B Explanatory memorandum
by Mr Tiny Kox, rapporteur
1 Introduction
1. The Parliamentary Assembly's
Opinion on the budget and priorities of the Council of Europe for
the biennium 2022-2025 quadrennial cycle is taking place in a particular
context, when Europe and the world have been facing for more than
a year the Covid-19 pandemic and are plunged into the uncertainty
linked to the multiple and complex consequences of an unprecedented
health and socio-economic crisis. For the Council of Europe, the
year 2020 has been an opportune time for in-depth reflection and
for proving the Organisation’s added value for member States.
2. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović
Burić has proposed to the Organisation to move to four-year programming
instead of biennial planning. The idea of multi-annual planning is
not new in itself. The Assembly already advocated years ago that
the Council of Europe should plan its work on a longer-term basis
than annual budgets (see,
inter alia,
paragraph 19 of
Opinion
272 (2009) “Budgets of the Council of Europe for the financial
year 2010"). The first step was taken with the introduction by the Committee
of Ministers of two-year planning more than ten years ago. The proposed
four-year planning could be a welcome second step.
3. As the Committee of Ministers prepares to discuss and set
the Council of Europe's strategic priorities for the coming years,
the Assembly has adopted at its April 2021 part-session
Recommendation 2199 (2021) to the Committee of Ministers, on the basis of
Resolution 2369 (2021) “The Assembly's vision on the strategic priorities for
the Council of Europe”. This report will not repeat the ideas and
avenues for reflection contained in that Resolution and will focus
on the programmatic, budgetary and reform aspects envisaged for
the next four-year cycle 2022-2025.
4. It should be recalled that multi-annual planning must go hand
in hand with securing the Organisation's budget for the period concerned.
In this context, the Assembly should support the Secretary General
in ensuring that the budgets for the next four years are established
on the basis of real growth (or at least zero real growth – that
is limited to the level of inflation). The fact that the Organisation
has finally – after years of uncertainty – found a way out of the
dispute with one of its largest member States over its financial
obligations has brought more stability to the financial perspectives
and to the plans and projects of the Organisation. Nevertheless,
there is still a need to constantly monitor how our financial means
are used for maximum efficiency.
2 Audit of the 2018 and 2019 accounts
5. The audit of the accounts for
the 2018-2019 biennium was carried out by Najwyższa Izba Kontroli
(NIK- Poland), external auditor of the Council of Europe, which
examined the consolidated financial statements of the Council of
Europe, for the year ended 31 December 2018, and by the Cour des
Comptes (France), new external auditor of the Council of Europe
since 1 January 2019, which examined the consolidated financial statements
for the year 2019. In both cases, the external auditors gave an
unqualified and unmodified opinion for both years. The financial
statements present fairly the financial position of the Council
of Europe and the results of its operations and its cash flows at
the year end.
6. During its audit of the 2018 accounts, the external auditor
carried out two performance audits in the areas of human resources
policies and on IT strategy, for which a number of recommendations
were made. For the audit of the 2019 financial statements, the Covid-19
pandemic necessitated a teleworking arrangement between the external
auditor's team and the Council of Europe's financial management
and accounting staff. Nevertheless, checks on the stocks of publications
of the Directorate of Communication and the stocks of finished products
and raw materials of the European Directorate for the Quality of
Medicines and Healthcare (EDQM) and on the inventory of fixed assets
had been carried out at headquarters in June 2020.
7. During this period, receivables related to contributions increased
from €59 million at the end of 2018 (relating to the failure of
the Russian Federation to pay for two years in a row) to €9 million
at the end of 2019, mainly due to the resumption of payment of contributions
from the Russian Federation. It should also be recalled that the
default interest related to the late payment of the Russian Federation's
contributions, namely €8.8 million, has not been settled.
8. The auditors also looked at the item on staff benefits (namely
the consideration given for services rendered by staff, that is
all Council of Europe pension schemes and medical coverage). These
benefits amounted to €3 207 million as at 31 December 2018 and €3 940
million as at 31 December 2019, an increase of €733 million (see
also paragraphs 30 et seq. below).
