A4-0106/94

Resolution on the modifications made by the Council to the amendments made by Parliament to: Section I - European Parliament - Annex Ombudsman, Section II - Council, Section IV - Court of Justice, Section V - Court of Auditors and Section VI - Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the Regions of the draft general budget of the European Communities for the financial year 1995

The European Parliament:

-having regard to the Treaty on European Union,

-having regard to the decision of 13 December 1994 on the adjustment of the financial perspective annexed to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 29 October 1993 on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure and its resolution thereon,

-having regard to the amendments adopted at first reading and its resolution of 27 October 1994 on the draft general budget of the European Communities for the financial year 1995 (Sections I, II, IV, V and VI),

-having regard to the decisions by the Council of the European Union of 16 November 1994 on the draft budget as amended and modified by Parliament at first reading (C4-0210/94),

-having regard to the letter of amendment 2/95 of 8 December 1994 (C4-0257/94),

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets (A4-0106/94),

A.emphasizing that, as a result of the ratification of the accession of the applicant countries to the European Union, the new expenditure resulting from enlargement of the Union must be included in the budget,

B.pointing out that, in the first reading of the 1995 draft budget, a new chapter entitled 'enlargement' containing appropriations intended to finance administrative expenditure together with conditions for their utilization was created within each of the budget sections,

C.pointing out that, in its deliberations of 16 November 1994, the Council rejected as a whole the amendments dealing with enlargement,

1.Notes that Parliament's amendments to its own budget were not changed by the Council;

2.Emphasizes however that, while the Council agreed to Parliament's amendment increasing budget Item 2000/3, 'Rent', by ECU 120 million, it offset its agreement by creating a negative reserve containing an equivalent amount in Section III - Commission; expresses its most profound concern as to whether the provisions of the Treaty, and in particular Article 203(5) thereof, were being complied with;

3.Regrets that the Council, without specific justification, has rejected the amendments adopted by Parliament at first reading, while the value of these amendments in implementing a policy that is effective in managing the administrative apparatus of the institutions and transparent in presenting appropriations for the various administrative activities has been accepted by the Council in the positions it has adopted;

4.Recalls that, in its resolutions of 24 March 1994 on the guidelines for the 1995 budget, 20 April 1994 on draft supplementary and amending budget No. 1/1994, 27 October 1994 on draft supplementary and amending budget No. 2/1994 and its abovementioned resolution of 27 October 1994, it submitted requests for the preparation of reports on the operation of the administrative apparatus of the institutions; accordingly, reiterates its requests and calls on the institutions concerned to act without delay;

5.Emphasizes that, in the adjustment of the financial perspective as a result of enlargement, administrative expenditure in heading 5 is going to show an average increase for the period 1995-1999 of the order of 4.66%; that, in addition, the institutions party to the interinstitutional agreement on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure have agreed that in 1996 heading 5 expenditure would be reconsidered to take account of financing requirements in respect of the buildings of the European institutions and staff requirements in respect of the new Member States;

6.Considers that the resulting additional appropriations are exclusively intended to meet the new requirements stemming from enlargement as regards both human resources and the administrative operation of the institutions;

7.Notes that the new expenditure should take account of the new requirements in the language field in each institution but also should be intended to create economies of scale by redeploying and reorganizing existing human resources and administrative structures; is disturbed by the derisory level of interinstitutional cooperation on administrative and staff matters;

8.Strongly requests the institutions to take meaningful practical steps towards constructive and worthwhile interinstitutional cooperation so as to reduce the proportion of administrative expenditure in the general budget and make the European civil service yet more efficient;

9.Considers, in these circumstances, that it is desirable to maintain the approach of an 'enlargement' reserve, the release of which is governed by the provisions of the Financial Regulation, in particular the articles of that regulation dealing with transfers of appropriations, and the submission of supplementary and amending budget 1/95;

10.Refers to the request it made at first reading regarding the cooperative effort needed between the institutions and to the request it made in the 1995 budget guidelines as regards assessing the operation of the administrative apparatus through the 'screening' process, which provides the budgetary authority with a useful working tool;

11.Notes that the 1995 budget will be the first annual budget to contain the budget of the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions in a new Section VI of the general budget;

12.Reaffirms its request to the authorities of the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, under this procedure, to submit an operational establishment plan on a service-by-service basis, including services grouped within the joint organizational structure, and resolutely repeats it in connection with supplementary and amending budget 1/95;

13.Points out its commitment to the effective implementation of a joint organizational structure as laid down in the Treaty; that such effectiveness should not be compromised by the geographical dispersal of staff within each of the services grouped therein; that any action by the authorities of the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions to create parallel services which could result in excessive hierarchies within the joint structure would be contrary to the principles of sound and transparent financial and administrative management and could become a source of counter-productive conflicts;

14.Has decided accordingly, in the case of Sections IV, V and VI, to reinstate its amendments adopted at first reading as well as its amendments on enlargement, pointing out that, on the one hand, it has left a margin available within heading 5 of the financial perspective in accordance with the interinstitutional agreement (see breakdown by institution in the Annex) and, on the other hand, that the overall amount for enlargement entered in the budget of each institution will be assessed on a pragmatic basis in supplementary and amending budget 1/95;

15.Instructs its President to forward these budgetary decisions to the Council, the Commission and the institutions and advisory bodies concerned.

Annex