P6_TA(2007)0474#Draft general budget for 2008 (Sections I, II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX)#European Parliament resolution of 25 October 2007 on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2008, Section I — European Parliament, Section II — Council, Section IV — Court of Justice, Section V — Court of Auditors, Section VI — European Economic and Social Committe, Section VII — Committee of the Regions, Section VIII — European Ombudsman, Section IX — European Data Protection Supervisor (C6-0288/2007 — 2007/2019B(BUD))
Date: 2007-10-25
Institutions: Committee on Budgets, Committee on International Trade, Committee on Petitions, European Parliament
Subjects: EU institution, budgetary expenditure, draft budget (EU), general budget (EU)

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d.

consecutive redeployment within the Commission's establishment plan;

e.

f.

g.

the advantages of delegating implementing tasks to an executive agency versus direct management
by the Commission services: any comparison of a ‘Direct management by the Commission ser-
vices’-scenario to an ‘executive agency’-scenario shall be based on the resources used to implement
the existing programme(s) and its (their) current form in order to have a sound and factual basis
for comparison; for new and expanding programmes the evolution of the related financial envelope
to be managed by the agency will also be taken into consideration;

a draft establishment plan per grade and per category as well as a well-founded estimate of the
number of contractual agents planned and provisionally budgeted;

a clear breakdown of all actors involved in the implementation programme including the remain-
ing share of the operational programme envelope for the implementation of which they are
responsible (Commission, executive agencies, remaining Technical Assistance Offices, Member
States, national agencies, etc.)

The European Parliament and the Council call on the Commission, before deciding to create a new
agency or to extend the remit of an existing agency, to supply complete and detailed information on
staffing levels and utilisation enabling the budgetary authority to assess whether the administrative
expenditure of implementing a programme has indeed not been increased.

It is recalled that the final decision on staffing remains a matter for the budgetary authority.’

Commission declaration on assigned revenue

‘The Commission recalls that recovery of amounts wrongly paid is a vital tool for sound financial
management; these amounts should be considered in the perspective of a full implementation of the
programmes decided under the multi-annual financial framework.

Moreover, the Commission considers that it is not possible to provide the Budgetary Authority with
forecasts of assigned revenue other than those that are already included in the Preliminary Draft Bud-
get.’

P6_TA(2007)0474

Draft general budget for 2008 (Sections I, II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX)

European Parliament resolution of 25 October 2007 on the draft general budget of the European
Union for the financial year 2008, Section I — European Parliament, Section II — Council,
Section IV — Court of Justice, Section V — Court of Auditors, Section VI — European Economic
and Social Committe, Section VII — Committee of the Regions, Section VIII — European Ombuds-
man, Section IX — European Data Protection Supervisor (C6-0288/2007 — 2007/2019B(BUD))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to Article 272 of the EC Treaty,

— having regard to Council Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom of 29 September 2000 on the system of the

European Communities' own resources (1),

(1) OJ L 253, 7.10.2000, p. 42.

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— having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial

Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (1),

— having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament,

the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (2),

— 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 procedure (3),
and in particular point 26 thereof,

— having regard to its resolution of 29 March 2007 on the guidelines for the 2008 budget procedure —
Sections II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX and on the European Parliament's preliminary draft estimates
(Section I) for the 2008 budget procedure (4),

— having regard to its resolution of 7 June 2007 on Parliament's estimates of revenue and expenditure for

the financial year 2008 (5),

— having regard to the preliminary draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year

2008, which the Commission presented on 2 May 2007 (SEC(2007)0500),

— having regard to the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2008, which the

Council established on 13 July 2007 (C6-0288/2007),

— having regard to Rule 69 of and Annex IV to its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinions of the Committee on

International Trade and the Committee on Petitions (A6-0394/2007),

A. whereas 2008 is the second year of the new financial framework (2007-2013), for which the ceiling of

heading 5 (Administrative expenditure) has been set at EUR 7 457 million at current prices,

B. whereas the Preliminary Draft Budget (PDB) of all the institutions left a margin of EUR 121 285 164

below the ceiling of heading 5 of the financial framework for the financial year 2008,