3 2019
9. In his report prepared for
the 129th Session of the Committee of Ministers held in Helsinki
on 16-17 May “Facing future challenges – strengthening the Council
of Europe”, the then Secretary General of the Council of Europe,
Thorbjørn Jagland, alerted member States to the growing threats
to the rule of law and the new human rights challenges on our continent,
stressing the need to strengthen Council of Europe instruments,
not to replace or duplicate them elsewhere. Humanity was facing
new challenges for which the legal standards of the Council of Europe
were required. He identified several major challenges: artificial
intelligence and the risks it posed to human rights, democracy and
the rule of law; trafficking in human beings; freedom of expression; inequality
and discrimination; migration; social rights; combating violence
against women and domestic violence.
10. At this ministerial session, the Committee of Ministers also
reaffirmed the importance of social rights across the continent
and invited those member States that had not yet done so to sign
and/or ratify the revised European Social Charter (ETS No. 163)
and its Additional Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints
(ETS No. 158). The Committee of Ministers also decided to examine
the feasibility and potential elements of a legal framework for
the development, design and application of artificial intelligence.
In September 2019, the Committee of Ministers adopted the terms
of reference of the Ad hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence
(CAHAI).
11. The year 2019 was marked by the election of a new Secretary
General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinovič Burić, in June,
as well as by the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Council
of Europe in October, in the presence of the President of the French
Republic. In terms of budget, the settlement by the Russian Federation
of its compulsory contributions for 2019 as well as those due for
the years 2017 and 2018 had narrowly avoided the implementation
of a contingency plan that would have been painful for the entire Organisation
and provided for 250 job cuts. 2019 was also the occasion to celebrate
the 30th anniversary of the Eurimages Fund and the 20th anniversary
of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO); it should be
noted that the Committee of Ministers accepted the European Union's
request to obtain observer status with this body.
12. Several important conferences took place in 2019: the Conference
of Ministers of Justice, focusing on the challenges of digital justice;
Octopus on cybercrime; the HELP Network conference on the training
of judges, lawyers and other legal professionals on the proper application
of the European Convention on Human Rights; and for the first time
a Conference of Heads of Supreme Courts of the Council of Europe
member States. With particular regard to legal co-operation, the
Committee of Ministers accepted requests from Brazil and Burkina
Faso to be invited to accede to the Convention on Cybercrime (ETS
No. 185) and the request from Mongolia to be invited to accede to
the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters
(ETS No. 30).
13. For its part, the Assembly chose to focus its work this year
on the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030. In
particular, it raised awareness of the importance for parliamentarians,
as legislators, to participate in the implementation of the Sustainable
Development Goals, which was also one of the major themes of the
European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments that it organised
in Strasbourg on 24 and 25 October 2019, bringing together 450 participants,
including more than 60 speakers of parliaments and presidents of
international assemblies. The Assembly also awarded its seventh
Václav Havel Human Rights Prize jointly to the imprisoned Uighur
intellectual Ilham Tohti and to the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR),
which brings together young people from all over the Balkans to
promote reconciliation.
4 2020
14. The year 2020 could have started
under the best of auspices with the arrival of a new Secretary General, the
payment by the Russian Federation of its due contributions and the
return of a zero growth budget in real terms (taking into account
inflation). Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic that spread in
March 2020 has completely changed the parameters and plunged the
world into a health crisis unprecedented since the First World War.
15. After the first part-session, the Covid-19 pandemic made it
impossible for the Assembly to continue its work as usual and the
April, June and October part-sessions could not be held. New working
methods had to be invented and implemented, thus allowing, in a
first step, the Assembly committees, the Bureau and the Standing
Committee to hold their meetings remotely and, in a second step,
to organise the Assembly's part-sessions in hybrid mode, as from
January 2021.
