European Parliament resolution on the Commission White Paper on reforming the Commission (aspects concerning the Committee on Budgets) (COM(2000) 200 - C5-0447/2000 - 2000/2217(COS))
Date: 2000-11-30
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European Commission, action programme, administration of the Institutions, budget, financial management, institutional reform

C 228/196

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.8.2001

Thursday 30 November 2000

14. Commission reform: budgetary aspects

A5-0327/2000

European Parliament resolution on the Commission White Paper on reforming the Commission
(COM(2000) 200 ) C5-0447/2000 ) 2000/
(aspects concerning the Committee on Budgets)

2217(COS))

The European Parliament,

(cid:1) having regard to the White Paper on reforming the Commission COM(2000) 200 (cid:1) C5-0447/2000),

(cid:1) having regard to the EC Treaty and, in particular, Article 274 thereof,

(cid:1) having regard to Letter of Amendment No 1/2001 to the preliminary draft budget for 200 (12071/

2000 (cid:1) C5-0518/2000),

(cid:1) having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament,
the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary proce-
dure (1),

(cid:1) having regard to the first and second reports of the Committee of Independent Experts, Volumes. I
and II: analysis of current practice and proposals for tackling mismanagement, irregularities and fraud,

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 23 March 1999 on the Commission working document on the

recasting of the Financial Regulation(SEC(1998) 1228 (cid:1) C4-0689/1998) (2),

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2000 containing its observations on the action to be
taken on the second report of the Committee of Independent Experts on reform of the Commission (3),

(cid:1) having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:1) having regard to its other resolutions of 30 November 2000 on the White Paper on reforming the

Commission (4),

(cid:1) having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A5-0327/2000),

A. whereas a large number of operational failures and mismanagement were at the root of the resigna-
tion of the Commission in March 1999, and whereas there is a need to restore public confidence in
the European institutions,

B. whereas it is for all the institutions to participate actively in the reform of the Commission, within the

limits of the powers and responsibilities conferred upon each of them by the EC Treaty,

C. whereas, under the terms of Article 274 of the EC Treaty, the Commission implements the budget on
its own responsibility, and whereas, therefore, it must allocate its resources in such a way as to serve
the political priorities established by Parliament and the Council as the budgetary authority,

D. whereas, over recent years and in the wake of the problems encountered in programme implementa-
tion, with particular regard to external programmes, Parliament has called on the Commission to
undertake a comprehensive review of its human resources with a view to enabling the budgetary
authority to identify the reasons for late payments and to ascertain whether any additional resources
were required,

E. whereas the financial perspective for the period 2000-2006 imposes ceilings on each category of

expenditure,

F. whereas the reform of the Commission will entail a large number of specific legislative and budgetary
decisions on which Parliament will take a position on a case-by-case basis in accordance with current
procedures,

(1) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 177, 22.6.1999, p. 15.
(3) OJ C 304, 24.10.2000, p. 135.
(4)

‘Texts Adopted’, Items 15, 16 and 17.

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G. whereas consultation of Parliament on the White Paper should therefore provide an opportunity for
the establishment of principles which must not in any way encroach on the Commission’s indepen-
dence as regards its internal organisation but, on the contrary, should enable it to carry out its role
successfully within the institutional balance established by the Treaties,

Thursday 30 November 2000

Chapter II (cid:9) A culture based on service

1.
Notes the direct impact that a more efficiently organised Commission cannot fail to have, not only as
a result of the optimum use of human resources but also because of the effect on the implementation of
appropriations;

Takes the view that Parliament has a specific responsibility towards the citizens of the European
2.
Union, must stand as guarantor for the proper functioning of the European public service and, as one
arm of the budgetary authority, must ensure that public monies made available to the European Union
are properly used and that the use thereof reflects its political priorities in the expenditure that it
authorises;

Reiterates its intention of giving firm backing to the Commission in its efforts to reform and to

3.
modernise its operations in strict compliance with the institutional balance established by the Treaties;

4.
Takes the view that the reform must not be restricted to the attainment of a mathematical balance
between tasks and resources, nor to mere cosmetic changes to procedures, but that it must contribute to
the consolidation of the process of European integration by means of an in-depth reorganisation of struc-
tures and methods so that the Commission fully assumes its responsibilities, with particular regard to
management, and can ensure optimum use of financial resources allocated to it by the budgetary authority;

5.
Supports the efforts being made to develop a new culture geared to results and performance criteria,
provided that culture takes into account the difficulties involved in certain tasks where the cost-benefit
ratio may be high but which are required for the fulfilment of certain political priorities;

