commission's recommendations to the persons exercising the powers of appointing authority.

16. DOCUMENTATION(a) In line with its own particular operational requirements, each institution should make provision for rationalizing the way in which its documents are produced (optimal sizing of documents and more rigorous selection of documents for publication).

(b) The current presentation of the budget (with the appropriations on the left-hand page and the remarks on the facing page) should be dropped and the information on each budget item presented as continuous text so as to make a significant reduction in the overall size of the document.