Resolution of the European Parliament accompanying the decision concerning discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the 2002 financial year (Section I — European Parliament)
Date: 2004-04-21
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European Parliament, budgetary discharge, financial year, general budget (EU), implementation of the budget

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RESOLUTION

of the European Parliament accompanying the decision concerning discharge in respect of the
implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the 2002 financial year
(Section I — European Parliament)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

— having regard to the Revenue and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet in respect of the financial

year 2002 (I5-0034/2003 — C5-0088/2003),

— having regard to the annual report of the Court of Auditors concerning the financial year 2002 and

the institutions' replies (C5-0583/2003) (1),

— having regard to the Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and
regularity of the underlying transactions provided by the Court of Auditors pursuant to Article 248
of the EC Treaty (C5-0583/2003),

— having regard to Article 275 of the EC Treaty, Article 78d of the ECSC Treaty and Article 179a of the

Euratom Treaty,

— having regard to Article 77 of the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977 (2) and Articles 145 to
147 of the Financial Regulation of 25 June 2002 (3) and Article 13 of the internal rules for the
implementation of the European Parliament's budget (4),

— having regard to Article 89(7) of the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977, pursuant to which
each Community institution is required to take all appropriate steps to act on the comments
appearing in the decisions giving discharge,

— having regard to Rules 93a and 184(3) of its Rules of Procedure, and Annex V thereto, in their

versions applying before 1 January 2003 and as from that date,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A5-0218/2004),

A. Whereas the Financial Regulation adopted on 25 June 2002 and the Rules of Procedure of
Parliament amended on 23 October 2002 apply with effect from 1 January 2003 as regards
procedural rules governing the discharge procedure.

B. Whereas the substantive provisions of the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977 and the Rules
of Procedure of Parliament applying in 2002 continue to govern the responsibilities of financial
actors in 2002.

C. Whereas Parliament's Rules of Procedure were amended on 23 October 2002 to stipulate that

discharge shall be given to the President rather than to the Secretary-General.

D. Whereas, however, that amendment cannot be applied retrospectively as it concerns a substantive
rule governing responsibility; for the 2002 financial year discharge must therefore continue to be
given to the Secretary-General,

(1) OJ C 286, 28.11.2003, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 356, 31.12.1977, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
(4)
PE 265.492/BUR/FIN.

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1.

Takes note of the figures with which the European Parliament's accounts for the 2002 financial year
were closed, namely:

Use of appropriations

Appropriations for
the 2002 financial
year

(in euro)

Appropriations carried over from 2001 finan-
cial year

Article 7(1)(b) of
theFinancial
Regulation

Article 7(1)(a) of the
Financial Regulation (1)

Appropriations available

992 310 000 (2)

136 621 422

Commitments entered into

977 212 022

—

Payments made

876 911 049

126 254 342

Appropriations carried over to 2003

— Article 9(1) and (4) of

the Financial

100 300 973

Regulation

— Article 9(2a) and (5) of

the Financial

3 302 900

—

Regulation

Cancelled appropriations

11 795 078

10 367 080

Balance Sheet at 31 December 2002: 1 403 669 148

(1) Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977.
(2)

Including supplementary and amending budget No 1/2002 and No 6/2002.

—

—

—

—

—

Implementation of the budget

2.

Congratulates the Secretary-General on the efficient use of the budgetary appropriations made
available by Parliament; thanks all Parliament staff for the effective support provided to Members
during the 1999 to 2004 term;

3. Notes that the principal changes to the appropriations in the 2002 budget as originally adopted

concerned:

— the European Convention, whose financing necessitated a supplementary and amending budget
(No 1), the addition of a budgetary heading to Section I of the budget (Parliament) (Article 372)
and the transfer of EUR 1 million from Chapter 101,

— preparations for enlargement, including ‘frontloading’ operations whereby as a result of a
supplementary and amending budget, the Commission was able to utilise appropriations
available in 2002 in respect of expenditure initially planned for 2003 and a similar amount was
added to Parliament's budget for 2003;

4. Notes that in 2002 the European Parliament received revenue of EUR 67 256 006 (2001: EUR

68 415 805);

5.

