The Assembly,
Having regard to its Opinion No. 19 on the Council of Europe Budget for the Financial Year 1957;
Having regard to Resolution (56) 32 of the Committee of Ministers adopting the Council of Europe Budget for the Financial Year 1957;
Having regard to the explanatory memorandum on Sub-Head (e) — Reimbursement of certain functional expenses—appearing in the Report of the Committee on the Budget, Doc. 509,
Adopts the following Opinion : The appropriation under Sub-Head 37 of the Budget of the Council of Europe for the Financial Year 1957—Reimbursement of certain functional expenses—should be increased by 800,000 Frs.
In its Opinion No. 19 on the Budget of the Consultative Assembly for the Financial Year 1957 the Assembly requested an appropriation of 3,500,000 frs. to cover the reimbursement of certain functional expenses, including the working expenses of the Private Office of the President of the Assembly. The Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, supporting this proposal, included this estimate in the draft Budget submitted to the Committee of Ministers. The latter was not, however, able to agree with the Assembly's opinion, nor with the Secretary-General's proposal, and it fixed the appropriation at 2,000,000 frs.
After four months' experience since the beginning of the Financial Year 1957 it is clearly apparent that the appropriation granted by the Committee of Ministers is inadequate and does not enable the work of the President's Private Office to be carried on efficiently.
The appropriations required for this purpose are required to cover the following expenditure:
The Committee on the Budget, having established the absolute necessity for the expenditure incurred in the first four months of the Current Financial Year, wishes to emphasise that it is in the Assembly's interest for its President to be ropvided with the funds necessary to enable him to carry out his tasks in suitable conditions.