The Assembly,
1. Having regard to paragraph 1 of Resolution (63) 38 of the Committee of Ministers, which stipulates :
"When drawing up the draft Budget for the Council of Europe, the Secretary General shall consult the Assembly on that part of the draft Budget which comprises the relevant operational appropriations ; such consultation shall take place in accordance with a procedure to be laid down by agreement between the President of the Assembly and the Secretary General" ;
2. Having regard to the Secretary General's letter of 15 March 1962 defining the procedure for consultation both as regards the part of the Budget containing the estimate relating to the Assembly's operational expenditure and as regards the Budget as a whole ;
3. Having regard to the Budget of the Council of Europe for 1973 adopted by the Committee of Ministers ;
4. Having regard to the new procedure concerning the budgetary powers of the Assembly, according to the agreement reached between the President of the Assembly and the Secretary General and approved by the Bureau of the Assembly on 25 January 1973 ;
5. Having regard to the new provisions concerning the Budget planning and programming as laid down in the Communication on the activities of the Committee of Ministers of 17 October 1972 - 19 January 1973 (Doc. 3239),
Adopts the following opinion :
| Budget item | Amount | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Specially appointed officials | 245 000 | |
| That is the remuneration of the Clerk to the Consultative Assembly as provided for in Resolution (71) 8 of 26 March 1971 as amended by Resolution (72) 48 of 24 November 1972. | ||
| 2. Permanent staff in the Office of the Clerk of the AssemblyNote | 3 742 600 | |
| According to the Secretariat organisation chart, the following are employed in the Office of the Clerk : | ||
| - 1 A7Note, 1 A6Note3 A5, 7 A4, 9 A2/3 | ||
| - 1 B5, 2 B4, 13 B3, 4 B2 | ||
| On this basis and in the light of the scales applied since 31.12.1972 (Resolution (72) 32) and the post and salary grade these members of the staff occupied on 31.12.1973, the cost of the staff concerned is | 3 550 500 | |
| The cost of the scale increases to be granted to these members of the staff is estimated at | 55 000 | |
| Comments | ||
| The Committee on Science and Technology has taken certain specific action towards promoting scientific cooperation in Europe (Doc. 3257). Several working parties have already been set up in specialised or interdisciplinary fields. Others are in process of being set up. These new activities, which are of considerable scope and of obvious importance to the Council of Europe, require the creation of two new permanent posts in the Office of the Clerk : one at grade A2/3 and the other at B3. These will cost | 132 100 | |
| Furthermore, in view of the responsibilities devolving on the assistants of the secretaries of the committees (type of work they have to do, personal contacts with members of parliament, linguistic qualifications required by the fact that four working languages are now used in the committees), the Assembly considers that all assistants working for committees should be at least bilingual and consequently at grade B3. This is, in fact, a policy which has always been advocated by the Assembly, and the need for it has become increasingly evident during the past few years. | ||
| At the moment, there are four B2 posts (assistants) allotted to the Assembly committees. The up-grading of these four posts from B2 to B3 should therefore be contemplated. The Assembly realises that it would be difficult to re-grade four B2 posts to B3 all at once, and it therefore suggests this be done in two stages, two of the posts being up-graded in 1974 and the other two in the 1975 Budget. The two 1974 up-gradings would cost | 5 000 | |
| 3. Temporary staff in the Office of the Clerk | 2 100 000 | |
| Remuneration and social security payments for temporary staff working in the Office of the Clerk during sessions and meetings connected with the operation of the Assembly. | ||
| Taking into account the number of days of the session and of the meetings mentioned in the programme, it is estimated that the following temporary staff will be required in 1974 : | ||
| Assembly sessions, meetings of committees and working parties | ||
| - Staff for sittings (heads of section, parliamentary secretaries, precis writers and verbatim reporters, and chief ushers for the sittings) | 240 000 | |
| - InterpretersNote | 760 000 | |
| - Translation revisers and translators | 550 000 | |
| - Assistants | 300 000 | |
| - Working staff | 90 000 | |
| - Other staff (DPI precis writers, doctor, ushers, messengers, switchboard staff, drivers, radio technicians) | 75 000 | |
| - Technical staff seconded by the national administrations to provide special services (radio and post office technicians, police, firemen) | 60 000 | |
| Ad hoc conferences | ||
| - InterpretersNote | 10 000 | |
| - Translators | 7 000 | |
| - Other staff | 3 000 | |
| Special translation problems | ||
| This covers the translation of documents written by consultant experts in languages other than the official Council of Europe languages | 5 000 | |
| Comments | ||
| The estimates are based on the experience of previous years and the special requirements for 1974. | ||
