Appended to this opinion are:
a table of requested increases for 2003 compared with the appropriations for 2002;
brief explanations for the proposed changes.
| VOTE III of the ordinary budget – Expenditure of the Assembly | Appropriations for 2002 | Changes in real terms proposed for 2003 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUROS | EUROS | ||
| HEAD 0301 – Staff | |||
| Sub-heads | |||
| 0000001 - Remuneration of staff recruited on established posts | 6 526 200 | 133 800 | |
| 0000003 - Remuneration and accessory charges of temporary staff | 1 571 700 | 40 000 | |
| 0000005 - Salary, allowances and social charges of the Secretary General of the Assembly | 175 500 | ||
| 0000007 - Overtime – statutory and other allowances | 21 300 | ||
| 0000013 - Secondment of national civil servants to the Assembly | 61 000 | ||
| 0000016 - Recruitment, arrival and departure expenses – Home leave | 61 000 | ||
| TOTAL HEAD 0301 | 8 416 700 | 173 800 | |
| HEAD 0302 – Allocation to the Assembly’s political groups | |||
| 0000370 - Allocation to the Assembly’s political groups | 614 400 | 53 500 | |
| TOTAL HEAD 0302 | 614 400 | 53 500 | |
| HEAD 0303 – Supplies, services and other operational expenditure | Sub-heads | ||
| 0000080 - Official journeys | 340 700 | ||
| 0000095 - Representational expenditure, other official expenditure and travelling expenses of members of the Assembly | 189 300 | ||
| 0000115 - Interpretation | 1 887 000 | ||
| 0000116 - Translation | 1 070 400 | ||
| 0000125 - Publishing and printing | 775 300 | ||
| 0000129 - Consultation of experts | 70 000 | 20 000 | |
| 0000162 - Expenditure pertaining to the Private Office of the President of the Assembly | 80 800 | ||
| 0000163 - Official expenses of the President of the Assembly | 97 000 | ||
| 0000166 - Expenses for inviting guests of the Parliamentary Assembly | 148 500 | ||
| 0000171 - Organisation of ad hoc conferences | 130 000 | ||
| 0000203 - Grant to the International Institute for Democracy | 30 500 | ||
| 0000204 - Modernisation of the Assembly’s equipment | p.m. | ||
| 0000205 - European prizes | 75 000 | ||
| 0000206 - Operating and maintenance costs of the electronic voting system | 38 400 | ||
| 0000250 - Co-operation and monitoring programme | 762 200 | ||
| 0000392 - Other expenditure not specifically provided for in this vote | 55 000 | 50 000 | |
| TOTAL HEAD 0303 | 5 750 100 | 70 000 | |
| TOTAL VOTE III | 14 781 200 | 297 300 |
This appropriation covers the basic salaries, allowances (both non-recurring and periodic) and social insurance of the permanent staff of the secretariat of the Assembly, which comprises 76 posts.
At present, the Assembly structure consists of ten committees: seven comprised of 79 members (with 79 alternates), one of 76 members (with 76 alternates) and two of 48 members (with 48 alternates). The permanent staff of the Assembly secretariat contains 76 posts:
1 A7 - 2 B6
2 A6 - 5 B5
8 A5 - 13 B4
13 A4 - 12 B3
17 A2/A3 - 2 B2
1 C4
To be fully operational, each of the seven committees with 79 members, as well as that of 76, requires four A-grade staff (one head of secretariat at A5 level, a secretary at A4 level and two co-secretaries at A2/A3 level), one B4 administrative assistant and one B2/B3 official. The other two committees of 48 members each need two A-grade staff (one secretary at A4 level and one co-secretary at A2/A3 level), one B4 administrative assistant and one B2/B3 official.
The current establishment table, however, does not permit the Secretary General of the Assembly to redeploy the Assembly’s permanent staff members so as to achieve the desired structure. In fact, one year after the implementation of the reform, several committees have faced difficulties in coping with the increased tasks and responsibilities resulting from their enlarged membership. In the medium term, the present structure of committee secretariats is at risk of proving inadequate to maintain the quality of work and the ability, essential in a political body, to respond to unforeseen events in an efficient and rapid manner.
At present, the Assembly’s secretariat is organised so that 42 staff serve the Assembly’s ten committees, with the remaining 34 working for the Bureau of the Assembly, the Private Office of the President of the Assembly, the Table Office and the Interparliamentary Relations department, and the Administration, Communication, Information Technology and Research Units. With the introduction of the new staff policy, eight temporary staff are likely to be integrated in the Assembly’s committees in 2002, thereby reinforcing its permanent structure. According to the above-mentioned structure, however, the Assembly’s ten committees should be served by 56 staff. Even with integration of the eight currently temporary staff to be made permanent, therefore, the Assembly’s secretariat would remain understaffed. Remedy of this shortfall is an essential precondition to adopting the structure deemed necessary for discharging the Assembly’s tasks and responsibilities.
