Resolution on the estimates of revenue and expenditure of Parliament and the estimates of revenue and expenditure of the Ombudsman for the financial year 2000
Date: 1999-05-05
Institutions: Committee on Budgets, European Parliament
Subjects: European Ombudsman, European Parliament, budget estimate, general budget (EU)

1.10.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 279/227

Wednesday 5 May 1999

13. Budget estimates for the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman

for 2000

A4-0227/99

Resolution on the estimates of revenue and expenditure of Parliament and the estimates of revenue
and expenditure of the Ombudsman for the financial year 2000

The European Parliament,

−  having  regard  to  its  resolution  of  23  March  1999  on  the  guidelines  for  the  2000  budgetary

procedure (1),

−  having regard to the Secretary-General’s report to the Bureau on the preliminary draft estimates of the

European Parliament for the 2000 financial year,

−  having regard to the preliminary draft estimates established by the Bureau on 23 March 1999 pursuant

to Rules 22(5) and (6) and 165(1) of the Rules of Procedure,

−  having regard to the provisions of the Financial regulation, the declaration on the presentation of an
analytical  budget,  and  the  interinstitutional  conclusions  on  the  rationalisation  of  administrative
expenditure (2),

−  having regard the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, and the implications that this has for

the legislative work of Parliament,

−  having regard to the report of the Committee of Independent Experts, set up through Parliament’s
resolution  of  14  January  1999  on  improving  the  financial  management  of  the  Commission (3)  and
mandated to examine the way in which the Commission detects and deals with fraud, mismanagement
and nepotism,

−  having regard to its decision of 9 March 1994 on the regulations and general conditions governing the

performance of the Ombudsman’s duties, and in particular Article 11 thereof (4),

−  having regard to the fact that the procedure for the general budget for the year 2000 will be based on

Article 272 (former 203) of the EC Treaty,

−  having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A4-0227/99),

On the economic and other circumstances

A.  whereas the economic forecasts, on which the future budgets are calculated, foresee growth in the
Union’s economy of 2,5% per annum over the next years, which Parliament considers optimistic, and
lower levels of growth of national budgets of about 1,7% per annum, with low levels of inflation;
whereas these forecasts justify a rigorous approach to the administrative budgets of the Union and
whereas,  therefore,  Parliament’s  budget  for  the  year  2000  can  account  for  not  more  than  20%  of
heading 5 of the financial perspective (in so far as there is a financial perspective next year),

B.  whereas  Parliament  will  have  to  assume  greater  responsibilities  due  to  the  extension  of  the
co-decision  procedure  under  the  Amsterdam  Treaty,  and  will  need  to  prepare  itself  for  the
enlargement of the Union in the next years,

C.  whereas interinstitutional cooperation should be reinforced in order to exploit synergies and make
better use of taxpayers’ money in such areas as public supply contracts and tenders, services such as
telecommunications and informatics, training, use of buildings and other facilities, such as cre`ches,
sports facilities, access to library services and data bases, medical services, and use of translation and
interpretation services,

D.  whereas Parliament can draw lessons itself from the report of the Committee of Independent Experts

mentioned above, for its own management,

(1)  Minutes of that sitting, Part II, Item 10(b).
(2)  OJ C 308, 20.11.1995, p. 127.
(3)  OJ C 104, 14.4.1999, p. 106.
(4)  OJ L 113, 4.5.1994.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

1.10.1999

Wednesday 5 May 1999

On the Members of Parliament

1.
Calls upon the Council to adopt as soon as possible the Statute for Members, as well as the Statute for
Members’  assistants;  notes  that  the  inclusion  in  Parliament’s  budget  of  the  remuneration  of  Members
entails an extra amount of some EUR 60 million (6,15% of the total budget), which has provisionally to be
placed in the reserve, but that this amount will be deducted from the budgets of the Member States;

On Staff

2.
Agrees  with  the  principles  of  the  Secretary-General’s  new  staff  policy,  which  aims  to  increase
motivation  through  promotions  on  the  basis  of  sustained  merit  and  foresees  a  promotion  cycle  of  an
average  of  five  years;  agrees,  against  this  background,  to  making  available  the  financial  means  for
490  upgradings,  and  the  other  upgradings  for  permanent  and  temporary  posts,  as  well  as  three  ‘ad
personam’ promotions (1 from A3 to A2 and 2 from C1 to B3);

3.