Takes cognisance of the note forwarded by the Court of Auditors on 17 November 2003 in
accordance with Article 39(3) of the Financial Regulation evaluating the four withholdings of
approval during 2002;

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6.

7.

Points to the overall opinion expressed in the section of the Court of Auditors' annual report for
2002 on administrative expenditure (paragraph 9.14), concerning the results of testing carried out at
the European Parliament on a sample of transactions in the financial year 2002, to the effect that,
apart from specific findings set out in the annual report, no material errors were noted in the sample
of transactions tested;

Persists in the view that the error-identification service hitherto provided by Financial Control must
now be at least matched by the detection and correction capacity of the authorising officers' own
services;

Presentation and content of the accounts

8. Applauds the improved readability of the analysis of budgetary management accompanying the

accounts, as called for in previous annual reports by the Court of Auditors;

9.

Repeats its request to the Secretary-General, contained in paragraph 16 of the 2001 discharge
resolution of 8 April 2003 (1), for a report on the feasibility of publishing Parliament's accounts
together with the analysis of budgetary management on Parliament's website;

10. Takes note of the Secretary-General's reply to question 37 of the 2002 discharge questionnaire (PE
338.137) that ‘formal management and control procedures within Parliament up to the end of 2002
(Advisory Committee on Procurement and Contracts (ACPC), Financial Control, Legal Service) and
the importance attached to sound financial management both by Parliament's Administration and by
its control authorities, make it unlikely that situations similar to that found at Eurostat could have
occurred within Parliament’;

Governance

11. Recalls the statement contained in paragraph 3 of the abovementioned 2001 discharge resolution
that ‘the scope of the discharge procedure should cover not only the management activities of
Parliament's Secretary-General and Administration, but also the decisions taken by its governing
bodies, i.e. its President, Bureau and Conference of Presidents’;

12. Notes that in accordance with Rule 93a, first indent, of the Rules of Procedure, discharge will in
future be given to the President of the European Parliament rather than to the Secretary-General;

13. Believes that in the context of current debates on corporate and institutional governance there is a
convincing case for strengthening the degree of accountability prevailing not only at the level of
authorising officers in respect of the commitment and disbursement of budget appropriations, but
also at the level of the political authorities in cases where they take decisions having significant
financial consequences;

14. Points out that, under the Financial Regulation, an authorising officer is liable to disciplinary action
and payment of compensation for his acts or omissions in his official capacity (Article 65(2)); notes
further that an authorising officer by delegation must in future report to the Institution by way of an
annual activity report (Article 60(7));

15. Notes that according to the list of their responsibilities (2) certain Members of the Bureau now
oversee specific sectors of the Administration's activities and may participate in that capacity in
negotiations with third parties and give undertakings on behalf of the Institution (in accordance with
a mandate determined by the Bureau) in such a way as to create legal and/or financial commitments
in matters potentially having significant budgetary consequences;

(1) OJ L 148, 16.6.2003, p. 62.
(2)

PE 315.557/BUR/DEF. See EP website: governing bodies/Bureau/composition.

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16. Notes that there is at present no definition of the precise practical meaning of the political
responsibility attaching to Parliament's governing bodies as regards the exercise of powers and the
taking of decisions with significant financial consequences; instructs its competent committee and
Bureau to consider this matter and draw up specific proposals;

17. Takes the view that in the interest of greater transparency and accountability such proposals might

include:

— an annual financial review by the President on behalf of the Bureau (similar to the report of a
company's board of directors to its shareholders) setting out and commenting on the principal
financial events and trends, as well as positive and negative developments during the financial
year under review,