C. whereas after Council's decision the draft budget (DB) has a margin of EUR 266 755 254 below the

ceiling of heading 5 for 2008,

General framework

1.
Recognises that the institutions, after the Council's first reading, have made the effort to reduce some
of their usual expenditures in order to balance their absolute needs; considers that this exercise has con-
tributed to setting-up a budget for the EU tax-payer as requested in the guidelines resolution; encourages
warmly the institutions to pursue in this direction in order to strengthen citizens' confidence in the Euro-
pean institutions and in Europe;

2.
Notes that most of the increase beyond the inflation rate is due to buildings' expenditure; expresses its
concern for the coming years regarding the weight of buildings related expenditure if not closely managed
by the institutions; invites the institutions to keep the Budgetary Authority regularly informed of the evolu-
tion of their different projects with a medium term perspective and to control accordingly their expansion;
requests that, in view of the entry into force in 2009 of the Members' Statute, an updated property invest-
ment plan for the coming 3 years including refurbishing costs should be submitted to the Budgetary Auth-
ority not later than 31 March 2008;

(1) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1995/2006 (OJ L 390,

30.12.2006, p. 1).

(2) OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.
(3) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1. Agreement as last amended by Decision 2005/708/EC of the European Parliament and of

the Council (OJ L 269, 14.10.2005, p. 24).
(4) Texts Adopted of that date, P6_TA(2007)0099.
(5) Texts Adopted of that date, P6_TA(2007)0237.

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3.
Has therefore decided to limit the budget increase of 2008 to 6,92 %; decides to leave a margin under
the ceiling of heading 5; recommends restoring EUR 8 180 945 out of the EUR 22 127 359 reduction
made by Council on the budget of the other institutions (excluding the Commission), that is restoring
37 % following the examination of the specific requests and needs of each institution; considers that this
approach responds to the institutions' needs for efficiency and safeguards the sustainability of their budgets;

4.
Invites, in the context of a general concern vis-à-vis the environment, all institutions, including the
Commission, to exploit the various possibilities, together with the host Member States, for achieving a more
efficient public transport plan,
intranet information on
timetables in order to encourage the staff of the European institutions to use public transport or bicycles
under safe conditions;

including in-house mobility information points,

5.
Acknowledges the efforts made by Parliament in the past 2 years to implement a redeployment exer-
cise; regrets that many other institutions are not implementing an effective redeployment policy; expects
these institutions to make redeployment an integral part of their budgetary exercise in the coming years;

6.
Notes that in 2006 Parliament had requested from the other institutions more precise information on
the performance and costs of their core tasks in order to justify in a more transparent manner the effec-
tiveness or otherwise of additional funds; notes that very few institutions are providing this informative
activity-related reporting; requests all the institutions in question to provide this information by the first
week of September of each year;

Section I — European Parliament

General comments

7.
Recalls that 2008 is the last full year of this legislature and the last year before the entrance into force
of the new Members' Statute; considers that this should be taken into account in view of the forthcoming
financing requirements;

8. Welcomes the fact that the Bureau has, for the first time, made new requests in its amending letter
which are below the self-imposed ceiling of 20 % of heading 5 (i.e. at 19,87 %) but include an increase of
the estimates by EUR 45,6 million; takes note of the fact that the Bureau intends to launch a number of
new projects which are not directly linked to Parliament's core activities; considers that in view of the lack
of flexibility which exists in the administrative budget, the development of new projects should be under-
taken in a prudent way taking into account the limited availability of financial resources and the perspec-
tives from 2009 onwards; encourages the administration and the Bureau to reflect on the real needs and on
the institution in administrative and political terms and to seek means to reduce the current costs of the
tasks undertaken; reiterates that the above does not constitute any limitation on Parliament's right to make
full use of the 20 % ceiling in 2008 and subsequent years, should it be deemed necessary and justifiable to
do so;

Suggests that a broad discussion on the history of Europe and its interpretation take place at expert

9.
level before creating the House of European History;