16. Thanks to videoconferencing technology (and in particular
the contract with the KUDO platform, which provides interpretation
in five languages), the Assembly was able to continue to operate
effectively in 2020 and to overcome – as far as possible – the many
restrictions on its members' travel.
17. The part-sessions that could not be organised were replaced
by remote meetings of the Standing Committee. In June 2020, the
Standing Committee held an exchange of views on the Covid-19 pandemic
with the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Mr Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus. At the October 2020 Enlarged Standing Committee,
debates were held on the impact of Covid-19 on democracies, human rights
and the rule of law; on migrants and refugees; and on the challenges
of artificial intelligence. The Assembly has been able to highlight
the consequences of this health crisis and has provided the Committee
of Ministers and the member States with a wide range of analyses,
proposals and guidelines, affirming its role as the political driving
force of the Council of Europe.
18. At its 130th Ministerial Session held by video conference
from Athens in November 2020, the Committee of Ministers adopted
a Declaration of the Greek Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers,
also known as the “Athens Declaration”, which reflects the commitment
of member States to respect the principles guaranteeing human rights,
democracy and the rule of law in times of pandemic. This declaration
was also endorsed by the Standing Committee. This ministerial session
was also the occasion for a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary
of the European Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, on the
European Day for the protection of children against sexual exploitation
and sexual abuse, on 12 November 2020, a joint statement by the
Secretary General, the incoming and outgoing Presidencies of the
Committee of Ministers and the President of the Assembly was issued.
19. Other activities included a high-level conference on environmental
protection and human rights in February 2020 and the adoption of
a Declaration on human rights and the environment by the Georgian,
Greek and German Presidencies of the Committee of Ministers. An
online conference of Ministers of Justice, chaired by the Greek
Minister of Justice, took place in November 2020 on “independence
of justice and the rule of law”. The conclusions underlined the
importance of co-operation and mutual trust between Council of Europe member
States in overcoming the health crisis and defending common values
as well as the efficiency of the judicial system as a prerequisite
for the enjoyment of all rights and freedoms. In the field of education,
it is worth noting the creation by 17 member States of an Observatory
on history teaching in Europe in the form of an enlarged partial
agreement (that is open to non-member States of the Council of Europe).
20. Finally, due to the non-holding of the June and October 2020
part-sessions, the Committee of Ministers decided, in these exceptional
circumstances, to extend the term of office of the current Deputy
Secretary General, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, until the end of
the month following the election of her successor and that of the
Secretary General of the Assembly, Wojciech Sawicki, until 28 February
2021. These elections took place by remote electronic voting during
the January 2021 part-session, held in a hybrid format (video conference
and face-to-face).
5 Priorities for 2022-2025
21. In line with her commitments,
the Secretary General, Marija Pejčinovič Burić, has finalised a comprehensive
reflection on the Council of Europe's mission and, to this end,
elaborated a new strategic framework reflecting the Organisation's
priorities for the next four years 2022-2025. The particularity
of the four-year plan presented by the Secretary General is to recall
not only the main priorities but also the concrete achievements
(“deliverables”) and other actions and measures to achieve these
objectives.
22. This strategic framework should also be read in the light
of the efforts made and to be made by the Council of Europe to modernise
its working tools and operations through the Strategic IT Action
Plan 2018-2021 and, above all, the digital strategy decided by the
Committee of Ministers at the end of 2020. This will make it possible
to strengthen the Organisation's capacity to maintain its activities
in the event of a crisis, by developing a whole catalogue of new
services in the field of meetings with remote participation (videoconferencing
with interpretation, hybrid meetings, electronic voting, online
seminars).
23. This new perspective on the programming and organisation of
activities over a four-year period and the adaptation of the terms
of reference and working methods of the various intergovernmental
committees and other subordinate bodies will enable the Council
of Europe to continue to respond to the needs of member States while
maintaining what has been its strength for over 70 years, namely
its adaptability and flexibility in meeting the challenges Europe
is constantly facing. With a four-year strategic framework, the
Council of Europe is taking a further step to ensure the cohesion,
continuity, stability, transparency and predictability of its activities
for the benefit of member States and their citizens.