— an examination of the changes which would be necessary in order to anchor political
responsibility for financial matters more firmly within Parliament's internal rules on the budget
or its Rules of Procedure,
for Vice-Presidents with
responsibility for management functions to submit an annual declaration;

including possibly the requirement

Follow-up to the 2001 discharge

18. Recalls that in paragraph 11 of its discharge resolution of 10 April 2002 (1) concerning the 2000
financial year, Parliament requested its Secretary-General to provide the Committee on Budgetary
Control with the sector letter from the Court of Auditors and the Administration's replies;

19. Notes that this request was fully complied with in the discharge procedure concerning the 2001

financial year;

20. Considers that the absence of any corresponding provisions in the internal rules (2) on the
implementation of the budget adopted by the Bureau on 4 December 2002 cannot be advanced as a
justification for the Administration's failure in the context of the current discharge process to comply
with a request contained in an earlier higher-ranking text (Parliament's resolution of 10 April 2002);

21. Takes the view that there can be no reasonable objection to the disclosure of sector letters to the
competent committee, or its rapporteur, on a confidential basis once the Court of Auditors' annual
report has been published;

22. Calls upon the Secretary-General to give clear instructions for the forwarding of the sector letters, in
accordance with confidentiality procedures, to the competent committee in the context of the
discharge procedure for the 2003 financial year;

Implementation of the recast Financial Regulation

23. Recognises the achievement of the Administration in having successfully completed the steps
necessary to put the recast Financial Regulation into practical effect in the short time between the
date of its adoption (25 June 2002) and the date of its entry into force (1 January 2003); points out,
however, that there should be an in-depth analysis of the effects brought about by applying the
detailed rules for implementing the new Financial Regulation so that there is no recurrence of the
operational failures which took place in 2003, the Info Points Europe being one example of such lack
of foresight;

(1) OJ L 158, 17.6.2002, p. 43.
(2)

PE 324.692/BUR/FIN. See DG8 website.

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24.

(a) Notes that according to Article 13(8) of the Internal Rules (1) implementing the recast Financial
Regulation, adopted by the Bureau on 4 December 2002, the activities of the Internal Auditor
do not extend to the conditions under which use is made of the appropriations against Item
3701, ‘Secretarial expenses, current administrative expenditure and expenditure relating to the
political and information activities of the political groups and non-attached Members’;

(b) Notes further that the revised text of the Rules governing the utilisation of appropriations
entered against Item 3701 adopted by the Bureau on 30 June 2003 departs in several respects
from the provisions of the Financial Regulation; considers that any derogations from the
general rules contained in the Financial Regulation must be based on sound legal and practical
considerations;

(c) Welcomes the report of the Secretaries-General of the political groups of 4 February 2004 in
which they propose a number of changes to the rules governing the utilisation of
appropriations entered against Item 3701; believes that these changes represent an important
step in the right direction;

(d) Calls on the Bureau to bring Parliament's Internal Rules and the Rules governing the utilisation
of appropriations entered against item 3701 more closely into line with the provisions of the
Financial Regulation and the Implementing Rules on the basis of the proposals made by the
Secretaries-General;

(e) Asks the Secretaries-General of the political groups to present a further report, by 1 July 2004,
setting out how the remaining divergences between the Financial Regulation and the
Parliament's internal rules can be addressed, including, if necessary, a recommendation on how
the Financial Regulation and/or the Implementing Rules could be amended to take account of
the specific status of political groups;

(f)

Stresses in particular the necessity, in accordance with the indications of the Court of Justice, to
apply the relevant provisions governing item 3701 to non-attached Members in a strictly
analogous manner in order to avoid any discrimination in the use of these funds;

25. Notes that the Internal Auditor's work programme for 2003 included an audit of the Parliament's
internal control framework, whose main objective is to reassess the level of general compliance with
the Institution's minimum standards of internal control; notes that its competent committee will be
informed of the results of the audit when the Internal Auditor's annual report is issued;

26. Notes that the Internal Audit Service is conducting an audit of the procurement process, under the
new Financial Regulation, the findings of which are expected during the first half of 2004; insists that
the Secretary-General inform its competent committee of those findings and of the follow-up action
which he decides on in relation thereto as soon as the procedures laid down in the Internal Rules
have been completed;