Can accept the upgradings for the political groups as requested by their secretaries-general;

Calls on its Secretary-General to draw up a code of conduct for the appointment of senior officials

4.
and present this before Parliament’s first reading;

5. Welcomes  the  re-deployment  of  staff  for  the  entry  into  force  of  the  Amsterdam  Treaty  and  the
preparation of enlargement; agrees with a maximum amount of EUR 500 000 in the reserve for new posts,
in order to recruit new staff for new technical tasks in relation with the implementation of the Members’
Statute,  if  it  comes  into  force  in  2000  (and  the  management  of  the  new  Strasbourg  premises),  but
emphasises that every request to release appropriations from the reserve will have to be duly motivated,
and that the relative increase of posts at the Parliament must be in line, in the medium term, with those in
other institutions, according to the forecast of basic needs;

6.
Agrees with the creation of 2 temporary A posts for a maximum of 2 years in the Directorate-General
for Administration, as provided for in the reserve for new posts mentioned in paragraph 5, to deal with
matters concerning Parliament’s premises; agrees to an extension until 30 June 2000 of the contract for the
Secretary-General’s  special  adviser  with  responsibility  for  property  policy,  on  condition  that  the
provisions  of  Article  82  of  the  Conditions  of  Employment  of  Other  Servants  set  out  in  the  Staff
Regulations are respected;

7.
Requests the Secretary-General to insist on the establishment of an interinstitutional working party
on the urgent reform of the pension scheme for EU staff and to budgetise the employer’s and employee’s
contributions, as well as the payments to retired staff of the Parliament;

On Buildings policy

8.
Recalls  the  parallelism  agreed  for  the  purchases  of  Parliament’s  premises  in  Strasbourg  and
Brussels; notes therefore that the French authorities offer to the European Parliament similar provisions
concerning  the  acquisition  of  the  land  on  which  the  Louise  Weiss  building  (IPE  IV)  is  built  and  land
development  costs,  as  were  offered  by  the  Belgian  authorities  for  the  Altiero  Spinelli  building  (D3)
in Brussels, as well as the usual exemption from VAT and other charges or taxes;

Stresses that the premises of the Parliament should be paid for in as limited a period as is possible in
9.
order  to  reduce  the  interest  burden  to  a  minimum  over  the  whole  repayment  period;  is  in  favour  of  a
pay-back period for the Louise Weiss building (IPE IV) of 10 years;

10.
Is  of  the  opinion  that  in  certain  areas  (such  as  telecommunications,  informatics,  printing  and
publishing), further savings should be possible; urges its Secretary-General to improve results and reduce
costs in these sectors;

Miscellaneous

11. Welcomes  the  management  of  appropriations  by  delegating  budget  allocations  to  the  main
administrative units; notes that this has led to a slow-down in the rate of increase of mission and overtime
expenses;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 279/229

Wednesday 5 May 1999

12.
Believes that it is not in the interest of the European taxpayer nor in the interest of local business in
Brussels that funding be provided as a direct subsidy from Parliament’s budget for the setting up of a
supermarket in the premises of the Parliament; is of the opinion that such an initiative should be directly
financed by the promoter or entrepreneur, who wins the project through open competitive tendering, and
that it should not entail the use of Community staff in the organisation and management of the project;

13.
Is of the opinion that direct subsidies for the functioning of the catering services have to be avoided
and that only indirect costs may be supported (e.g. providing furniture, electricity, water etc.); considers,
however, that the dispersion of Parliament’s activities over three places of work should not lead to higher
prices but that any extra costs arising from this situation should be borne by Parliament’s budget;

14.
Recalls  its  resolution  of  10  December  1996  on  the  constitutional  status  of  European  political
parties (1) (budget Item 3710), paragraph 2 of which in particular calls for adoption by the Commission
and the Council of a framework regulation on the legal position of European parties and a regulation on the
financial status of European parties; calls for the procedure for drawing up these legislative acts to be put
in hand and completed, thus enabling the European Parliament and European parties to ensure, in line with
their wishes, that, in the context of their own activities, there is transparency and clarity with regard to
financial and budgetary aspects;

Agrees  with  a  budget  for  the  year  2000  amounting  to  EUR  975  562  863 (2),  which  implies  an
15.
increase of 5,63% in comparison to the 1999 budget, and an amount equalling 1% of the budget total for a
general reserve;

16.

Takes favourable note of the estimates of the European Ombudsman;

*

*

*

Instructs  its  President  to  forward  this  resolution  to  the  Council,  the  Commission  and  the

17.
Ombudsman, and to the other institutions and national parliaments.

(1)  OJ C 20, 20.1.1997, p. 29.
(2)  See Annex to Minutes.

14. New codecision procedure

A4-0206/99

Resolution on the Joint Declaration on the practical arrangements for the new codecision procedure
(Article 251 EC)

The European Parliament,

−  having regard to Article 251 (former Article 189b) EC, and to the corresponding revisions made by the

Treaty of Amsterdam,

−  having  regard  to  the  1993  interinstitutional  agreement  on  the  phase  preceding  the  adoption  of  a
common position by the Council and on arrangements for proceedings in the Conciliation Committee
provided for in Article 189b (1),

−  having regard to its resolution of 16 July 1998 on the new codecision procedure after Amsterdam (2),

and to its calls for revision of the 1993 interinstitutional agreement,

−  having regard to the Joint Declaration on practical arrangements for the new codecision procedure

agreed to by the negotiators from the Council, Commission and Parliament,

(1)  OJ C 329, 6.12.1993, p. 141.
(2)  OJ C 292, 21.9.1998, p. 140.