24. It is clear, however, that modern videoconferencing and teleworking
technologies should be seen as a complement to allow for greater
flexibility. It is indeed important that the Council of Europe continues
to base its work on face-to-face meetings which allow for the rich
and often fruitful exchanges which are essential to the mission
of a multilateral organisation.
25. With regard to the strategic choices presented by the Secretary
General, it is not my intention to react on the main priorities
as she has defined them in her document on the strategic framework
of the Council of Europe. I refer to the report of the Committee
on Political Affairs and Democracy (
Doc. 15252 “The Assembly's vision on the strategic
priorities for the Council of Europe”) and more particularly to
Resolution 2369 (2021). However, in order to meet the challenges reflected
in the strategic priorities, the Council of Europe needs financial
means commensurate with the ambitious programme of activities proposed.
26. These priorities include two important objectives – finding
ways to enhance synergy between the different monitoring mechanisms
and their cohesion, and strengthening intergovernmental co-operation
– for which the Assembly advocated,
inter
alia, in its
Recommendation
2114 (2017) “Defending the acquis of the Council of Europe: preserving
65 years of successful intergovernmental co-operation”, calling
on the Committee of Ministers and the then Secretary General to
strengthen intergovernmental activities and its convention-based
system. On the question of monitoring, the Assembly committed itself
to strengthening its action in the dynamic triangle of standard-setting,
monitoring and implementation activities by promoting synergies
between its monitoring procedure and those of other Council of Europe
bodies.
27. In this context of enhanced co-operation, the decision of
the Turkish authorities to withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention
on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic
Violence (CETS No. 210, the “Istanbul Convention”) at a time when
violence against women is exploding in many countries, due to the
health crisis we are experiencing, is bitterly regretted. Similarly,
we must be prepared for social challenges and a difficult future
for Europe's populations as a result of the consequences of the
Covid-19 pandemic, which will undoubtedly require greater attention
from the Council of Europe and its Assembly to ensure that the economic
rights and social protection of Europeans continue to be guaranteed.
28. With the current health crisis having shaken the budgetary
balances of member States, obtaining resources commensurate with
the stated ambitions will be difficult. However, the minimum that
member States must ensure for the two biennial budgets of 2022-2023
and 2024-2025 is that budgetary resources are maintained at their
current level in real terms (that is taking account of inflation).
The estimated inflation rate for 2022 is 0.4%, representing an overall
increase in member States' contributions of €1 million compared
to 2021, and the inflation rate for 2023 is expected to be 1.5%,
representing an increase in member States’ contributions of €2.8
million compared to 2022.
29. In order to meet their financial commitments, member States
need to obtain tangible results from the Secretary General on the
organisational reforms underway in the Council of Europe through
the implementation of a human resources strategy, the aim of which
is to ensure that staff have the skills, motivation and high performance
to achieve the objectives set for the next four-year cycle. However,
care must be taken to ensure that this reform is undertaken with
staff and not against them. Ambitious reform in the field of human
resources is never easy. That is why the support of the staff for
a major reform such as the one envisaged is essential.
30. In this context, the proposal to strengthen the implementation
of a results-based approach in the Council of Europe, which is one
of the central points of the strategic framework, is to be welcomed.
The aim is to ensure and demonstrate that the action envisaged will
contribute to the achievement of the objective set. The Organisation
has therefore adopted a three-level results approach: immediate
outcomes (or expected results), intermediate outcomes (expected
changes in a target group) and impact (long-term change). This approach should
enable the Organisation to structure its intervention by ensuring
that the actions undertaken contribute to solving the problems identified.
Indicators will be put in place to assess whether the expected results
have been achieved. This approach should enable the Council of Europe
to demonstrate its usefulness and effectiveness and to ensure that
its work has an effective impact. But the Council of Europe still
needs to improve its communication policy to ensure that its work
is truly visible.
