The Assembly,
1. Having regard to paragraph 1 of Resolution (53) 38 of the Committee of Ministers, which stipulates :
"When drawing up the draft Budget for the Council of Europe, the Secretary General shall consult the Assembly on that part of the draft Budget which comprises the relevant operational appropriations. Such consultation shall take place in accordance with a procedure to be laid down by agreement between the President of the Assembly and the Secretary General" ;
2. Having regard to the Secretary General's letter of 15th March 1962 defining the procedure for consultation both as regards the part of the Budget containing the estimate relating to the Assembly's operational expenditure and as regards the Budget as a whole ;
3. Having regard to the Budget of the Council of Europe for 1967 adopted by the Committee of Ministers and to the general accounts for the Financial Year 1965, being the last financial year for which the accounts have been closed and a discharge given ;
4. Bearing in mind where its own expenditure is concerned, the frequently repeated recommendation of the Committee of Ministers that the Budget figures should not be appreciably higher than those for the preceding year,
5. Adopts the following Opinion :
Draft Vote III of the 1968 Budget
(Expenditure of the Consultative Assembly)
1. It is proposed that Vote III of the 1968 Budget be drawn up as set out below ;
VOTE III
EXPENDITURE OF THE CONSULTATIVE ASSEMBLY
Sub-Head 63 - Remuneration of temporary staff
Estimate for 1968 - F. 560,000
Remuneration of days worked by temporary staff for sessions of the Consultative Assembly and meetings of its organs out of session time.
Article 32 of the Statute of the Council of Europe entitles the Assembly to meet for 30 days a year. However, in the light of experience, the estimate is based on 18 days, on the understanding that this does not prejudice the Assembly's right under the Statute.
Remarks :
It is proposed requesting the same amount for 1967, subject to possible changes in certain rates of pay.
Sub-Head 64 - Travel expenses and allowance for travel time
Estimate for 1968 - F. 130,000
Travel expenses and allowances for travel time for temporary staff recruited away from Strasbourg.
Remarks :
It is proposed requesting the same amount as in 1967, subject to possible changes in certain rates of travel tariffs.
Sub-Head 65 - Sickness and accident insurance
Estimate for 1968 - F. 6,000
Share paid from the Council Budget (60 %) of sickness and accident insurance premiums in respect of temporary staff remunerated under Sub-Head 63
Remarks :
Expenditure amounted to 5,660.22 francs in 1966. It is accordingly proposed requesting 6,000 francs for 1968.
Sub-Head 66 - Technical staff seconded from national administrations
Estimate for 1968 - F. 42,000
Refund to various national administrations of the salaries of staff seconded to the Council for certain special services during Assembly Sessions : travel expenses, subsistence allowances, and insurance for such staff.
Gratuities for special work performed by lower-grade staff of national administrations in connection with meetings of Assembly bodies outside Strasbourg.
Remarks :
Considering that expenditure in 1966 amounted to 41,927.75 francs, it is proposed requesting 42,000 francs for 1968.
Sub-Head 67 - Publishing and Printing
Estimate for 1968 - F. 239,000
F.
239,000
Remarks :
It is proposed requesting the same amount as for 1967 and allocating it as indicated above.
- Supply of information to national Parliaments
This item is appearing for the first time in the Assembly Budget. Its purpose is to keep national Parliaments informed of the Consultative Assembly's activities. The sum of 6,000 francs for 1968 would be sufficient to enable notes on reports and documents relating to texts adopted by the Assembly to be translated and distributed into non-official languages.
This procedure has been applied for several years by the Assembly of WEU, which issues regularly such notes in five languages (French, English, German, Italian, Dutch).
Sub-Head 68 - Hire of cars
Estimate for 1968 - F. 8,000
Hire of cars for the Assembly and its organs
Sub-Head 69 - Representational, travel and subsistence expenses of the President of the Assembly
Estimate for 1968 - F. 41,000
Representational, travel and subsistence expenses incurred by the President of the Consultative Assembly in the course of his duties :
F.
- Fixed amount for representation - 24,000
- Travel and subsistence - 17,000
41,000
Sub-Head 70 - Expenditure pertaining to the Private Office of the President of the Assembly
Estimate for 1968 - F. 29,600
F.
- Special duties allowance - 4,800
- Remuneration of one shorthand-typist - 10,800
- Official travel by staff - 14,000
- Sundry secretarial expenses - token entry
29,600
Sub-Head 71 - Representational and other official expenditure incurred by members of the Consultative Assembly
Estimate for 1968 - F. 73,000
F.
- Entertainment and similar F. expenses incurred by the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly and by Committee Chairmen and Rapporteurs - 13,000
- Travel expenses and subsistence allowances of members of the Assembly attending, on behalf of the Council of Europe, meetings of certain Council bodies apart from Sessions of the Assembly and its Committees (Bureau of the Assembly, Joint Committee etc.) or undertaking official missions for the Assembly - 33,000
- Sundry expenses incurred by members of the Assembly in the discharge of specific duties for the Council, such as secretarial assistance, documentation and travel expenses (Res. (58) 4 of 27th March 1958) - 25,000
- Accident insurance premiums for members of the Assembly travelling officially at the Council's expense (Decision of the Ministers' Deputies at their 108th meeting, March 1962-Concl. (62) 108, point V) - 2,000
73,000
Remarks :
It is proposed requesting the same amount as in 1967.