6.
Takes the view that decentralisation and delegation of authority are essential tools in a modern and
efficient administration which entrusts responsibility to its staff, provided that power of decision and of
supervision are guaranteed both inside and outside the institution;

7.
Recalls that the human and financial resources made available to the Commission for informing
citizens and communicating with them are provided by the Union and that they must be used to deliver
a common message which reflects its political priorities; believes that information policy must be pursued
on an interinstitutional basis;

Calls for the reform to be used as an opportunity to improve the Union’s efficiency in programme

8.
implementation:

(cid:1) in the case of subsidies granted to direct beneficiaries whose projects have been selected on the basis
of criteria established by the legislative and budgetary authority, by the payment of instalments
directly after selection of the projects, accompanied by internal and external supervision to ensure
that the funds have been properly used,

(cid:1) in the case of external programmes, by the fixing of realistic objectives which seek to clear the backlog
and to restore balance in the ratio between commitments and payments, by the adoption of measures
which enable contracts in force to be suspended, should political priorities have changed, and by
consistency between political commitments, legal conditions and on-the-spot feasibility;

9. Welcomes the various codes of conduct established as part of the reform; regrets that Parliament
could not give its views before their entry into force;

10.
Emphasises that the sole objectives of such codes of conduct must be to translate principles com-
mon to all the institutions so as to strengthen the consistency and the specific nature of the European
public service, to increase the transparency of the consultation and interinstitutional decision-making pro-
cess and, finally, to restore the confidence of the staff and of the general public in the European institu-
tions, without impeding the smooth running of the Commission;

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Thursday 30 November 2000

Chapter III (cid:9) Priority-setting, allocation and efficient use of resources

Activity-based budgeting

Notes the Commission’s determination gradually to introduce a new budgetary nomenclature

11.
through the establishment of activity-based budgeting (ABB);

12. Welcomes every effort seeking to improve transparency of management and of evaluation as well as
the principle of changes to the current nomenclature with a view to making visible the cost and perfor-
mance of Community policies;

13.
Stresses that establishing activity-based budgeting must not involve any increase in rigidity in the
allocation of human resources by the Commission’s services and should allow, where necessary, new tasks
to be assumed and carried out;

14.
Points out that, on many occasions during previous budgetary procedures, it has objected forcefully
to the Commission’s misuse of the current nomenclature, with administrative expenditure being charged to
operating appropriations (mini-budgets, TAOs) and has sought to restore transparency by means of ceil-
ings or remarks which enable expenditure to be identified according to its nature in the context of the
intended purpose;

15.
Draws the Commission’s attention, nevertheless, to the risks of confusion that might arise from a
one-size-fits-all approach in which the powers of the budgetary authority as regards the allocation of
administrative appropriations would be reduced as a result of the specific presentation of expenditure by
intended purpose, since that would entail a loss of visibility of the nature of the expenditure; is totally
opposed to the introduction of a system which would not guarantee either the transparency of the analysis
or its powers of decision on the allocation of human and administrative resources; is nevertheless prepared
to consider ABB in parallel to the current nomenclature and as a part of a future, wider system of defining
objectives, priorities and performances (ABM);

16.
Emphasises that the total replacement of the current nomenclature by the ABB method would
entail, on the one hand, prior amendment of Article 19 of the Financial Regulation, which establishes
the distinction between Part A (administrative appropriations) and Part B (operating appropriations), and,
in the long run, the abolition of heading 5 of the financial perspective which covers the institutions’
administrative expenditure; points out that such decisions require the agreement of the budgetary authority
and of the other institutions;

17.
Recalls, finally, that, while Article 274 confers on the Commission the power to implement the
budget on its own responsibility, it is not empowered to change the institutional balance; urges the Com-
mission not to undermine, by setting its own priorities, the political priorities set out by Parliament and
Council as the budgetary authority; instructs its committee responsible to monitor closely this part of the
reform on an interinstitutional basis;

Externalisation and commitology

18. Welcomes the decisions on externalisation taken by the Commission set out in Letter of Amend-
ment No 1/2001; notes that they respond to the requirements of:

(cid:1) Parliament, which, after deploring the failures of the mini-budgets and the TAOs, proposed solutions
which were radical as regards the principles to be adhered to and balanced as regards the procedures
for their implementation, since it was concerned not to impede the current Commission, which is
already facing problems because of the resignation of the previous Commission, in the management
of its programmes,

(cid:1) the Commission, whose authority in the exercise of its implementing powers and its power to repre-

sent the public authority has been strengthened,

(cid:1) the management of Community policies, where improvements should become apparent in terms of

their efficiency, transparency and cost;

