A3-0341/94

Resolution on the estimates of Parliament's revenue and expenditure for the 1995 financial year

The European Parliament,

-having regard to its resolution of 24 March 1994 on the budgetary guidelines for the financial year 1995,

-having regard to the Secretary-General's report and to the preliminary draft estimates for 1995,

-having regard to the preliminary draft estimates drawn up by the Bureau on 21 April 1994 pursuant to the provisions of Rules 22(5) and (6) and 165(1) of the Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A3-0341/94),

I.GENERAL FRAMEWORK

1.Points out that the 1995 budgetary procedure comes under the financial framework established by the 1993-1999 financial perspective and, with regard to Parliament's budget, is marked by the European elections, which will take place in June 1994;

2.Points out in this connection that:

-the increase in the volume of administrative expenditure under heading 5 of the 1993-1999 financial perspective is put at 6%;

-the increase in expenditure under all financial perspective headings calls for account to be taken of movements in available revenue and of forecasts concerning the emergence of an overall shortfall for payments for appropriations necessary for 1995;

-increases in certain expenditure are dependent on the inflation rate, the exchange rate and public service tariffs;

-the annual inflation rate for 1995 is put at 3.1%;

-the comparison of appropriations between the financial years 1994 and 1995 should be qualified, in respect of certain areas of parliamentary activity, because of the special nature of the 1994 budget, which is bearing the impact of the European elections;

-the estimates have been drawn up on the basis of 567 Members of Parliament;

3.Stresses that, in tandem with the 1995 budgetary procedure, ratification procedures with a view to the enlargement of the Union are under way; believes that the financial implications of enlargement for Parliament's budget will provisionally be an estimated ECU 45 m overall;

4.Fixes Parliament's estimates for the financial year 1995, annexed to the minutes, at ECU 693 321 000; stresses that this amount does not take account of enlargement but corresponds to the financing of regular activities and also gives the new Parliament the necessary financial leeway to enable it to set its priorities for the next parliamentary term;

5.Forecasts an estimated amount for re-use of ECU 1 580 000;

6.Refers to its resolution of 24 June 1993 on the estimates of Parliament's revenue and expenditure for the 1994 financial year and in particular its position on the use of outside firms and the conditions applying thereto; instructs the Secretary-General to submit a report on developments in this connection for the first reading of the 1995 draft budget;

II. ESTABLISHMENT PLAN

7.Stresses that any change in the establishment plan is based on an annual report on staff policy1; points out moreover that in the 1994 budget:

-Parliament's overall establishment plan totals 3 790 posts;

-appropriations for 39 posts have been entered in Chapter 100 (Provisional appropriations);

-49 posts remain entered without appropriations;

-two posts are accompanied by the remark 'to be deleted' in accordance with the provisions of Article 55(2) of the Financial Regulation;

-Article 50 of the Staff Regulations, referred to in its resolution on the 1994 estimates, is to be applied in the case of four officials;

8.Points out that for the organization and development of the administrative structures within the various directorates-general:

-account should be taken of the redeployment of posts following the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of services;

-the fact that Article 41 of the Staff Regulations could be applied to an estimated 15 posts should be taken into consideration;

-acknowledgement must be given to the need to adjust the number of officials working for the committees and delegations in the light of the organizational plan and the requirements of the committees and interparliamentary delegations to be adopted by the new Parliament; in this respect, notice must be taken of the opinion of the Conference of Committee Chairmen of 19 April 1994, which was delivered in response to its budgetary resolution of 16 December 1993;

-enlargement and the possible application of special measures concerning the definitive termination of service of officials in connection with new accessions should be anticipated;

9.Recalls the wording of paragraph 18 of its abovementioned resolution of 16 December 1993 and notes the opinion of the Conference of Committee Chairmen in response thereto:

-recognizes the need to increase the number of staff working in various spheres for the legislative committees;

-notes that, at its meeting of 2 May 1994, the Committee on Budgets authorized the filling of 15 posts (3 A, 4 B and 8 C), out of the total of 30 posts required, to cope with the most pressing needs;

-asks the Secretary-General to ascertain whether the remaining posts might be filled by internal redeployment and to report back to the Bureau and the Committee on Budgets before the first reading of the 1995 budget;

10.Believes it appropriate under the circumstances to re-enter, for the financial year 1995, the total number of staff entered in the list of posts in the 1994 budget and to enter in the reserve the appropriations for 24 posts; calls, however, in connection with the first reading of the draft budget, for a functional establishment plan to be drawn up for each directorate-general; stresses in this connection that the list of posts simply describes the pyramid structure of the staff complement but does not specify the relations between and the tasks assigned within and/or between directorates-general.

11.Authorizes, under the circumstances, the appropriations concerning conversions and upgradings in respect of the following grades; three A4 to A3 (office of the Secretary-General, Legal Service, DG III - Strasbourg Unit); five A5 to A4; one A6 to A5; 19 B2 to B1; three B4 to B3; 76 C2 to C1; 18 C3 to C2; 20 D2 to D1; seven LA5 to LA4; one LA3 to A7 (Directorate-General II); one B1 to A7 (DG V - budget management); three C1 to B5 (photocompositors-proofreaders); ten D1 to C5; one A5 to temporary A4; two B5 to temporary B4; one A7 to temporary A6 (secretariat of the Non-aligned Members); plus two ad personam promotions (one B1 to A5 and one C1 to B3); plus the following upgradings for the political groups: two A5 to A4; four A6 to A5; one A7 to A6; three B2 to B1; three B3 to B2; one B4 to B3; 13 C2 to C1; two C3 to C2; one C4 to C3;