| (i) At its meeting on 10 December 1970, the Standing Committee decided to meet at least once a year in a large European city other than Paris or Strasbourg. This decision and the ones concerning the additional meetings of the Bureau and the scientific working parties affect this appropriation. | ||
| (ii) This appropriation will have to be adjusted later in accordance with the remuneration for temporary staff recruited for the sessions, which will be likely to reach the level of those of the enlarged European Communities. | ||
| 4. Expenses due to arrival or departure of staff | 450 000 | |
| This covers : | ||
| (a) travelling and removal expenses of established staff members and their families owing to change of post or departure (estimate : 3 staff members) ; | ||
| (b) travelling expenses and allowance for travel time for temporary staff recruited outside Strasbourg (on the basis of past experience) ; | ||
| (c) settling-in allowances in case of staffing changes among the permanent members of the staff of the Office of the Clerk (theoretical estimate : 3 staff members). | ||
| Comments | ||
| If travel costs increase during the year, the appropriation will have to be adjusted accordingly. | ||
| 5. Other staff expenditureNote | 39 000 | |
| This covers : | ||
| (a) language allowance given to B1 and B2 grade staff members for an adequate knowledge of the two official languages (Resolution (72) 32) | 5 000 | |
| (b) overtime pay for additional hours worked during sessions of the Consultative Assembly by permanent staff in the general services | 26 000 | |
| (c) repayment of travelling expenses to non-French members of the staff and their families going on home leave | 8 000 | |
| Comments | ||
| The appropriation takes account of the following factors : | ||
| (i) because sittings continue beyond normal working hours, according to the figures drawn up by the technical departments, the amount of overtime worked by the staff has increased considerably during the last few sessions of the Assembly ; | ||
| (ii) the periodical meetings of the scientific working parties also cause problems. Because of their university duties, the scientists who take part in these meetings tend to choose Saturdays. That naturally affects the estimate of pay for overtime. | ||
| 6. Publishing | 420 000 | |
| Publishing and printing costs relating to : | ||
| - official Assembly documents. | ||
| The estimate has been drawn up on the following basis : | ||
| 1 000 copies in both languages of the Documents (working papers) (for a volume of 2 800 to 3 000 pages) | ||
| - 800 copies in each official language of the official reports of debates (for a volume of 1 200 to 1 400 pages) | ||
| - the distribution of certain adopted texts supplied by national parliaments and of reports and documents adopted by the Assembly and intended as information for national parliaments, including the cost of translation from or into the non-official languages (Resolution 104). | ||
| Comments | ||
| (i) The Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations decided to step up its approaches to the national parliaments to solicit their support in the achievement of the Assembly's objectives. To that end, from 1974 onwards it will have at its disposal a more complete set of documents for its spokesmen and will have selected documents translated into the non-official languages more frequently than in the past. | ||
| (ii) A report on the future role of the Council of Europe is to be presented to the Assembly during the course of 1973. As the work is now proceeding, it is difficult to foresee the outcome. But if the Assembly should wish to establish contacts with the Eastern European countries, this might, in the initial stage, have financial implications for the exchanges of information, and in particular on the cost of publishing Assembly documents in non-official languages. | ||
| 7. Expenses of staff on official travel | 240 000 | |
| This covers the cost of the official travel of members of the staff of the Office of the Clerk and of the Secretariat, whose services are required for meetings of certain Assembly organs. | ||
| Comments | ||
| The increase is justified by the increased number of meetings and in particular of the planned "European cooperation in scientific fields". | ||
| 8. President of the Assembly | 113 000 | |
| (a) Representational, travelling and subsistence expenses of the President of the Assembly : | ||
| (i) fixed representation allowance | 42 000 | |
| (ii) travel and subsistence | 23 000 | |
| (b) Private Office of the President : | ||
| (i) special duties allowance | 7 000 | |
| (ii) remuneration of a shorthand typist and other secretarial expenses | 21 000 | |
| (iii) official travel by Private Office staff | 20 000 | |
| (iv) sundry secretarial expenses | pro mem. | |
| Comments | ||
| (i) When the new President was elected the methods of recruitment and operation of the President's secretarial staff were changed. The appropriation for that purpose in the 1973 Budget proved insufficient. In 1974 the appropriation for the President's secretarial expenses will have to be adjusted. | ||
| (ii) Provision for an increase in travel and subsistence for the President and his Private Office may be required by technical factors affecting the cost of official travel. | ||
| 9. Members of the Assembly | 142 000 | |
