WRITTEN QUESTION E-0356/02 by Herbert Bösch (PSE) to the Council. Financing the EU Convention.
Date: 2002-02-14
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Constitution, administrative expenditure (EU), budgetary assessment, overlapping of income, remuneration of work

C 309 E/20

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

12.12.2002

(2002/C 309 E/024)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0356/02

by Herbert Bösch (PSE) to the Council

(14 February 2002)

Subject: Financing the EU Convention

On 28 February 2002 the Convention on institutional reform will meet for the first time. There is much
media speculation at present on the costs of the Convention. ‘Agence Europe’ of 28 January 2002 carried a
report of the Council’s decision that the Convention should have a budget of EUR 10,5 million, and has
reported on other occasions on the considerable expenditure involved in setting up its cabinet, seconding
officials, installing offices, etc.

What is the Council’s estimate of how much the Convention will cost?

How much have former EU conventions of this size cost?

The Convention President, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, is to have his own cabinet. Was this the usual practice
for other EU conventions? How many people will be members of this cabinet? How much financial
expenditure will be required?

The Convention President and Vice-Presidents are to receive allowances rather than salaries. What budget
framework has been set for the President and Vice-Presidents? Are further allowances planned? Are the
allowances for Mr Giscard d’Estaing compatible with his other expenses?

What can the Council suggest to keep down the costs of the Convention?

Reply

(30 September 2002)

The questions put by the Honourable Member do not really come within the Council’s sphere of
competence, although replies to several of them are to be found in official documents accessible to the
public, namely:

(a) Decision of 21 February 2002 of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States
meeting within the Council setting up a Fund for the financing of the Convention on the future of the
European Union and laying down the financial rules for its management;

(b) European Parliament Report 311 084 of 25 February 2002 on draft SAB No 1/2002;

(c)

Interinstitutional Agreement between Parliament, Council and Commission of 28 February 2000 on
the financing of the Convention;

(d) Budget of the Fund for the Convention for 2002, adopted by the Conference of the Member States on

18 April 2002 (1).

Document (b) contains an estimate, prepared by the General Secretariat of the Council, of EUR 10,5 million,
representing the total foreseeable cost of the Convention in 2002, with the exclusion of a considerable
proportion of infrastructural costs, which the Institutions will bear; the same Report contains a table
setting out the breakdown in principle of the various costs between the Institutions, Governments and
national parliaments, including those of the candidate countries.

It is accordingly stated in the document that ‘The Convention on the Future of the European Union … has
no precedent’ and that ‘The Convention must … have its own budget.’

For the duration of the proceedings the President of the Convention has a cabinet of two persons (one
provided by the General Secretariat of the Council, the other by the Government of a Member State of the
Union) who are responsible chiefly, but not exclusively, for its agenda and the organisation of meetings.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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The President and Vice-Presidents do not receive salaries, but are reimbursed on a flat-rate basis for
expenditure they have to incur in performing their duties on behalf of the Convention.

Lastly, the Council, in common with the European Parliament and the Commission, periodically receives a
report on the implementation of the budget of the Convention, in accordance with the rules for the
management of the budget.

(1) OJ L 123, 9.5.2002, p. 40.

(2002/C 309 E/025)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0403/02

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN), Roberta Angelilli (UEN), Sergio Berlato (UEN),
Roberto Bigliardo (UEN), Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN), Antonio Mussa (UEN),
Mauro Nobilia (UEN), Adriana Poli Bortone (UEN), Franz Turchi (UEN)
and Mariotto Segni (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Residence permits

(20 February 2002)

Despite the much celebrated article in the Treaty of Maastricht providing for the creation of European
citizenship, and despite the much heralded arrival of the single currency, Italian citizens in Europe, and in
Belgium in particular, still suffer blatant discrimination.

Belgian legislation, like that of many other European Union countries (Germany, Netherlands, etc), does
not allow the issue of a national identity card but still provides merely for a residence permit as the valid
identity document for all Italian citizens resident in Belgium and Europe.

Will the Commission:

(cid:1) remove the residence permit requirement for Italian citizens in Belgium and in all other Union

countries;

(cid:1) make representations to the authorities of all European Union countries to ensure that Member State
citizens are issued with a national document and that such documents are recognised as being valid
throughout Union territory;

(cid:1) introduce practical measures to make the principle of Union citizenship a reality?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(8 March 2002)

First, it should be remembered that the Community rules currently in force provide that a document
known as a ‘residence permit for a Member State of the European Union’ will be issued to EU citizens as
proof of their right to reside in a Member State other than the one of which they are nationals.

The Commission has put forward a proposal for a Parliament and Council Directive on the right of
citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the
Member States (1), currently being discussed by Parliament and the Council, which proposes to abolish the
residence permit during the first four years of residence and, after four years of residence, the issue of a
permanent residence permit.

The proposed Directive is intended, as the Honourable Members have hoped, to give a more specific
content to citizenship of the Union by making it easier to enjoy the right to freedom of movement and
residence. The introduction of a permanent residence permit together with a right to social benefits and
protection against expulsion is an example of this aim.

The residence permit is a very different document from the national identity card, which is issued by a
Member State to its nationals. It is for each Member State to issue an identity card or passport to its
nationals and there are Member States that do not issue identity cards at all.

(1) OJ C 270 E, 25.9.2001.