27. Welcomes the Secretary-General's undertaking (2) in future to supply the Committee on Budgetary
Control on request with copies of the annual activity reports drawn up by the authorising officers by
delegation pursuant to Article 60(7) Financial Regulation;

Staff and administration

28. Asks the Bureau to ensure that all appointments at A 1 and A 2 level take place in a fully open,
transparent and competitive manner with staff committee representatives with observer status being
present on selection committees;

29. Recalls that in paragraph 28 of the resolution on the 2001 discharge it asked for proposals to be
made before 1 July 2003 to remedy the situation of former LA officials who had passed an internal
competition and moved to an A-category post before the introduction of ‘décloisonnement’ and
were thereby placed at the starting grade (A 7) in the A category irrespective of their seniority in the
LA category; notes that, in his reply of 18 February 2004, the Secretary-General recognised that

(1)
(2)

PE 324.692/BUR/FIN. See DG8 website.
Source: Secretary-General's reply to paragraph 5 of EP resolution of 8 April.2003.

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these LA officials had been ‘prejudiced in comparison with other LA officials who benefited from
“décloisonnement”’; therefore asks the Secretary-General, in observance of the principle of non-
discrimination among officials, to put forward specific proposals aimed at compensating the ‘small
number’ of LA officials whose initiative and energy have paradoxically placed them in a very
unfavourable position;

30. Welcomes the model adopted by a number of divisions in the Translation Directorate, by which
divisions are split
into specialised teams reflecting the terms of reference of parliamentary
committees; notes that this system has led to an increase in productivity; calls on the Parliament's
Administration to examine whether this system could be extended to all divisions in the translation
service;

31. Recalls that security measures were tightened up following the terrorist attacks of 11 September
2001; calls on the Secretary-General, in light of recent events and the current international security
climate, to review and update all security arrangements, anticipating potential threats and making
contingency plans, seeking expert advice and ensuring that properly trained security personnel are
employed on Parliament's premises;

Political group accounts

32. Points out that the political groups only partially answered the questionnaire submitted by its

Committee on Budgetary Control in the context of the 2002 discharge process;

33. Welcomes the fact that the annual accounts of

the political groups are now published on
Parliament's website; regrets, however, that no action has been taken in response to the request
contained in paragraph 80(d) of Parliament's resolution of 8 April 2003 calling for the groups'
internal financial rules for the use of the budget line 3701 appropriations also to be published on
Parliament's website;

34. Considers it necessary, in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest, to ensure that the same audit

firm does not provide related services;

35. Calls on the Secretary-General to examine a proposal for the rotation of group audit firms (or at least

of the person within the audit firm responsible for the group's audit) every five years;

36. Recalls paragraph 85 of its resolution of 8 April 2003 instructing its competent committee to
continue to dedicate a section of its annual discharge report to the accounts of the political groups
and non-attached Members giving particular attention to any specific remarks made by the Court of
Auditors in the context of the discharge for the 2002 financial year;

37. Points out that the 2002 annual report by the Court of Auditors contains a section examining the
follow-up to its special report No 13/2000 (1) on the expenditure of the European Parliament's
political groups;

(1) OJ C 181, 28.6.2000, p. 1.

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38. Notes that in 2002 the appropriations entered in budget heading 3701 were allocated pursuant to

the Bureau's decision of 4 February 2002 as follows:

Total available: EUR 34 988 000

Non-attached Members (33): EUR 1 154 604

Amount available for groups: EUR 33 833 396

Group

PPE

PSE

ELDR

VERTS

GUE/NGL

UEN

EDD

Number
of
Members

232

179

53

45

44

22

18

Total allocated
1.1.2002

Carried over from
2001 (*)

Expenditure in
2002 (*)

Utilisation rate %

Carried forward to
2003 (*)