31. The other important staff-related issue concerns the Pension
Reserve Fund. Established in January 2003, the main purpose of this
fund is to stabilise member States' contributions over the medium
to long term, so that they can meet their obligations under the
various Council of Europe pension schemes. The situation is alarming
in this regard.
32. The Council of Europe currently has three pension schemes
for its staff: the coordinated pension scheme introduced in 1974
and in force until the end of 2002; the new pension scheme (NRP),
in force between 2003 and 31 March 2013 (which concerns staff recruited
during that period); and the third pension scheme (TRP), opened
on 1 April 2013 and still in force. While the two new schemes are
self-financing, this is not the case for the first coordinated scheme,
which has a significant debt due to the non-payment of States’ contributions
for almost 30 years.
33. It should also be noted that in 2019, a substantial change
was made to the first pension scheme (coordinated scheme). It was
decided that from 1 January 2020, the benefits paid to pensioners
would be indexed to the rate of inflation instead of the rate of
increase in wages. This change resulted in a €97 million decrease
in the staff benefits liability.
34. The Council of Europe faces two problems with regard to pensions.
- The first is linked to a historical
situation: for 30 years (from 1974 to 2003), only staff members contributed
to the pension budget, while the member States only contributed
on an ad hoc basis, to the extent necessary to enable the payment
of pensions. This means that no contributions were capitalised during
the period and that no investment income was obtained. It should
also be recalled that earlier, the then member States had decided
in 1974 to liquidate the previous Pension Fund and distribute the savings
among themselves, rather than maintaining an interest-bearing system,
a capital that was sorely lacking later on.
- The second is that the Pension Reserve Fund was deliberately
underfunded when it was set up. Member States' contributions are
determined on the basis of actuarial studies carried out every four
years. However, an interim actuarial study prepared in the summer
of 2019 concluded that an increase in member States' contributions
would be necessary from 2022 onwards to ensure the long-term sustainability
of the Reserve Fund, due, among other things, to the mortality table
(the increase in life expectancy) of staff of international organisations
based in Europe and thus of Council of Europe pensioners. The study
concludes that member States should increase their contributions
to this fund by €6 million to ensure its sustainability.
35. A number of measures have already been taken, including a
significant increase in staff contributions (staff contributions
increased in January 2020 from 13% to 25% depending on the scheme
to which they belong).
36. The other major reform to be implemented is that of digital
modernisation, the aim of which is to give the Council of Europe
and its organs the tools to make better use of modern means of communication
and to facilitate remote meetings where possible and desirable.
These are major investments that will have to be made in the next
budgetary year 2022-2023.
37. This should not overshadow the other priority, which is the
renovation of the Chamber. This was foreseen in the Capital Master
Plan for the years 2017-2018 but had to be delayed, first because
of the Russian Federation's failure to pay its budgetary contribution
and then because of the health situation in 2020. Work could resume
at the end of 2022 for a period of one year, which would prevent
the Assembly from being able to sit in the Chamber during that time.
Alternative solutions will be studied by the Council of Europe's
technical services and high-level contacts will have to be resumed
with the European Parliament to study the possibilities of using
their hemicycle. In 2017, the European Parliament agreed in principle
to a lump sum payment of €240 000.
38. With regard to the budgetary framework in particular, the
principle retained is the maintenance of two biennial budgets, for
2022-2023 and 2024-2025 respectively, with an approval of the programme
of activities for the next four years, the first biennial budget
for 2022-2023 and the budgetary perspectives for the second biennial
budget for 2024-2025. A mid-term review of the programme will be
carried out in the summer of 2023, on the basis of which the draft
budget for 2024-2025 will be reviewed and adjusted. The adoption
of the budget for the years 2024-2025 will only take place in the
last quarter of 2023.
39. Since the Committee of Ministers will not adopt a budget for
the Council of Europe for the next four years at the end of 2021,
but only the budget for 2022-2023, the Assembly will have to prepare
a new report in the first half of 2023 on the biennial budget for
2024 and 2025 and on its own expenditure for that period.
