Budgets of the Council of Europe for the financial year 2004
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 31 March 2003 (9th Sitting) (see Doc. 9734, report of the Committee
on Economic Affairs and Development, rapporteur: Mr Crema). Text
adopted by the Assembly on 31 March 2003 (9th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
1. The Parliamentary Assembly welcomes
the additional resources made available to the Organisation in 2003.
These new funds, representing a positive outcome of the Committee
of Ministers’ budgetary discussions, will assist the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe in pursuing his continuing, courageous
efforts to streamline internal working methods, make better use
of existing resources and provide additional funds for the five
main priorities, identified by the Committee of Ministers at its
104th Session in Budapest in May 1999.
2. Given the Council of Europe’s specific role in the new institutional
architecture of Europe, it is crucial that member states’ governments
continue to give it the human and financial resources needed to
finance a wide array of activities aimed at combating the growth
of terrorism, organised crime, corruption and illicit trafficking, which
are generating an unhealthy climate of insecurity in several member
states. Furthermore, additional resources are necessary to fund
other important activities, aimed at preserving peace, consolidating democratic
institutions, fostering political pluralism, promoting respect for
human rights and the rule of law, providing legal assistance, combating
social exclusion and developing cultural co-operation.
3. The Assembly welcomes the new management policies introduced
and implemented by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
in 2003, and wholeheartedly supports his proposed priorities for
2004, aimed at completing the Council of Europe’s enlargement process,
continuing to assist South-eastern Europe and the Caucasus, as well
as Moldova and Ukraine in their democratic and peaceful development,
and introducing a multidisciplinary approach to the Council of Europe’s
programmes and activities so as to regroup the Organisation’s major
functions and tasks in ten lines of action constituting its corporate
mission.
4. Considering the imminent enlargement of the European Union
and the work carried out within the Convention for the Future of
Europe, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers
develop the closest possible links with the European Union as well
as more diversified forms of co-operation, in particular as regards
intergovernmental and assistance programmes.
5. The Assembly deplores the fact that the Committee of Ministers
has not agreed to the measures proposed by the Assembly in Opinions
Nos. 224 (2001) and 236 (2002) to improve the Organisation’s precarious
budgetary situation. These measures are:
5.1 co-ordinating the Organisation’s budgetary timetable with
the national budgetary timetables of member states. In this regard,
the Assembly believes that a study on prevailing budgetary procedures in
the member states should be undertaken in the future. Such a change
would enable governments to examine the Council of Europe’s budgetary
needs in detail before taking any final decision on their forthcoming
national budgets;
5.2 given the major shortcomings and cumbersome nature of
the current budgetary procedure, introducing a two-year system such
as exists in other international organisations, as the Assembly
has been proposing since 1996. The Assembly reiterates this request,
not only because the Committee of Ministers has so far failed to
put forward convincing arguments against it, but also because it
believes that a two-year system would enable the Organisation to
plan and implement multi-annual projects, in particular as regards
the consolidation of democratic institutions in central and eastern
Europe, the protection of minorities and the fight against social
exclusion;
5.3 creating a special “Council of Europe” line within national
budgets and allowing the ministries concerned – such as those responsible
for cultural, education, legal and social matters – to contribute to
the financing of certain intergovernmental activities, which the
Assembly has been suggesting since 1996. Contributions to the Council
of Europe come from allocations in the budgets of foreign affairs ministries,
labelled “Contributions to international organisations”. The fact
is that in most Council of Europe member states the lowest rate
of budget growth in recent years has been precisely in the foreign affairs
ministries, which explains why the Council of Europe’s justified
requests for budgetary increases have been frustrated over the last
four years;
5.4 reviewing the criteria set out in Resolution (94) 31
on the method of calculating the scales of member states’ contributions
to Council of Europe budgets so as to increase the weight of gross domestic
product (GDP) vis-à-vis the population factor for calculating the
contribution scales of member states. This change would favour countries
which, albeit highly populated, are per capita less wealthy than
others. A further proposal would be to amend Resolution (94) 31
by including a clause setting a minimum contribution to be paid
by each member state covering at least the costs related to its membership
of the European Court of Human Rights. In this context, the Assembly
wishes to underline that any possible change in the criteria set
out in this resolution should not be used to reduce the Organisation’s
overall budget;
5.5 exploring additional methods of financing other than the
traditional approach of seeking increased contributions from member
states.
6. Believing that the current, consensus-based decision-making
process of the Committee of Ministers has the effect of frustrating
any effort to increase the Organisation’s human and financial resources,
the Assembly encourages the Committee of Ministers to modify its
modus operandi, in particularwhen it comes to taking decisions on
the Council of Europe’s budget.
7. Considering that its contributions in respect of the budgetary
and administrative affairs of the Organisation have significantly
helped the Committee of Ministers to identify new priority areas,
the Assembly suggests that, in keeping with Recommendation 1344
(1997), joint decision-making powers be granted to the Assembly
in setting the Organisation’s overall budget.