19.
Approves, therefore, the findings set out in the report drawn up by the Planning and Coordination
Group, the conceptual bases of which were largely inspired by Parliament: delegation of responsibilities to
Community-based public implementing agencies and outsourcing to the private sector limited strictly to
implementing tasks without any public authority dimension in the form of one-off contracts for the provi-
sion of services;

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Thursday 30 November 2000

20.
Takes the view that responsibility for the financial management of Community programmes lies
solely with the Commission and that, accordingly, committees consisting of representatives of the Member
States should have no power of decision as regards management so as to ensure that national interests at
odds with the principle of subsidiarity may not intervene;

21. Warns the Commission about the risks of confusion of responsibilities which certain forms of
decentralisation would involve for mixed public bodies, both national and Community, and points out
that the planning and verification of the implementation of decentralised tasks must remain exclusively
within the remit of the Commission, which must assume total responsibility for these, with monitoring
being carried out by Parliament and the Court of Auditors; expects the Commission to adhere to the time-
table for the dismantling of the TAOs and to submit without delay a proposal for a legal framework for
the creation of Community implementing agencies in order to reduce the transitional period to a mini-
mum;

22.
Believes, in this connection, that resumption of the monitoring of the process for externalising tasks
constitutes an essential element in strengthening the Commission’s executive role within the meaning of
Article 274 of the EC Treaty; takes the view that the process of resuming control of implementation must
be continued, in particular via a reform of the commitology procedure;

23.
Calls on the Commission to refrain in future from including intervention by management and reg-
ulatory committees in its legislative proposals whenever those proposals refer to expenditure programmes;

Chapter IV (cid:9) Human resources

24.
Notes that, while the second report of the Committee of Independent Experts found that the imbal-
ance between the human resources available to the Commission and the new tasks entrusted to it over the
last ten years constituted a major obstacle to its efficient operation, and while the Members of both the
previous and the present Commission broadly acknowledged the truth of that finding, the Commission has
never undertaken a wide-ranging consideration of policy nor submitted to the budgetary authority a com-
prehensive request based on an evaluation of existing and new tasks and of the challenges ahead, such as
enlargement, and is satisfied with tabling a report with a request for an increase in staff appropriations
accompanied by a tentative list of activities to be discontinued or reduced (cid:1) such as LIFE, SAVE and
Altener (cid:1) if this request is not agreed to;

25.
Recalls that, well before the launch of the reform, and with a view to the negotiations concerning
the new financial perspective (2000-2006), Parliament had called on all the institutions, including the
Commission, to submit an assessment of their human resources requirements;

26.
Notes Letter of Amendment No 1/2001, which sets out a proposal for the additional expenditure
arising from the reform, and takes the view that it should in principle be considered in connection with
the 2001 budget;

27.
Notes that the Letter of Amendment does not require any changes to the financial perspective but
that the additional appropriations requested will account for a large proportion of the surplus below the
ceiling for heading 5, in particular in 2002/2003; is concerned at the financing requirements of the other
institutions which may arise during the period or the funding of other new expenditure; notes that the
total cost of the Letter of Amendment amounts to an additional € 540 million over the period covered by
the financial perspective;

Supports the internal attempts envisaged to redeploy staff and improve productivity; regrets, how-
28.
ever, that redeployment measures will affect no more than 4 % of the staff and asks the Commission to
explain to Parliament the criteria selected for the abandonment or reduction in the scale of certain activ-
ities;

29.
Takes the view that, with a view to budgetary rigour and in order to optimise career development
opportunities, new officials in all categories should preferably be recruited in the basic grade; considers,
furthermore, that the importance of management training must be duly emphasised when job specifica-
tions are drawn up; stresses the need to achieve adequate specialisation in the Commission’s external ser-
vices; believes that career plans should be updated;

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Thursday 30 November 2000

30.
Is prepared to consider in connection with the 2001 budgetary procedure the procedures for a
proposal concerning early retirement and is confident that such a measure could be implemented, given
the provisions of the Staff Regulations of Officials; reiterates that early retirement measures should on no
account be allowed to obscure the main priorities of the reform;

31.
Calls on the Commission to clarify to what extent the increase in staff, requested in Letter of
Amendment No 1/2001, is in anticipation of additional staffing requirements as a result of enlargement;
points out that a decision on the request for an increase in staff in 2002 will depend on the impact that
the additional posts granted in 2001 have on the implementation of programmes and payment of appro-
priations;

Calls for this issue to be entered on the agenda for the next trialogue meeting so that the budgetary

32.
authority may:

