20/06/2011 Session
During a parliamentary debate on the expenditure of the Assembly for 2012-2013, based on the report by Erol Aslan Cebeci (Turkey, EPP/CD), PACE reiterated its support for the reform process undertaken by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. In this connection, it has set up an ad hoc Committee on the Reform of the Assembly, whose aims are to strengthen the Assembly’s political relevance and effectiveness, to make it more visible and to improve the participation of its members, while reinforcing its interaction with national parliaments. The proposals put forward by this ad hoc committee – once adopted by the Assembly – could be implemented with effect from January 2012 and should result in a change of its practices, working methods and structure.
PACE also stressed in a resolution adopted today that it has already taken major steps in recent years to rationalise its work and reduce its expenditure – its overall budget on a constant basis fell between 2005 and 2010. Furthermore, the Assembly welcomed the decision by the Secretary General and the Committee of Ministers to draw up the organisation’s budget and programme on a biennial basis for 2012 and 2013, but called for greater flexibility in budgetary management.