8. The Assembly notes that the major share of the total budgetary
growth for 2003, amounting to €6 490 000 for the whole Organisation,
has been allotted to the European Court of Human Rights, which obtained additional
funds totalling €5 461 000. The Assembly fears that further increases
in the European Court’s funding needs could be very detrimental
to those of other Council of Europe activities if, in 2004 and 2005,
the Committee of Ministers intends to finance the Court’s financial
requests by reallocating the funds available within the Organisation’s
ordinary budget. It is for this reason that the Assembly welcomes
the Committee of Ministers’ approval, in July 2002, of the 2003-2005
programme for the enhancement of the resources of the European Court
of Human Rights and other departments involved in the execution
of its judgments, enabling member states to plan for the Court’s
financial needs well in advance. This programme should ensure that member
governments have already taken the necessary steps to increase the
2004 and 2005 budgets by the foreseen amounts in order to respond
to the needs of the Court and other related departments without impinging
on the rest of the Organisation.
9. The Assembly urges the Committee of Ministers to earmark adequate
financial resources whenever it takes political decisions resulting
in additional tasks to be undertaken by the Organisation. It welcomes
the continuation of the financing of a Field Mission Reserve, amounting
to €1.5 million in 2003, which enables the Council of Europe to
react swiftly to unforeseen political developments. It encourages
the Committee of Ministers to continue to make provision for this
reserve, as the method of financing via voluntary contributions is
inadequate to ensure the financial coverage of unforeseen, albeit
necessary, expenditure.
10. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers carefully
consider all the financial implications of new accessions. It therefore
asks it to pay closer attention to the rising costs associated with treaty
monitoring arrangements, in particular where new accessions place
additional strain on human and financial resources, as pointed out
in Assembly Opinions Nos. 224 (2001) and 236 (2002).
11. The Assembly encourages the Committee of Ministers to consider
means of providing assistance, where necessary, to the most disadvantaged
countries, whose own financial resources alone do not enable them
to play an active part in the work of the Organisation. It therefore
does not believe that the Committee of Ministers should use new
accessions in order to reduce further the contributions of states
which are already members.
12. The Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers to consider
carefully the difficult financial situation of the Organisation’s
field offices, which form part of a strategy designed not only to
better monitor the implementation and impact of the Council of Europe
activities and programmes in the host countries, but also to develop
further the Organisation’s co-operation with the countries concerned
and other international institutions active in similar fields, as
pointed out in Assembly Opinion No. 236 (2002).
13. In view of the Council of Europe’s observer status with the
United Nations General Assembly and its fruitful and long-standing
co-operation with United Nations bodies and specialised agencies,
the Committee of Ministers should consider how a permanent presence
for the Organisation in New York could be established in the future,
as pointed out in Assembly Opinions Nos. 224 (2001) and 236 (2002).
14. The Assembly believes that – as part of the ongoing restructuring
of the Council of Europe aimed at prioritisation of activities and
rationalisation of working methods – the Committee of Ministers
should increase the resources available to ensure the necessary
enhancement of the Organisation’s communications impact, through
technological developments, an updated and efficient network of
media contacts and a multi-lingual publications strategy. In this
context, it welcomes the new press room, which provides the Council
of Europe’s Media and Press Directorate as well as invited journalists
with modern equipment and up-to-date communication tools. Finally,
the Assembly believes it is important to install in its Chamber
a permanent system of automatic television cameras which would benefit
all parts of the Council of Europe, through improved Internet transmission
and television coverage of all events taking place in the Assembly
Chamber.
15. The Assembly welcomes the Committee of Ministers’ decision
to set up a Pensions Reserve Fund, mainly financed from savings
made through the switch to a private health insurance scheme, which
would help member states meet their statutory obligation to pay
the pensions of retired staff members.
16. In the light of the criteria contained in the New Staff Policy,
rightly initiated by the Secretary General, the Assembly recommends
that the Committee of Ministers pay special attention to the principles
of equal opportunity and fair geographical distribution in its future
recruitment policy. The Assembly also asks the Committee of Ministers
to take special measures, based on Resolution (92) 28, in respect
of an early retirement scheme, in order to speed up the renewal
of the Organisation’s human resources and to foster the systematic and
efficient redeployment of staff. Finally, it asks the Committee
of Ministers to increase the financial resources allocated to staff
members’ training courses, which amount to only 0.35% of the Organisation’s ordinary
budget.
17. In view of the ongoing negotiations on future salary adjustments
for all six co-ordinated organisations – the Council of Europe,
the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts, the European
Space Agency, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Western European
Union – the Assembly restates its view, already set out in Recommendation
1488 (2000), that an objective and mathematical method must be established
in order to enable the secretaries general of these six international
institutions to recruit, retain and motivate highly-trained, competent
and independent staff. It is therefore crucial that staff remuneration
remains competitive with regard to three recruitment markets, namely
the private sector and national and international civil services,
including the European Union, as pointed out in Assembly Opinion
No. 236 (2002).