(cid:1) negotiate as to the principle,

(cid:1) assess the budgetary implications, and

(cid:1) take a joint decision on the appropriations required;

Chapter V (cid:9) Audit, financial management and control

Financial Regulation

Recalls its position of 5 October 2000 (1) on the fast-track proposal concerning the future arrange-
33.
ments for financial control in the institutions; takes the view that the quality of ex ante financial control
must be guaranteed; emphasises the need to ensure appropriate independence for financial control dele-
gated to the various directorates-general of the Commission;

34.
Regards it as illogical that changes made to the Financial Regulation governing procedures for the
drawing up and implementation of the budget are determined by just one of the two arms of the budget-
ary and legislative authority (cid:1) the Council (cid:1) after simple consultation of the other arm (cid:1) Parliament;
repeats the request it drew up for submission to the IGC so that the codecision procedure may henceforth
be applicable to this area and declares its political intention to introduce the requisite legal changes right
away;

Urges the Commission to take into account its specific requests expressed on many occasions, most

35.
recently in its aforementioned resolution of 23 March 1999, and, in particular:

(cid:1) the possibility of suspending appropriations during a financial year, should implementation prove

difficult or performance be poor,

(cid:1) the strengthening of the primacy in law of the Financial Regulation over internal implementing pro-

cedures,

(cid:1) improvement of the information supplied to Parliament about implementing conditions under the

budgetary and discharge procedures,

(cid:1) harmonisation of current provisions governing the decentralised agencies, and total inclusion of their

budgets and their establishment plans in the general budget;

Decentralisation of management and rationalisation of structures

36.
Is prepared to take into account, in the budget and within the limits of the resources available, the
additional cost arising from the reform with a view to improving the efficiency and transparency of man-
agement and, in particular, the impact on the budget of the internalisation of some tasks previously dele-
gated and of the decentralisation of financial and control units and, finally, the strengthening of the role of
external delegations in programme management;

Supports more decentralised management on condition that the Commission undertakes to struc-
37.
ture the chain of delegation of authority in such a way that responsibility is always identifiable at the
technical and political levels and that the posts required are found initially through redeployment and
only subsequently through the creation of new posts;

(1)

‘Texts Adopted,’ Item 5.

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38. Welcomes the efforts made to improve the Union’s external representation by means of the restruc-
turing of the delegations; takes the view, however, that those efforts are inadequate and must be continued
along the lines put forward by Parliament, with particular regard to regionalisation and horizontal rede-
ployment in relation to the scale of the funds allocated to the programmes;

Thursday 30 November 2000

*

*

*

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

39.
ments of the Member States.

15. Commission reform: budgetary control aspects

A5-0329/2000

European Parliament resolution on the Commission White Paper on reforming the Commission
(aspects concerning the Committee on Budgetary Control) (COM(2000) 200 ) C5-0445/2000 )
2000/2215(COS))

The European Parliament,

(cid:1) having regard to the White Paper on reforming the Commission (COM(2000) 200 (cid:1) C5-0445/2000),

(cid:1) having regard to the EC Treaty and, in particular, Article 274 thereof,

(cid:1) having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2000 containing its observations on action to be taken
on the second report of the Committee of Independent Experts on the reform of the Commission (1),

(cid:1) having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:1) having regard to its other resolution of 30 November 2000 on the White Paper (2),

(cid:1) having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A5-0329/2000),

A. whereas it is vital that the current Commission comply with the undertakings it gave Parliament dur-
ing and after its investiture concerning the fundamental principles of transparency, efficiency and
accountability, as well as the administrative reform process,

B. whereas the proposals contained in the White Paper are to a large extent drawn from the second
report of the Committee on Independent Experts, which Parliament has already welcomed in para-
graph 1 of its abovementioned resolution of 19 January 2000,

C. whereas, by virtue of the principle that the Union institutions should enjoy autonomy in determining
their internal organisation,
it is the Commission’s responsibility to equip itself with the optimum
organisational structure and operating methods so as to fulfil to the best of its ability the tasks
assigned to it by the Treaties, and whereas Parliament makes a positive contribution to this,

D. whereas, however, by virtue of the powers and responsibilities conferred on it by the Treaties, Parlia-
ment has to exercise control over the Commission on the basis of the results of all the latter’s activ-
ities, including the implementation of the EU budget,

E. whereas the events which dominated the discharge procedure for 1996 were caused in part by the
failure of previous Commissions to modernise management and control systems and by their failure to
apply fully the existing set of rules,

(1) OJ C 304, 24.10.2000, p. 135.
(2)

‘Texts adopted’, Items 14, 16 and 17.