10. Welcomes the new redeployment plan proposed by the Secretary General which concerns 58 posts;
considers that it constitutes a step in the right direction in fulfilling the new needs and at the same time in
keeping the establishment plan stable in the future; encourages the Secretary-General to pursue this action
and to proceed to further analysis in order to better rationalise the tasks and at the same time keep the
costs of externalisation under control;

11.
Decides, in line with its abovementioned resolution of 7 June 2007 on Parliament's estimates for
2008, to reduce a number of budget lines, especially those that proved to be inflated in 2006; notes that
chapters 10 and 12 and title 4 are not affected by these reductions;

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12.
Acknowledges that new proposals have been presented at a late stage and have impeded plenary's
decision to remain at a level of increase equalling the inflation rate except when new initiatives were duly
substantiated; has decided to set the final level of the Parliament's budget at EUR 1 452 517 167 corre-
sponding to a 3,9 % increase over the 2007 budget and 19,48 % of heading 5;

13.
Notes that at times, and for a variety of reasons, the Institutions were constrained to purchase or rent
property at a price which prima facie seemed to be higher than the market price; wishes to investigate
further in an interinstitutional context how of improving conditions concerning public procurement for
the purchase or rental of buildings, as well as works on buildings, by the European institutions, notably
with the aim to reduce the purchase and rental price of property as well as reducing refurbishment costs,
and of securing the necessary flexibility to avoid cartel or monopolistic situations;

14.
Confirms its commitment to better law making as a priority for Parliament's core activities and
supports the decisions undertaken in this direction; encourages the Secretary General to continue his efforts
in order to strengthen Parliament's expertise in better law making;

Enhancing Members' assistance

15.
Considers that preserving the linguistic diversity of Members of the European Parliament is one of
the most important challenges for the administration; welcomes, in that context, the pilot project scheduled
to be launched in 2008 to respond to Members' recurrent demands for linguistic assistance both at an
individual level and during non-official meetings linked to the legislative work;

16.
Decides therefore to limit the global allocation for the pilot project to EUR 4 million and, at the
same time, to place EUR 2 million in the reserve in order to induce the administration to give priority to
more efficient linguistic support for Members during official meetings; this reserve of EUR 2 million does
not affect the pilot project;

17.
Reiterates that the most efficient use should be made of the interpretation service and the expenses
related to meetings; considers that equipping all meeting rooms with the electronic voting system constitu-
tes a way to improve the use the interpretation facilities;

18.
Calls on the Bureau to consult the political groups on the fitting out and the re-organisation of
meeting rooms WIC 100 and WIC 200 in Strasbourg before it takes any further decision on these matters;

19.
Recalls that the purpose of the code of conduct on multilingualism is to provide the best quality
service to Members within the ceiling of the current appropriations; urges the administration to enforce
more actively the code of conduct on multilingualism in order to prevent any shortcomings, irresponsible
use or misuse of the linguistic services; regrets, however, the lack of flexibility when translating major
documents in a particularly difficult period; calls on the administration to make every effort, in order to
guarantee a high quality translation service which is in line with Parliament's specific requirements in terms
of quality, deadlines and confidentiality, to provide the appropriate means and ensure an adequate organisa-
tion of the translation service so as to prevent any shortcomings and the consequent increase of costs, in
particular when deadlines for decisions are fixed by the Treaty;

Recognises the need for and usefulness of developing within the current Library of Parliament an
20.
analytical service for individual Members providing analytical papers linked to their parliamentary activity;

Takes note of the proposal to create a new article 323 for the ‘relations with Parliaments of third
21.
countries and support for parliamentary democracy’with an amount of EUR 360 000 to differentiate, by geogra-
phical area, the Parliament's activities; expresses its concern regarding the number of delegations and assem-
blies in the Parliament's budget in particular due to the fact that their financial impact is not clearly identi-
fied in the budget as it includes not only the appropriation under the existing items but also the related
costs for interpretation and technical and logistical support; asks the administration to make a proposal to
improve the transparency of this type of activity;

