The Assembly,
Part 1
Draft Vote III of the Budget for 1966
(Expenditure of the Consultative Assembly)
1. Vote III of the Budget for 1966 should be formulated in the following terms :
VOTE III
EXPENDITURE OF THE CONSULTATIVE ASSEMBLY
HEAD I - STAFF
Sub-head 60 - Remuneration of temporary staff
Estimate.- F. 530,000
Remuneration for days worked by temporary staff recruited for sessions of the Assembly and meetings of its organs between sessions.
Article 32 of the Statute entitles the Assembly to meet for 30 days each year. Experience has shown, however, that the estimate can be based on 18 days' meetings, on the understanding that this figure does not prejudice the Assembly's rights under the Statute.
Sub-head 61 - Travel expenses and allowances for travelling time
Estimate - F. 140,000
Travel expenses and allowances for travelling time for temporary staff recruited outside Strasbourg.
Sub-head 62 - Sickness and accident insurance
Estimate- F. 5,000
Council contribution (60%) to premiums for sickness and accident insurance in respect of temporary staff remunerated under Sub-head 60.
Sub-head 63 - Technical staff seconded by national administrations
Estimate- F. 45,000
Refund to various national administrations of the salaries of staff seconded to the Council for special services during Assembly Sessions : travelling 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.
HEAD II - SUPPLIES AND SERVICES
Sub-head 64 - Publishing and printing
Estimate - F. 256,000
1. Assembly Official Documents - F.
2. Booklets on special subjects - 252,000
3. Distribution to national Parliaments of certain texts adopted and related documents - token entry
4,000
256,000
Estimate - F. 6,000
Hire of cars for the requirements of the Assembly and its organs.
HEAD III - OTHER OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURE
Estimate - F. 41,000
Representational, travelling and subsistence expenses incurred by the President of the Consultative Assembly in the course of his duties :
F.
- fixed amount for representational expenses - 24,000
- travelling and subsistence expenses. - 17,000
41,000
F.
Estimate - F. 27,600
- special duties allowance - 4,800
- remuneration of one shorthand-typist - 10,800
- official journeys of staff - 12,000
- sundry secretarial expenses - token entry
27,600
Estimate - F. 65,000
F.
- entertainment and similar expenses incurred by the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly and by Committee Chairmen and Rapporteurs - 10,000
- travelling expenses and subsistence allowances of members of the Assembly attending on behalf of the Council of Europe meetings of certain Council bodies held between sessions of the Assembly and Assembly Committee meetings (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) - 20,000
- accident insurance premiums for members of the Assembly travelling officially at the Council's expense. (Decision of the Ministers' Deputies at their 108th meeting in March 1962-Concl. (62) 108, Point V) - 2,000
65,000
Estimate - F. 110,000
- Official journeys by Staff of the Office of the Clerk of the Assembly and Secretariat staff whose presence is required at meetings of Assembly bodies away from Strasbourg, or at meetings of consultant experts.
Estimate - F. 35,000
Estimate - token entry
Estimate - F. 8,500
Estimate - F. 5,000
F.
(a) Europe Prize - 2,500
(b) Provision for the cost of awarding the Prize (travelling expenses of the mayor of die prize-winning municipality ; diplomas and medal)...... -2,500
5,000
2. The Assembly wishes the scheduled publications to be issued as soon as possible, namely :
a booklet on the problem of leisure, which has been studied by the Social Committee ;
a booklet on fresh water pollution control, which has been studied by the Joint Working Party on Fresh Water Pollution ;
a booklet on youth problems which have been studied by the Social Committee and Cultural and Scientific Committee.
The Assembly very earnestly hopes, therefore, that the Secretariat's investigation of the administrative problems of the publication of booklets may be completed in time to include the necessary appropriations for this purpose in the 1966 Budget, so that the three booklets mentioned above may be published next year.
3. The Assembly wishes to point out again that the Committee of Ministers has still taken no decision on the appropriations needed to implement its Resolution 188, adopted on 29th September 1960, on the official languages of the Council of Europe.
This Resolution was adopted pursuant to Article 12 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, under which the Assembly is entitled to "determine in what circumstances and under what conditions other languages" than the official ones may be used.
