Budgets of the Council of Europe for the financial years 1999 and 2000
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting
on behalf of the Assembly, on 30 March 1999. See Doc. 8343, report of the Committee on the Budget, rapporteur:
Mr Aleffi.
- Thesaurus
1. The Assembly welcomes the Committee
of Ministers’ declaration of its willingness to deepen further its regular
consultation with Assembly representatives on all issues of common
interest in the budgetary and administrative fields, including as
regards the fixing of the Organisation’s overall budget. However,
the Assembly considers that the first experience with the new procedure
has not been entirely satisfactory, in that it did not fully meet
the Assembly’s expectations, as set out in
Recommendation 1344 (1997). The Assembly indeed believes that its contribution
on behalf of the budgetary and administrative affairs of the Organisation has
over the years greatly helped the Committee of Ministers in identifying
new priority areas. This is why the Assembly’s proposal to set up
a small joint working group, composed of Assembly representatives
and the Committee of Ministers, could be particularly helpful.
2. The Assembly therefore reiterates its request to be more involved
in the future in the preparation of the Organisation’s budget, in
particular as regards its own budget (Vote III).
3. The Assembly feels genuine concern over what it perceives
as a certain lack of solidarity among member states as regards the
scale of their contributions to the ordinary budget. Resolution
(94) 31, by virtue of which the rate of contributions of the five
grands payeurs has been reduced to only 12.80% of the ordinary budget, has
served further to aggravate the situation of less well-to-do member
states and to bog down the Committee of Ministers in time-consuming
and sometimes divisive deliberations.
4. The Assembly welcomes the idea of introducing a revised budget
structure and reporting system based on a clearer definition of
priorities for the Organisation. No longer will the budget be a
simple authorisation to spend, but rather a commitment to delivering
specific services on the basis of a close linkage between objectives
and resources allocated. However, the Assembly harbours the most
serious misgivings as regards the appropriateness of applying a
strictly results-based budgeting method to the Assembly, the Council’s political
forum par excellence, without taking into full account its specific
character and needs. Preserving the Assembly’s unique ability to
respond quickly and aptly to new, unexpected challenges is indeed
a priority.
5. The Assembly wishes to draw the Committee of Ministers’ attention
to the importance it attaches to staff policies (flexible job management,
leaving allowances, early retirement, and creation of temporary
structural posts). In view of the vastly increased tasks and challenges
facing the Council of Europe in the new, much wider membership,
it is essential that it be able to rely on an independent, very
highly educated, competent and motivated secretariat of the highest
calibre.
6. The Assembly, referring to Resolution (92) 28, adopted by
the Committee of Ministers to "speed up the renewal of the Organisation’s
human resources and at the same time facilitate the orderly progress
of careers", considers that the implementation of the report of
the Committee of Wise Persons, which recommends establishing new
priorities for the Organisation and restructuring the Secretariat,
fully justifies the provisions laid down in this resolution. The
Committee of Ministers should therefore, in the interests of the
Organisation, invite the Secretary General to submit a plan of measures
for the termination of service in accordance with this resolution.
7. With regard to the 1999 budget :
The Assembly:
i notes with
concern that the 1999 budget was limited to a minimum increase in
resources, signifying a stabilisation in the general level of expenditure
for the second year in a row. This budgetary trend, if prolonged,
cannot but have a negative impact on the overall functioning of
the Organisation;
ii is deeply concerned that, in the 1999 budget, most of
the additional appropriations were allocated to the establishment
of the new European Court of Human Rights. Given the budgetary implications
of the Court’s growing financial needs for the Organisation’s various
other sectors – Assembly, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities,
Intergovernmental Programme of Activities, and so on – the Committee of
Ministers should consider the possibility of making separate budgetary
provision for the Court, as already asked for in
Opinion No. 203 (1997). This would avert the risk of certain activities and
priorities being adversely affected by the enlarged tasks entrusted
to this newly-established body;
iii welcomes the Committee of Ministers’ decision to use the
unspent appropriations in the 1997 budget for certain activities,
in particular co-operation with the OSCE;
iv regrets that, for the second consecutive year, the Committee
of Ministers did not see fit to meet the Assembly’s requests as
regards its own budget (Vote III) amounting to some 5 million French
francs but instead accorded it barely over 1 million French francs,
and this at a time when the Assembly was entrusted with increasingly
demanding tasks;
8. With regard to the budgetary prospects for 2000:
The Assembly:
i believes that,
with zero real growth in the 2000 budget, it will not be possible
for the Council of Europe to accomplish the tasks with which it
is entrusted and that the level of resources will have to be increased to
ensure that there are no serious repercussions on many of the Organisation’s
activities, including in priority fields;
ii reiterates its view that the Council of Europe must be
given financial resources commensurate with the Organisation’s pan-European
mission. One possibility to achieve this could be to create a special "Council
of Europe" heading within national budgets, and another to let the
ministries concerned, such as those engaged in social, cultural
and legal activities, contribute to the financing of certain intergovernmental
programmes, as already asked for in
Opinion No. 199 (1996);
iii encourages the Committee of Ministers to reach a rapid
decision in favour of the establishment of a privately managed pension
fund, as requested by Assembly
Recommendation 1391 (1998), that would guarantee the payment of pensions to staff
members. The savings reached as a result of the transfer from the
French social security system to a private insurance scheme should,
over the coming years, be used to make such a fund financially viable
and self-sufficient;
iv supports the Committee of Ministers’ efforts to identify
future priorities in the light of the recommendations contained
in the report of the Committee of Wise Persons, favouring a more
rational use of resources;
v invites the Committee of Ministers to carry out a study
on the possibility of introducing a two-year budgeting procedure,
such as exists in several other international institutions, with
the aim of enabling the Organisation better to formulate and implement
its activities, as previously requested in Opinions Nos.
199 (1996) and
203 (1997);
vi calls upon the Committee of Ministers to make special
budgetary provision for the financial implications of the topics
of the action plan adopted by the second summit still awaiting their
implementation as well as of the future political decisions they
entail, in particular the creation of the office of the Commissioner for
Human Rights;
vii calls upon the Committee of Ministers to enhance the current
co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union
and to reinforce the Secretariat stationed in Brussels.