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Considers that

22.
the Parliament and the Council should take into account
EU citizens' opinion as regards the geographical dispersion of the Parliament amongst the three places of
work and the related costs and environmental consequences;

the Presidencies of

23.
As regards parliamentary assistance, calls on the administration to strengthen the internal control
system in order to ensure that recruitment of Members' assistants is clear and transparent, guaranteeing
that tax and social regulations (salary and social security rights, etc.) are respected;

24.
Calls on the Commission to present a new proposal for an assistants' statute that guarantees the
necessary freedom of choice and flexibility for Members in terms of duration of contracts and salaries on
the one hand and uniformity and security in terms of the tax regime, social security provisions and medical
insurance for assistants on the other hand;

European Political Foundations

Has decided at this stage of the budgetary procedure, pending the adoption of the legal basis for the
‘Contributions to European

25.
financing of the European Political Foundations, to create a new heading (403,
political foundations’) with an EUR 5 million allocation in the reserve and a token entry (‘p.m.’);

European Parliament Apprenticeship Programme

26. Welcomes the work of the Secretariat aimed at evaluating the introduction of an EP Apprenticeship
Programme and calls on the Bureau to proceed with the necessary preparatory work with the available five
posts; calls on the administration to include in its procurement procedures as one award criterion the
employment of apprentices in tendering companies;

For an Environmentally friendly Parliament

27.
Regrets that, more than five years after the start of the EMAS process in the budget procedure, EMAS
registration is still pending and the impact on the environment as well as the savings and the investments in
relation to its implementation are still not known; invites the administration to provide the above informa-
tion as previously requested in paragraph 37 of its abovementioned resolution of 29 March 2007 and
paragraph 31 of its abovementioned resolution of 7 June 2007 and present it to its relevant committees
and other bodies; moreover requests the administration to report on the reduction of energy consumption
that should have resulted from the decrease in air-conditioning during the summer period, and to present
an action plan for reducing and off-setting CO2 emissions caused by the Parliament's activities, especially as
regards travel and buildings, and for reducing the use of water, paper and other resources; in this connection
calls on the administration to present an expert report on the possible employment of photovoltaic or solar
panels for energy generation on the roofs and the walls of Parliament's buildings;

28.
Asks the administration to renew its car fleet by purchasing or renting vehicles which pollute less
than the current ones, such as hybrid cars, on the basis of presentation of a relevant action plan which
includes the financial impact of such a decision;

Asks the administration to reduce the number of staff missions and to encourage the staff, while

29.
travelling between the three places of work, to use the most environmentally friendly means;

Information policy

Reiterates its willingness to have a strong information policy involving the political groups and close
30.
to the European citizens; considers that this can be achieved through the strengthening of the local and
regional media, the quick opening of the Visitors' Centre in Brussels and the increased flexibility of the use
of the visitors' groups; regarding the latter, recalls that reimbursement based on real costs, within a ceiling to
be defined, will ensure the complete transparency of the programme; invites, to that end, the Quaestors to
re-examine the current rules;

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31.
Calls on the Bureau to decide on a programme for the forthcoming election campaign that takes into
account the need for close contact between Members and EU citizens; reiterates in this respect the role of
the Information Offices as well as the local and regional media, as regards increasing EU citizens' awareness
of Parliament's activities; asks the administration to strengthen actions in favour of local and regional media
in the external offices, including the involvement of Members; looks forward in this connection to receiving
their annual work programme for 2008 by December 2007 in order to release the reserve in January;

Calls on the Bureau to use the appropriations earmarked for information to provide diverse informa-

32.
tion which, inter alia, caters for the public information needs of parliamentary minorities;

33.
Regrets the lack of information being submitted to the Budgetary Authority on the progress regis-
tered to date on the WebTV prototype, especially since information policy, including WebTV, is considered a
priority for 2008; decides to keep EUR 9 million in the reserve for information and communication until
the prototype is presented for approval to the Budgetary Authority;

34.
Awaits the WebTV prototype; recalls that the condition already agreed in the previous budgetary
procedure and its resolution of 26 October 2006 on the 2007 Budget (Sections I, II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII(A)
and VIII(B)) (1) for the financing of this project is the approval of the prototype;