- Travel expenses and subsistence allowances of members of the Assembly attending, on behalf of the Council of Europe, meetings of certain Council bodies, apart from Sessions of the Assembly and its Committees, or undertaking official missions for the Assembly.
The appropriation asked for is the same as in 1967 ; it should however be readjusted in order to bring the rate of daily allowances to the level applied by the European Parliament and the Assembly of WEU.
Sub-Head 12 - Official journeys
Estimate for 1968 - F. 135,000
- Official travel by staff of the Office of the Clerk and by Secretariat staff required to attend meetings of Assembly bodies away from Strasbourg, or to attend meetings of experts.
Remarks :
It is proposed requesting the same amount as in 1967, subject to possible changes in certain rates of travel tariffs.
Sub-Head 73 - Consultation of Experts
Estimate for 1968 - F. 40,000
Remarks :
Considering the exceptional expenditure to be foreseen in 1968 (report on peace research, revised edition of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure) it is proposed requesting that the appropriation be raised to 40,000 francs.
Sub-Head 74 - Organisation of ad hoc conferences
Estimate for 1968 - token entry
Remarks :
Requests for appropriations for holding ad hoc conferences will be embodied in separate Assembly recommendations if and as required.
Sub-Head 75 - Expenditure not otherwise covered in this Vote
Estimate for 1968 - F. 8,500
Sub-Head 76 - Europe Prize
Estimate for 1968 - F. 6,000
F.
- Europe Prize - 2,500
- Provision for the cost of awarding the Prize (travel and reception in honour of the Mayor of the winning municipaliry, diploma and medal) - 3,500
6,000
2. The Assembly once again recalls that the Committee of Ministers has taken no decision as yet in regard to the appropriations required to implement Assembly Resolution 188 of 29th September 1960 concerning the official languages of the Council of Europe.
This Resolution was adopted in pursuance of Article 12 of the Council of Europe Statute which gives the Assembly an independent power to determine "in what circumstances and under what conditions other languages may be used".
The appropriation necessary for the application of Resolution 188 should consequently be added to those appearing in Vote III of the 1968 Budget.
3. The Assembly points out that the requests for increased appropriations set out above are extremely modest, since they would raise the total appropriations under Vote III from 1,306,100 francs in 1967 to 1,318,100 francs in 1968, i.e. by 12,000 francs (or 0.9 %), broken down as follows :
F.
- Sub-Head 65 : Sickness and F. accident insurance for temporary staff - + 1,000
- Sub-Head 66 : Technical staff seconded from national administrations - + 6,000
- Sub-Head 73 : Consultation of experts - + 5,000
12,000
General remarks and proposals relating to Votes other than Vote III
4. The Council of Europe Budget for 1967 totals 33,580,956 francs. Compared with the Budget for the previous year (31,809,586 francs) this means an increase of 1,771,370 francs.
The appropriations under Vote III - Expenditure of the Consultative Assembly - show an increase of only 25,000 francs (2 %) over the previous year.
The general accounts relating to the Financial Year 1965 show cancelled appropriations to the amount of 1,165,973.59 francs, or 4 %. This percentage is very low and the Assembly once more congratulated the Secretary General on the accuracy of his estimates.
The Auditors have stated that they are satisfied that expenditure under the Budget has been properly incurred and that the Budget appropriations have been rationally and economically administered.
The Assembly fully endorses the Auditors' statement.
5. Staff of the Office of the Clerk
(a) The Assembly notes that, under arrangements existing since 1955, an A 4 official is placed at the President's disposal. However, since the election of the President in May 1960 the duties of Head of the President's Private Office have been in fact carried out by an A 5 official, it having become apparent that the functions and responsibilities involved justified the secondment to the President of an official of that grade.
The above arrangement, which has been continuing for seven years, has the effect of depriving the Office of the Clerk of an A 5 official whose organic function should be to co-ordinate and supervise the work of a Division.
To put an end to this abnormal situation which is tending to interfere with the proper running of its services, the Assembly recommends that the post of Head of the President's Private Office be up-graded from A 4 to A 5.
(b) As regards the assistants attached to the various Committees, the Assembly considers that the nature of the activities of its organs, together with the membership of the Committees and the constant use of two languages, calls for the appointment of bilingual shorthand-typists. It is accordingly recommended that the present proportions of bilingual and unilingual shorthand-typists be changed, in order to achieve a better balance.
6. Practical arrangements during sessions
The Assembly points out that it would greatly facilitate matters for its members if they could all know, at any time and wherever they happen to be, what item on the agenda is being discussed and who is speaking. Accordingly, the Assembly recommends entering in the Budget an appropriation for installing a system of panels giving this information in the corridors of the parliamentary delegations and the Political Groups as well as in those surrounding the hemicycle.
7. Staff Regulations
The Assembly notes with satisfaction that the Governmental Conference on a European Civil Service has completed its work. The Assembly will study the report of the Conference as soon as it is received.
8. Council of Europe buildings
The Assembly thanks the Committee of Ministers for having authorised it to explain its needs to the Expert Working Party and is gratified to note the diligence with which the Working Party has proceeded. It requests the Committee of Ministers to take without delay the urgent decisions that are called for in the light of the Working Party's conclusions.
9. Expenditure in the sphere of information
The Assembly considers that in conjunction with the re-organisation of information methods, the insufficient sum available to the Council of Europe for its public information services should be adjusted to a level comparable with that prevailing in other international organisations. It recommends that the Committee of Ministers allocate to this sector the staff and funds required to ensure a wide circulation of Council of Europe brochures and other information media.