No provision for the appropriation entailed by Resolution 188 has as yet been made in the Council of Europe Budget and the Assembly therefore invites the Committee of Ministers to make known its intentions in this connection.
Part 2
Budget of the Council of Europe
(Votes other than Vote III)
(a) The Assembly is grateful to the Committee of Ministers for having authorised the creation of the A posts asked for in its Opinion No. 41 on the Council of Europe Budget for 1965. This has enabled considerable improvements to be made in the internal organisation, and hence the efficiency of the Office of the Clerk.
(b) Since the adoption by the Assembly of Opinion No. 41 in April 1963 certain new staffing requirements have arisen. Thus, there are a number of duties devolving on the Office which have so far been carried out on an ad hoc basis, with the help of temporary staff, and which are set out below :
presentation in statutory form of Assembly documents ;
issue of the Assembly Yearbook ;
preparation in statutory form of the dossier for the President of the Assembly ;
assisting the President during sessions by ensuring the orderly progression of debates, and keeping due note of any documents, amendments, etc., tabled during a session ;
servicing the Committee on Rules of Procedure and the Credentials Committee (including preparation of notes and reports) ;
securing the necessary information, from national Parliaments and delegations, respecting parliamentary delegations and nominations for the Assembly's committees.
There would be considerable advantages in entrusting the whole of these duties to a single permanent member of staff. The work involved is of a nature calling for a reasonably senior official of adequate experience and it is therefore suggested that an additional post of principal administrative officer (A4) be created in the Office of the Clerk.
At their session in May 1965, the Committee of Ministers instructed the Secretary General to prepare an overall work programme, in connection with which he has set up a "Planning Office" inside the Secretariat.
As this programme is intended to cover the work of the Consultative Assembly and its committees, as well as that of the Committee of Ministers and committees of experts, the Clerk has detailed one of his staff, the present secretary of the Cultural and Scientific Committee, to represent his Office in the "Planning Office". The work involved is likely, however, to increase so much in the near future that it will be impossible to combine it with the secretary-ship of a committee, particularly of one which is so active and time-consuming. In these circumstances, the creation of another new post of principal administrative officer (A4) will become necessary.
It may be necessary to create another new post of grade A in order to strengthen the secretariat of the Legal Committee. The Secretary of this Committee has always had either a full-time or a part-time deputy. In view of the increasing duties of the other sectors of the Office of the Clerk of the Assembly it will no longer be possible to give the new Secretary of the Legal Committee a deputy. Having regard to the new legal programme of the Council of Europe, it seems most unlikely that the holder of the post of Secretary to the Committee will be able to carry out all the work arising under the programme alone.
The Assembly was informed that the Secretary General proposed strengthening the staff of the Legal Directorate. The Assembly hopes that once the Directorate has been strengthened it will be able to provide the secretariat of the Legal Committee with substantial and continuous assistance. If this should not prove to be the case, it would be necessary to allocate a second Secretary to the secretariat of the Legal Committee and to create a new A2/A3 post for this purpose.
c) Finally, some adjustment to the present number of B posts (shorthand-typists) in the Office of the Clerk also seems called for, to bring it into line with the new situation produced by the increase in A posts in 1965 and the further increase - if approved - in such posts in 1966.
The Assembly has noted that the governmental conference, which the Committee of Ministers agreed should be convened in order to prepare a final draft of the model staff regulations for a European civil service, held its 1st Session in November 1963 and that its work is still in progress.
Although this work is outside the framework of the Council of Europe, the Assembly feels that the implementation of staff regulations for a European civil service does nevertheless form part of the responsibilities of the Committee of Ministers, if only because it affects the Council of Europe's own staff.
The Assembly again draws attention to the fact that, in its Opinions Nos. 28, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38 and 41 on the budgets for the years 1959 to 1964, it asked the Committee of Ministers to establish speedily the pensions scheme provided for in the Staff Regulations of the Council of Europe.
The Assembly has been informed that a committee of experts was set up on 6th March to carry out a full investigation into the type of scheme to be established, and that this committee met formally for the first time on 29th March, and again for a working session on 17th May.
The Assembly requests the Committee of Ministers to arrange for the experts to complete their work as soon as possible, so that Ministerial approval may at last be given to the establishment of a pensions scheme for Secretariat staff, who were promised such a scheme 16 years ago, in other words, in 1949.