Security

35.
Shares, with the administration, the concern that security is a major issue; notes, however, that the
administration is not able to indicate the exact number of persons that are in the Parliament's buildings as
some of them do not use their badges to open the gate; consequently invites the administration to make
sure that staff respect the rules and invites the Quaestors to reconsider the use of electronic badges by
Members, which will enable the implementation of different new facilities, such as electronic signatures;

36.
Highlights the fact that the security around Parliament's premises in Brussels is not well assured after
normal working hours for its Members and staff; invites the administration to press the Belgian authorities
to improve the situation;

Establishment plan

37.
Supports the setting-up of two new Directorates General for Interpretation and Technological Inno-
vation Support; considers this will improve the service provided for Members and the different units of the
administration;

38.
Considers that the proposal on staff, presented by the Secretary General, including the creation of
new posts, posts to be redeployed and a number of conversions and transformations, reflects the concern of
the Parliament to limit the increase of its establishment plan strictly to new projects or specific compe-
tences; notes that the number of posts redeployed attain the annual target of 1 % fixed in the estimates
resolution; asks to be regularly informed on the implementation of the redeployment policy plan; further-
more, acknowledges that the proposal presented has a marginal financial impact on the 2008 budget;

Has therefore decided to approve the modifications of the establishment plan measures proposed by

39.
the Secretary General as a package as follows:

— release from the reserve for the creation of 16 new posts requested in the estimates and their corre-
sponding appropriations; this concerns nine AD5 and seven AST3 posts including one temporary post
for the sixth Quaestor,

— make the necessary appropriations available for the creation of five AD5 posts for the analytical service

within the Library and two AD16 posts for the creation of the new Directorates General,

(1) OJ C 313 E, 20.12.2006, p. 415.

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— the conversion of 35 AST posts (10 AST1, 10 AST2, 5 AST3, 5 AST4 and 5 AST5) into AD5 posts

which were placed in reserve,

— one ad personam promotion (AD14 into AD15),

— the conversions of 25 AST6 into AD5 and 1 AST1 into AD5,

— the regrading measures of 23 permanent posts (2 AD12 into AD15, 11 AD12 into AD7, 4 AST11 into

AST3, 3 AST11 into AST1 and 3 AST6 into AST1);

40.
Has decided to release from the reserve the 448 upgradings for Parliament's secretariat requested by
the administration in the context of Article 6 of the Staff Regulations for permanent and temporary staff
this concerns 2 AD13 to AD14,
and their corresponding appropriations; regarding permanent staff,
45 AD12 to AD13, 25 AD11 to AD12; 10 AD7 to AD8, 3 AD6 to AD7, 165 AD5 to AD6, 50 AST7
to AST8, 65 AST4 to AST5, 65 AST1 to AST2 and, regarding temporary staff, 1 AD12 to AD13, 2 AD10
to AD11, 1 AST2 to AST3, 2 AST1 to AST2, 12 AST1 to AST3;

41.
Has likewise decided to confirm the 74 upgradings requested by the political groups: 1 AD12 to
AD13, 6 AD11 to AD12, 4 AD10 to AD11, 2 AD9 to AD10, 4 AD8 to AD9, 3 AD7 to AD8, 7 AD6 to
AD7, 8 AD5 to AD6, 3 AST10 to AST11, 9 AST8 to AST9, 9 AST7 to AST8, 3 AST6 to AST7, 2 AST5 to
AST6, 2 AST4 to AST5, 1 AST3 to AST4, 2 AST2 to AST3, 8 AST1 to AST2;

42.
Points out that exercising democratic scrutiny over the Commission is a core task of Parliament and
requests the Bureau and the administration to allocate the necessary comitology posts for this task, taking
into account the new responsibilities of Parliament in the field of foreign affairs and development policy
programmes; moreover, emphasises the importance of strengthening Parliament's administrative capacities
with regard to its new powers of democratic scrutiny over the external assistance instruments; therefore asks
the Secretary General to redeploy two AD posts, one to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and one to the
Committee on Development, in the course of 2008, as soon as a vacancy occurs in any of the departments
which have been identified as ‘negative priorities’;