| (a) Entertainment and similar expenses incurred by the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly and committee Chairmen and Rapporteurs | 30 000 | |
| (b) Travelling and subsistence allowances of members of the Assembly attending, on behalf of the Council of Europe, meetings of certain Council organs, apart from sessions of the Assembly and meetings of Assembly committees or travelling on instructions from the Assembly | 69 000 | |
| (c) Fixed allowance for the political groups to cover various items of expenditure by members of the Assembly in the discharge of specific duties for the Council of Europe, such as secretarial assistance, documentation and travel | 40 000 | |
| (d) Premium of the accident insurance taken out for members of the Assembly travelling officially at the Council's expense | 3 000 | |
| Comments | ||
| (i) The daily subsistence allowance for members of the Assembly, which had been fixed at 200 F in January 1971, will have to be increased to 260 F to meet the rise in prices since then. This figure takes into account the allowances granted by national parliaments and by certain international parliamentary bodies. | ||
| (ii) Following recent decisions by the Bureau and the Standing Committee to give the political groups greater scope, the Chairmen of these groups or their representatives will in future attend meetings of the Bureau and the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations. | ||
| (iii) Provision for a proportionate increase in the secretarial expenses of these groups must therefore be made. | ||
| Although all these factors would suggest that an increase will be needed, the Assembly, on the basis of experience, is keeping the appropriation at the 1973 level. | ||
| 10. Consultant experts | 395 000 | |
| This covers the travelling expenses, subsistence allowances and fees of experts asked to carry out technical work or called in for consultation by Assembly organs, either individually or in working parties. The appropriation should also cover the provision of administrative assistance for the working parties set up by the Committee on Science and Technology : | ||
| (a) European Joint Committee on Scientific Cooperation ; | ||
| (b) specialist scientific working parties ; | ||
| (c) prospective study groups. | ||
| Comments | ||
| (i) In 1974, no expert will be appointed to prepare a new edition of the brochure "Consultative Assembly - Procedure and Practice" which will be published in 1973. The appropriation earmarked for that purpose in 1973 was 10 000 F. | ||
| (ii) On the other hand, a total increase of 300 000 F is to be expected for European scientific cooperation. This estimate is based on an average of three 1 to 1 1/2 day meetings of 4 working parties of 50 members. Part of this appropriation will be devoted to meetings of the Joint Committee on Scientific Cooperation and to meetings of the prospective study groups. | ||
| (iii) It should also be noted that the committees are finding it more and more difficult to get consultant experts because the fees offered are so low. An increase in the appropriations for the committees as compared with 1973 is therefore essential. | ||
| 11. Ad hoc conferences | 100 000 | |
| This covers travelling and subsistence expenses for those taking part in the following conferences : | ||
| - the Cultural Symposium on "Adult Education" organised by the Committee on Education and Culture ; | ||
| - the 4th "Science and Parliament" Conference. | ||
| Comments | ||
| (i) At the meeting of the Joint Committee on 9 June 1971 the Assembly proposed that a lump sum be allocated to it each year for its programme of ad hoc conferences. This year again, the Assembly will make a special effort to keep expenditure within the bounds of the appropriation. But it intends, if necessary, to ask for an increased appropriation either next year or the year after, depending on the rise in costs and charges. | ||
| (ii) In connection with the 1973 Budget the Assembly raised the question of financing the publication of booklets on the results of these conferences. It was decided that the matter should be reviewed in the light of experience when the 1974 Budget was drawn up. The Assembly proposes that the cost of these booklets should continue to be charged to the appropriation for that purpose for the Directorate of Information (Vote I, Head V). | ||
| 12. Europe Prize | 23 000 | |
| (i) Europe Prize | 20 000 | |
| (ii) Sundry expenses in connection with the presentation of the prize (travel and subsistence for the mayor of the prize-winning municipality, receptions in his honour, diplomas etc.) | 3 000 | |
| Comments | ||
| The amount of the prize under (i) above was fixed by the Ministers' Deputies at their 215th meeting (cf. Item XVII (a) of the Conclusions). | ||
| 13. Other expenditure | 38 000 | |
| This covers other special expenditure, including : | ||
| - the hire of cars for the use of the Assembly and its committees ; | ||
| - the hire of loudspeakers for calling cars ; | ||
| - light refreshments for staff on night duty ; | ||
| - night watchmen ; | ||
| - reception and information services ; | ||
| - gratuities for special work done by lower-grade staff of the national administrations in connection with meetings of Assembly organs elsewhere than in Strasbourg ; | ||
| - miscellaneous and unforeseen expenditure. |