12 922 519

7 234 352

15 870 767

10 067 849

7 592 863

13 575 568

3 042 382

1 292 952

3 334 600

2 656 812

2 313 851

4 105 303

2 684 778

1 923 255

3 650 792

1 328 517

1 034 056

2 009 402

1 130 539

717 208

1 456 489

122,82

134,84

110,44

155,20

135,37

151,25

128,83

130,06

4 775 841

4 573 736

1 079 435

952 607

1 081 653

383 067

465 517

13 311 856

TOTAL

593

33 833 396

22 108 537

44 002 921

(*)

Including groups’ own resources, adjustments and recoveries during the year (source: DG 8)

39. Recalls that Article 2(1)(6) of the rules (1) governing budget heading 3701 allows the groups and the
non-attached Members to carry forward a maximum of 50 % of the annual appropriations received
from the European Parliament's budget; notes that no political group exceeded the limit of 50 % on
appropriations to be carried forward from 2002 to 2003 (2);

40. Notes the following remark by the Court of Auditors with regard to the political groups' accounts of

2002 (annual report, paragraph 9.29. et seq.):

— both cash-based and accrual accounting are used (or sometimes a mixture of both), depending

on the political group involved, which makes comparison difficult,

— the financial statements do not provide the detailed information on decentralised expenditure

required by the accounting plan,

— considerable progress has been made in including information on fixed assets in both the

accounting records of the groups and Parliament's own inventory system,

— as regards the external audit of the groups' accounts, the content of the audit statements varied

for the seven sets of accounts certified (by five different firms);

41. Shares the view that the informative value of the groups' annual reports on the utilisation of the
appropriations continues to be limited, because the rules do not require, in addition to the financial
statements, the provision of information on the objectives, the type and the cost of the main
activities financed;

(1)
(2)

Bureau minutes of 1 February 2001.
European Parliament, DG8.

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42.

Instructs its Secretary-General to report on the feasibility of establishing a standard format laying
down the matters to be covered in both (i) the analysis of budgetary management accompanying the
groups' accounts; and (ii) the opinions drawn up by the external auditors;

43.

Instructs its competent bodies in any future review of the rules governing budget heading 3701 to
remedy the absence of global reporting on the use of the appropriations;

44. Agrees that unless and until the political groups acquire a separate legal personality, the amounts of
appropriations carried forward by political groups should be shown on the assets side of the balance
sheet of the European Parliament;

45. Notes that expenditure by national delegations represents half of the total expenditure and that
compliance with specific provisions requires on-the-spot verification in addition to audits in the
central premises of the political groups; suggests that the audit provisions of the relevant rules
should be amended accordingly;

46. Notes that under Article 1(6)(2) of the rules (1) governing budget heading 3701 the political groups
may at present give up to 5 % of their annual subsidy to political parties; recalls that according to
Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 (2) on political party funding a European political party
may not accept donations from the budgets of political groups in the European Parliament; instructs
its competent bodies to take note of this provision when next revising the relevant rules;

Non-attached Members

47. Notes that not all non-attached Members have submitted the necessary documentation to the

Administration concerning the financial year 2002;

48. Points out that under Article 2(9)(6) of the rules currently in force as regards non-attached
Members (3), the Administration is required to draw up a statement of revenue and expenditure and a
balance sheet for each Member demonstrating the regularity of the accounts and their consistency
with the rules;

49. Recalls that, until these new rules were adopted, responsibility for submitting the reports and
accounts required by the rules governing budget heading 3701 lay with each individual non-attached
Member;

50. Regrets that the Administration has been unable to forward the reports and accounts for 2002 to the
competent committee because not all non-attached Members have yet provided a satisfactory
account of their use of the relevant appropriations in 2002;

51. Notes that unlike the political groups the accounts of the non-attached Members are not subjected to

an external audit;

52. Considers that the use by the non-attached Members of budget heading 3701 appropriations falls
within the purview of Parliament's internal auditor and that Article 13(8) of Parliament's internal
rules on the implementation of the budget should be interpreted accordingly;

Bureau minutes of 1 February 2001 and 30 June 2003.