43. Welcomes the initiative taken by the Bureau to establish guidelines for recruitment which take into
account persons with disabilities including stagiaires and interim and/or temporary contract staff as stated in
the Code of Good practice for Employment of People with Disabilities; welcomes also the initiative taken by
the administration regarding the training programme in favour of disabled persons; is of the opinion that, in
order to ease their insertion in Parliament's administration, the administration should consider appointing a
‘coordinator for disabled persons’;

Has decided to enter 2 posts for the Library in reserve, in order to motivate the administration to

44.
create a comprehensible, in-house Knowledge Management System;

Miscellaneous

45.
Takes note of the proposal made by the Bureau to allocate an amount of EUR 100 000 to the
Sakharov Foundation as a subsidy towards human rights activities; will verify whether the award of a
grant to the Sakharov Foundation in Moscow, following the decision taken by the Bureau on 10 October
2007 to agree in principle to the draft convention, is in compliance with the provisions of the Financial
Regulation,
in particular the possibility for Parliament to award grants to cover information activities
(Article 108(4) of the Financial Regulation);

Section IV — Court of Justice

46.
Highlights the fact that the increase of the budget is mainly due to the handover of the New Palais;
considers that its financial impact is particularly substantial in the 2008 budget and should remain excep-
tional; stresses that according to the Financial Multiannual Framework the margin under heading 5 in 2009
will be limited; consequently invites the Court of Justice to proceed to a detailed and scrutinised exercise in
order to limit its growth in 2009;

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Agrees with the Court of Justice to reduce its contribution to the lease-purchase for the New Palais

47.
by EUR 4 million, thanks to the frontloading of this amount from the 2007 budget;

Has decided in agreement with the Court of Justice to restore the standard abatement to a level of

48.
3,7 %; has therefore restored the corresponding appropriations;

49.

Has decided on the following establishment plan measures:

— the creation of nine temporary AD10 posts to reinforce the Cabinets of the Advocates General and of

the President of the Civil Service Tribunal,

— the creation of one AD5 for the recruitment of a lawyer to cope with the increasing ‘data protection’
requirements and one AST3 for the implementation of the interinstitutional SAP software project;

Has

50.
EUR 3 102 000 which represents a 8,03 % increase over the 2007 budget;

increased the appropriations made available by the Council

in the draft budget by

Section V — Court of Auditors

Has decided in agreement with the Court of Auditors to restore the standard abatement to a level of

51.
4,82 %; has therefore restored the corresponding appropriations;

52.

Has decided on the following establishment plan measures:

— the creation of 2 AST1 for the human resources division following the decision to reinforce it in two

years' time,

— the creation of one AD5 for the implementation of the new SAP software project and one AD5 for the

plan on documenting and simplifying measures,

— to downgrade one temporary AD12T post to AD11T in order to limit the financial impact of the

establishment plan measures,

— to transform one temporary AD12T post to AD14T and three permanent AST3 posts to AD5 in the IT

division;

53.
Has restored the appropriation linked to fitting-out work required by the health and security law of
the Luxembourg State and the renovation of the Court's meeting room; considers that these expenditures
have an exceptional character and cannot be renewed in the 2009 budget;

Has

54.
EUR 3 261 204 which represents a 9,65 % increase over the 2007 budget;

increased the appropriations made available by the Council

in the draft budget by

European Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the Regions

55.
Regrets that at this stage of the budgetary procedure the two committees have not been able to
present their new cooperation agreement; recalls the decision taken in its resolution of 14 December
2006 on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2007 as modified by the
Council (all sections) (1) that this agreement was expected to be received by July 2007; has consequently
decided to enter in Chapter 10 0 (‘Provisional appropriation’) 10 % of the 2007 budget of the Joint Service
cost; is ready to release the appropriations from the reserve as soon as the new cooperation agreement is
concluded;

Reaffirms its will to preserve this cooperation agreement, which constitutes an example of good
56.
interinstitutional cooperation and increases the efficiency of both entities thanks to enhanced expertise in
logistical and technical tasks and the possibility for the core business services to be relieved of day-to-day
management tasks;

(1) Texts Adopted of that date, P6_TA(2006)0570.