A further aspect concerns career prospects, which are indeed vital not only to ensure that the Assembly’s staff remain motivated to do a good job for their committees and the Assembly as a whole, but also to recruit young and qualified new staff. In this respect, the Assembly recommends that the posts, which have been directly affected by the Assembly restructuring, be upgraded in view of the fact that the responsibilities and tasks of a number of A- and B-grade staff members have been increased as a result of the wider terms of reference of the new Assembly committees they serve.
Special attention should be paid to the Table Office. After careful examination, the Assembly feels that this important office is not adequately served by only one permanent A-grade staff member who, in the course of the four part-sessions, is the sole person responsible for ensuring its smooth functioning and the quality of its work. On the one hand, this staff member has to be present in the Hemicycle to assist the President and the Secretary General of the Assembly and to register the adoption of texts. On the other, he has to be in his office ensuring that tabled amendments comply with the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, organising the speakers’ list, dealing with members’ queries and/or complaints, supervising the work of the teams of temporary staff who prepare the President’s files and minutes, as well as attending various meetings, in particular with national delegation secretaries and those of the Committee on Rules of Procedure and Immunities. As a result, the Table Office is too often left without the supervision of an A-grade staff member, who is not able to cope with its multiple tasks and responsibilities. This has inevitably led to errors and delays in the work of this office, which is hard-pressed and understaffed. Against this background, the Assembly believes that there is an urgent need to reinforce this important office, on which the success of the Assembly’s part-sessions depends, by recruiting an A4-grade staff member (total cost €133 800) to assist the head of the Table Office in the performance of his complex and various duties.
Given the Organisation’s ongoing budgetary constraints, the Assembly has decided to limit its staffing requests, for the year 2003, to two main priorities, namely:
While the upgrading request could be financed within the Assembly’s budget by internal transfer of appropriations, the creation of a new permanent post carries modest financial implications. The Assembly wishes to underline that the creation of new posts would afford the possibility of recruiting officials from the new member states, thereby ensuring a more equitable geographical representation of member states in the Assembly secretariat. The total cost of these proposed staffing changes for 2003 would be €133 800.
In recent years, the workload of the English verbatim team has increased significantly. Statistics show that English is the predominant language in a wide range of debates, representing more than 75% of the Assembly’s total proceedings. Along with the steady increase in the verbatim duties in spoken English there has come an increase in the number of English speeches to be recorded in full and printed. Furthermore, the number of undelivered speeches handed in for the record has risen, involving considerable editing. This has placed an additional strain on the verbatim editor and the latter’s limited and over-stretched team. The recruitment of two additional staff members is therefore requested.
Similarly, the French summary team, working hand in hand with the English verbatim one, has to prepare an increasing number of summaries for speeches delivered in English and in other languages. Moreover, the French summary team provides journalists with a complete French summary of all speeches delivered. It would therefore be desirable to recruit two additional staff members for the French summary team.
The total cost of this proposed additional recruitment of temporary staff during sessions would be €40 000.
The 2003 appropriations under this sub-head should be maintained at the same level in real terms as in 2002.
The 2003 appropriations under this sub-head should be kept at the same level in real terms as in 2002.
The 2003 appropriation under this sub-head should be kept at the same level in real terms as in 2002.
The 2003 appropriations under this sub-head should be kept at the same level in real terms as in 2002.
The Assembly’s political groups play an increasingly important role in the life of the Assembly. This has been crucial in enabling the Assembly to maintain its operational capacity and organisational efficiency following enlargement. However, if political groups are to be able to play their role to the full, they need to be adequately staffed in terms of both level and number. In the medium term, a gradual increase over several financial years should be aimed for, allowing each group to recruit one administrative officer and one secretarial assistant. It is therefore imperative to increase the financial resources of the five political groups.
The allocation to the political groups is calculated on the basis of a lump sum for secretarial assistance to each of the existing groups and an additional per capita allocation according to membership. Appropriations for 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 amounted to €614 400. Each group received a fixed allowance of some €27 440 and an additional per capitaallowance (some €820 per member). It is important to underline that political groups spend, on average, some 60% of their total appropriations on secretaries whose salaries, for the period 1997-2002, have increased by 12.6% (corresponding to some €47 000). Since their allocated funds have been left unchanged for the last six years, this has greatly reduced the capacity of political groups to finance other important activities such as seminars, meetings and publications.