(1)
(2) OJ L 297, 15.11.2003, p. 1.
(3)

Bureau minutes of 30 June 2003.

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Members' allowances

53. Regrets the failure of the Council to approve the Statute for Members which had the support of

Parliament and would have been a fair system for all members;

54. Believes that the introduction of a Statute for Members accompanied by reform of the system of
expenses, as supported by the Parliament, would have been the best way of ensuring the fair and
equal treatment of all Members; considers, however, that the Council's failure to approve the Statute
does not relieve the Parliament of its responsibility for ensuring that EU funds are spent in an honest
and transparent manner;

55. Recalls paragraph 104 of the abovementioned 2001 European Parliament discharge resolution and
the recommendations made by the Court of Auditors that there should be no difference between the
travel expenses paid by the Parliament and actual costs incurred by a Member, an issue which is
being addressed by the Parliament's Bureau as the only body competent to make the appropriate
adjustments;

56. Requests the Bureau and Quaestors to review the whole system of Members' allowances and the
manner in which they are applied and controlled with a view to ensuring fair and adequate resources
for legitimate parliamentary work based on a transparent and accountable system and an efficient
and non-bureaucratic disbursement procedure;

57. Calls on the Bureau, in the absence of an agreement on a common Statute for Members, to adopt, as
a matter of urgency, new rules governing the payment of expenses and allowances using as a basis
the decision of the Bureau of 28 May 2003; considers these new rules should enter into force at the
beginning of the next parliamentary term and should provide for, inter alia, the reimbursement of
travel expenses on the basis of actual costs incurred;

Secretarial allowance

58. Notes that, according to the European Parliamentary Assistants Association, the Court of Auditors,
the Parliament's own Financial Controller and Mr Onesta, the Vice-President responsible for the
Statute for Assistants, the new rules on the payment of the secretarial allowance which entered into
effect on 1 January 2001 still pose a number of problems, both in terms of ensuring compliance
with the Financial Regulation and with relevant national legislation (taxation, social security and so
on), and also in terms of user-friendliness; welcomes, therefore, the changes to the rules governing
the payment of the secretarial allowance adopted by the Bureau on 9 February 2004; calls on the
Secretary-General to ensure that the new rules are strictly enforced; considers, however, that the new
requirement that, in the case of service contracts, invoices or fee statements should be accompanied
by statements certifying that the staff concerned are duly affiliated to a social security scheme and
that tax and social security contributions are duly paid should not be limited to contracts with a
duration exceeding six months;

59. Believes that, as soon as practically feasible, all payments to parliamentary assistants should be made
by Parliament's Administration, either directly or through a national paying agent; points out that
under such a system the Member would continue to be responsible for decisions such as recruitment,
dismissal,
that Parliament's Administration would be
responsible for ensuring that all payments comply with the Financial Regulation and with applicable
national legislation; notes that according to Parliament's Administration (1), the cost of such a system
should not exceed EUR 120 per Member per month;

leave and level of remuneration, but

60. Further considers that, in order to ensure maximum transparency in the use of the secretarial
allowance, all assistants paid from the secretarial allowance must be accredited with the Parliament
and that, if necessary in order to achieve this, the new category of ‘constituency-based accreditation’
should be created; notes that as a consequence, the names of all assistants would have to be included
in the public register of assistants;

(1) Question No 5, 2002 discharge questionnaire (PE 338.137).

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61. Calls on the Secretary-General to inform the Court of Auditors, within two weeks of adoption of this
resolution by the European Parliament in plenary sitting, of those accredited assistants who were not
paid either from the secretarial allowance or from any other source given in the declaration of
financial interests in 2002; instructs the Court of Auditors, in the cases forwarded by the Secretary-
General, to ascertain which funds these assistants were paid from and whether there was any
infringement of Parliament's prevailing Rules of Procedure or of national rules;

62. Asks the Secretary-General to ensure that the restrictions imposed by current EU Member States on
the free movement of workers from the new Member States will not prevent Members from the new
Member States from employing assistants from their home country, or impair the ability of those
assistants to move freely within the territory of the European Union;