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Section VI — European Economic and Social Committee

Has decided in agreement with the European Economic and Social Committee to leave the standard

57.
abatement at a level of 4 %;

58.
Agrees with the Council on the request for upgradings for career development following Article 6 of
the Staff Regulations and Articles 6, 9 and 10 of Annex XIII thereto; recalls that Article 47(1) of the Finan-
cial Regulation offers a 10 % flexibility of the establishment plan in case of unforeseen events and should
not be used as a main tool to upgrade staff;

59.

Has decided on the creation of five new permanent posts (4 AD5 and 1 AST3);

Has increased the appropriations made available by the Council in the draft budget by EUR 546 178

60.
which represents a 1,82 % increase over the 2007 budget;

Section VII — Committee of the Regions

Has decided in agreement with the Committee of the Regions to restore the standard abatement to a

61.
level of 4 %; has therefore restored the corresponding appropriations;

62.

Has decided on the following establishment plan measures:

— the confirmation of the 15 AD posts related to the enlargement to Bulgaria and Romania as agreed by

the Council in its draft budget (1 AD9 and 14 AD5),

— the creation of 10 AST additional permanent posts related to the enlargement to Romania and Bulgaria
(5 AST3 and 5 AST1); is ready to examine the possibility of creating seven further AST posts related to
this enlargement in the future,

— the creation of a new Director's post through the upgrading of an available AD14 post to AD15 for the

unit on Communication, Press and Protocol;

Has

increased the appropriations made available by the Council

63.
in the draft budget by
EUR 1 054 962 which represents a 6,12 % increase, including the costs related to enlargement, over the
2007 budget;

Section VIII — Ombudsman

64.
Has increased, following the priorities defined by the Ombudsman, the appropriations made available
by the Council in the draft budget by EUR 142 230 which represents a 4,36 % increase over the 2007
budget;

Section IX — European Data Protection Supervisor

65.

Agrees with the Council not to apply a standard abatement;

66.

Has decided on the creation of the four posts requested funded for six months as follows:

— the confirmation of the three AD posts agreed by the Council in its draft budget (2 AD7 and 1 AD9),

— the creation of one additional post at AST3 level instead of AST9;

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Has increased the appropriations made available by the Council in the draft budget by EUR 83 058

67.
to maintain its level of development, which represents an increase of 7,10 % over the 2007 budget;

Thursday 25 October 2007

*

*

*

68.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution together with the amendments to Sections I, II, IV, V,
VI, VII, VIII and IX of the draft general budget to the Council, the Commission and the other institutions
and bodies concerned.

P6_TA(2007)0475

Recognition and supervision of suspended sentences, alternative sanctions and
conditional sentences *

European Parliament legislative resolution of 25 October 2007 on the initiative of the Federal
Republic of Germany and of the French Republic with a view to adopting a Council Framework
Decision on the recognition and supervision of suspended sentences, alternative sanctions and
conditional sentences (6480/2007 — C6-0129/2007 — 2007/0807(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the initiative of

the Federal Republic of Germany and of

the French Republic

(6480/2007) (1),

— having regard to Article 31(1)(a) and (c) and Article 34(2)(b) of the EU Treaty,

— having regard to Article 39(1) of the EU Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament

(C6-0129/2007),

— having regard to Rules 93 and 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of

the Committee on Civil Liberties,

Justice and Home Affairs

(A6-0356/2007),

1.

2.

3.

Approves the initiative of the Federal Republic of Germany and by the French Republic as amended;

Calls on the Council to amend the text accordingly;

Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

Calls on the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the initiative by the Federal

4.
Republic of Germany and by the French Republic substantially;

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

5.
ments of the Federal Republic of Germany and of the French Republic.

(1) OJ C 147, 30.6.2007, p. 1.