In its Opinions No. 206 (1998), No. 212 (1999), No. 219 (2000) and No. 225 (2001), the Assembly asked for a modest increase of around €10 700 per group (€53 500 in all) to cover the cost of one half-time administrative officer. However, this request was not granted. For 2003, an increase of €10 700 in the fixed allowance of each group is once again requested. The total increase requested is therefore €53 500(5 x €10 700), the intention being to have this lump-sum allocation for secretarial services gradually built up over the coming years.
It should also be borne in mind that, along with increased Assembly membership (Georgia joined the Council of Europe on 25 April 1999, Armenia and Azerbaijan on 25 January 2001) there has been a parallel increase in the number of members not affiliated to any existing political group. Proposals for the possible creation of new political groups cannot therefore be ruled out. It is obvious that the existing appropriations under this sub-head would need to be revised accordingly were this to happen.
Since 1975 the appropriations under this head have been voted as a lump sum (budgetary package). The various sub-amounts may subsequently be altered in accordance with Article 31 of the Financial Regulations. Head 0303 includes all operational expenditure of the Assembly, namely co-operation and monitoring programmes, publications, interpretation, translation, official journeys, experts, conferences, European prizes, etc.
In the light of the Committee of Ministers’ renewed emphasis on raising the profile of the Organisation, the Assembly has decided to ask for an additional €50 000to enhance the Assembly’s public image through the launching of new initiatives aimed at developing further its interparliamentary co-operation, external relations and communication. This set of activities will focus on three elements: firstly, to further deepen co-operation with national parliaments and other European and international institutions; secondly, to ensure more efficient follow-up to the Assembly’s decisions, essential for increasing its credibility in member states; and, thirdly, to make the Assembly’s work more visible and accessible to the public at large. These tasks include furthering contacts with the media as well as working in close co-operation with the Media and Press Division of the Communication and Research Directorate. The Assembly’s magazine The Europeans will be distributed well beyond its current target – Parliamentary Assembly members – in order to enhance the visibility of the Assembly’s work in national parliaments and other international organisations. The TV version of the The Europeans, a multi-media tool on the Assembly’s website, will be made available to the websites of all national parliaments and partner organisations as well as to parliamentary TV channels. This would require additional investment in the purchasing of copyright-free picture material. A general information folder in the two official languages and, when necessary, in other languages, will help raise the Assembly’s profile with the public at large. Media targeted activities will include intensified co-operation with major TV stations – along the lines of current agreements with Euronews and CNN – the development of co-operation with key radio stations and media coverage of the Assembly’s activities on the ground. Other direct expenditure includes subscriptions to news and media monitoring agencies, invitations to journalists, press conferences and briefings, improvements to the Assembly’s website and the updating of Assembly publications.
Over the years, the Parliamentary Assembly has consistently demonstrated its great ability as an international parliamentary body to adapt to the developments which have swept Europe, and to react swiftly to unforeseen political events. The recent structural reforms bear witness to the Assembly’s willingness to change and to improve its working methods so as to make them better suited and more responsive to the evolving needs of its members. In this respect, the staff involved in the Assembly’s Research Unit are unable to cope with the growing level of demand from committees. Participation of individual members, whether representing the Assembly or one of its committees, in international and European conferences has indeed increased, particularly in recent years. These activities require the preparation of detailed files for Assembly members, along with the practical arrangements for such official journeys.
To alleviate this unsatisfactory situation without placing an excessive strain on the Organisation’s limited budget, the Assembly believes it is important to set up an Assembly research programme. The objectives of such a programme are twofold: firstly, to offer research staff at the Parliamentary Assembly the chance of involvement and experience in current activities relating to the Assembly’s fields of interest, by encouraging research visitors to interact with permanent staff; and secondly, to afford prominent academics and recognised international experts the opportunity to gain exposure to the Assembly’s policy-making environment. Research visitors would conduct their research at the Assembly in Strasbourg and have access to the Council of Europe’s library as well as computing and statistical facilities. Their work should focus on issues of relevance to the institutional mission of the Assembly, in particular the functioning of democratic institutions, respect for human rights, equal opportunities and social cohesion policies as well as cultural, economic, educational, environmental and migration matters. Candidates would be required to submit in English or French a curriculum vitae, along with a list of publications and a detailed research proposal specifying the objectives of the project and the approximate time needed for completion. Successful candidates would be offered a research contract for periods ranging from three to six months. The Assembly research programme’s regulations and terms of contract would be established by the Secretary General of the Assembly and subsequently approved by the Bureau of the Assembly. For the year 2003, the appropriation for this innovative activity should be €20 000, which would enable the Assembly’s secretariat to start this research programme.