Subsistence allowance

63. Considers that the attendance registers available for signature by Members must be supervised by a
Parliament official at all times; notes that steps have been taken to ensure that this is now the case;

64. Takes the view that the subsistence allowance is a flat-rate sum intended to cover all personal costs
incurred by a Member whilst attending Parliament, including taxis; considers therefore that the
separate taxi allowance (requiring receipts) introduced in September 2003 and extended in January
2004 is superfluous and should be abolished;

Health insurance

65. Points out that Members are entitled to free health insurance cover under Parliament's rules, even
when national health care schemes are available to them; considers that Parliament's health insurance
cover for Members should be additional to any national scheme, whether public or private, and
based on market conditions; further considers that Members who choose to take part in the
Parliament's scheme should be required to pay a health insurance premium; believes that a change in
the rules to this effect should be introduced with effect
the next
parliamentary term;

from the beginning of

System of advance payments

66. Considers that the existing system of advance payments, whereby Members' expenses claims are
reimbursed by Parliament's Administration before the documentary evidence supporting the claim
has been verified, should be replaced by a system of individual accounts into which all amounts due
to and from each Member would be consolidated, and on the basis of which a single payment to
Members would be made once a month;

67. Considers further that until such a system is introduced, and in order to meet the concerns of the
Court of Auditors, Members' contributions to the voluntary additional pension scheme should be
deducted from payments of the daily subsistence allowance rather than from the general expenditure
allowance;

Parliament's places of work

68. Calls on Parliament's Administration to continue and intensify the dialogue with local residents in
the Quartier Léopold area, adjacent to the Parliament's Brussels buildings, in view of the ongoing
construction work on the new D4 and D5 buildings; considers that Parliament's Administration
must ensure that living conditions do not fall below an acceptable minimum as a result of the
construction work, and that every effort must be made to accommodate the wishes of local residents
with respect to the future configuration of, and access to, the area immediately surrounding the
Parliament's buildings;

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Environment

69. Asks for the comprehensive review of Parliament's internal environmental policy conducted by the
consultancy specialising in environmental management and expected (1) to be available at the end of
2003 to be forwarded to its Committee on Budgetary Control;

70. Points out that according to the World Health Organisation exposure to tobacco causes death,

disease and disability;

71. Notes the Decision of the European Ombudsman of 23 January 2004 on complaint 260/2003
against the European Parliament, which includes a finding of maladministration and concludes that
‘the European Parliament has failed to take adequate measures to promote compliance with its
internal rules on smoking in European Parliament premises’;

72. Believes that the continued failure by the European Parliament to enforce non-smoking measures
poses a serious health threat to all users of Parliament's buildings and could lead to significant claims
for damages;

73. Takes note of the decision taken by the Commission to ban smoking throughout its buildings
(including bars and restaurants) as from 1 May 2004; calls on Parliament's Administration and on
the College of Quaestors to institute a ban on smoking throughout the public spaces in Parliament's
buildings in the three working places with effect from 1 May 2004; takes the view that special rooms
should be designated for people wishing to smoke;

74. Notes that many official documents are still being distributed to Members on paper despite their
availability online; points out that in many cases, these documents are discarded without ever being
used, which results in a huge waste of money and paper; calls on the College of Quaestors to instruct
the Administration to cease the automatic and general distribution of the following types of
document to the extent that they are also available online and/or can be transmitted electronically:
— Commission documents,
— Council documents,

— DG 2 and 3 working documents and research papers,
— Session documents,
— Notices from the Quaestors, the Bureau and other official notices;

75. Asks instead for limited but sufficient numbers of these documents to be available in paper form at

the document counter;

76. Calls for a system of electronic signature to be introduced, whereby a Member's signature can be
applied to documents such as amendments and parliamentary questions without having to have
recourse to transmission of documents on paper.

(1)

Secretary-General's reply to paragraph 112 of European Parliament resolution of 8 April 2003.