12.Notes the financial impact amounting to ECU 227 000 of applying Article 50 and reserves the right, at the first reading on the 1995 draft budget, to specify the posts 'to be deleted' from the list of posts;

13.Takes the view, given the substantial increase in the number of tasks assigned to Parliament, that a reform of its management structure must be carried out on the basis of an external expert study;

III. MOVEMENTS IN APPROPRIATIONS

14.Fixes the appropriations for Chapter 11 at ECU 284 884 000, for Chapter 12 at ECU 6 139 000 and for Chapter 18 at ECU 9 665 000; notes that the appropriations for Item 1170 (Interpreters and conference technicians) do not take account of the new agreement which is in the process of being ratified between the freelance interpreters and the European Institutions; fixes the appropriations for Item 1172/1 (Work sent out for translation and typing) at ECU 3 m, including an entry of ECU 1 m in Chapter 100; draws attention to and reiterates its call made in paragraph 16 of its abovementioned resolution of 24 June 1993 on the Secretary-General to draw up a report on the language services in the context of enlargement;

15.Fixes an amount of ECU 18 100 000 for Article 130 (Mission expenses) and an amount of ECU 1 578 000 for Item 1401 (Operating expenses of the restaurants and canteens);

16.Stresses that the second half of 1995 will be marked by the taking possession of the D2 building in Brussels and that the cost of the rent and related costs should therefore be determined; decides, pending confirmation of the date on which that building will be accepted, to enter an amount of ECU 4 180 000 in Chapter 100 for budget headings 2000/3 (Rent - ECU 3 500 000), 202/3 (Water, gas, electricity - ECU 140 000); 203/3 (Cleaning and maintenance - ECU 340 000) and 205/3 (Security and Surveillance of buildings - ECU 200 000);

17.Enters an amount of ECU 7 600 000 against Article 203/3 (Cleaning and maintenance), including the amount of ECU 140 000 referred to above, plus an amount of ECU 2 800 000 against Article 204/3 (Fitting-out of premises);

18.Fixes an amount of ECU 5 966 000 for Item 2101/1 (Distributed data- processing systems), including the entry of an amount of ECU 500 000 in Chapter 100 and an amount of ECU 3 400 000 against Item 2102/3 (Outside assistance in connection with the operation, development and maintenance of data-processing systems), including the entry of an amount of ECU 400 000 in Chapter 100; stresses in this connection its call for an external audit of the management and efficiency of data-processing projects in Parliament which it made in its resolution of 11 March 1994 on the closure of Parliament's accounts for the 1993 financial year;

19.Authorizes for Item 2250/1 (Library funds) an appropriation of ECU 320 000, for Item 2252/2 (Subscriptions to newspapers and periodicals) an appropriation of ECU 330 000 and for Item 2253/1 (Subscriptions to news agencies) an appropriation of ECU 620 000;

20.Authorizes, further, the entry of ECU 60 000 in Chapter 100 for Item 2312 (Hire of television-line time); specifies that this appropriation is designed to cover the cost of broadcasting reports on the activities of Parliament; such broadcasts must be live or consist of reports broadcast on the day when the activity took place and transmitted from the places of work of Parliament to the capital cities or broadcasting centres of the Member States; priority shall be given to regional European television stations; calls, in addition, on the competent bodies of Parliament created after the June 1994 elections to draw up a report on the major guidelines for its policy on using television to provide information concerning its activities;

21.Notes a substantial increase in the appropriations for professional training (+ 27%) and instructs the Secretary-General to submit, prior to the first reading of the draft budget, a report on the programme of activities for the financial year 1995; also calls on the Secretary-General to examine the appropriateness of conferring responsibility on the Staff Committee for carrying out activities to promote integration and social relations between the Institution's staff and their families and to submit a report on this during the budgetary procedure for 1995;

22.Fixes the appropriations for Item 2994 (Euroscola programme) at ECU 1 500 000, for Item 3708 (Information work) at ECU 13 million and for Item 3709 (Contributions to international organizations) at ECU 16 000, including the ECU 5 000 for the 'Institute for Democracy' organized in collaboration with the Council of Europe;

23.Enters an amount of ECU 8 m in Chapter 101 (Contingency reserve) in order to enable the new Parliament to finance its own policy objectives;

24.Calls for an inquiry to be carried out as a matter of urgency into the possibility of savings being made on mission expenses;

25.Believes that Parliament must lay down general policy guidelines concerning meetings - especially committee meetings - at venues other than its normal places of work before the first reading of the 1995 budget;

IV. OMBUDSMAN

26.Points out that the budgetary framework for the Ombudsman was created in the 1993 budget, while in the 1994 budget it entered an amount of ECU 202 000 in Chapter 100, for Article 380 (Ombudsman), and on 9 March 1994 adopted its decision on the Ombudsman's status;

27.Enters an amount of ECU 1 200 000 against Article 380 (Ombudsman) pending the appointment decision;

V.PARLIAMENTARY ASSISTANTS

28.Recalls that, in its in resolution on the staff policy of the Community institutions of 21 April 1994, it:

-noted that, since direct elections, Members had been provided with support principally from the Secretariat and the secretariats of the political groups;

-considered that individual assistance for Members should be strengthened during the period 1995-1999;

-supported the temporary measures proposed by the College of Quaestors and the creation of a register of assistants;

-believed there was a need for better monitoring of expenditure intended for assistants;

-called on the Commission to insert the changes needed to acknowledge and define the role of assistants as soon as possible into the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the Communities;

29.Believes that, after the conclusion of each annual budgetary procedure, a report should be published demonstrating Parliament's political priorities in the Community budget and providing information principally for the national parliaments;

30.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Institutions concerned.