Activites

• 2001/02/26 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Budget 2001/110
  • OJ L 056 26.02.2001, p. 0001
• 2000/12/14 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T5-0568/2000
• 2000/12/11 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• 2000/12/04 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A5-0380/2000
• #2310
• 2000/11/24 Council Meeting
• 2000/11/24 Council amended draft budget published
  • 13830/2000 summary

    The Council has completed the second reading of the 2001 budget (other sections), taking decisions on all proposed alterations and on all the amendments adopted by the European Parliament at the first reading. In particular, the Council has accepted the parliamentary amendments relating to the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Ombudsman, as well as upholding the draft budget adopted by the Council in July 2000 for Part A of the Commission section, including Letter of Amendment No 1, and for the Court of Justice, apart from one amendment. As far as the Council budget is concerned, the Council indicated that, from January 2001, it would be examining draft estimates for a supplementary and amending budget designed to cover the Council's new requirements arising from developments in the European security and defence policy and especially its additional staffing requirements. �

• 2000/10/26 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0473/2000 summary

    The European Parliament approved the resolution from Mr Markus FERBER (EPP/ED, D) on the administration of Parliament's budget and the administrative budgets of other European institutions with a number of amendments. The Parliament underlines that adminstrative expenditure must continue to be subject to budgetary rigour and insists on the need to continue and reinforce institutional cooperation, notably in order to develop a global buildings policy in the perspective of future enlargement. The resolution notes that the discontinuation of Friday's sitting in Strasbourg will lead to savings of about EUR 1 million, the Parliament instructs the Bureau to adopt strict criteria for Members' eligibility for the Friday daily allowance. Furthermore, the Parliament remains convinced that a statute for Members' assistants is urgently needed. �

• 2000/10/24 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2000/10/12 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0292/2000
• 2000/09/11 Council draft budget published
  • 10299/2000 summary

    The Council adopted by a large majority its first reading on the preliminary draft budget for 2001 dealing with the other sections of the budget on the basis of the preparatory work done by the Budgets Committee and the Committee of Permanent Representatives. The logic followed by the Council involved the stabilisation of current expenditure at the same rate as inflation, while allocating additional sums for exceptional or unavoidable needs of the institutions, arising mainly from the implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty or the replacement of members of the institutions. The Council was also careful to respect the priorities set by the institutions themselves within the overall amounts of operating expenditures that had themselves determined. Certain sectors were the subject of particular attention, especially posts in the Court of Justice and the Anti-Fraud Office for 2001. The Council also accepted a small number of conversions or upgradings of posts as a matter of careers policy, provided that they have no particular financial impact. The total administrative appropriations for the institutions (including the European Parliament) amounts to EUR 4.825,15 million (an increase of 2.1% in comparison with 2000, including the SAB 2/2000). As far as the assessment of needs arising from the pension scheme is concerned, it was recalled that the Commission had been asked by the Council in November 1999 to present this assessment by the end of June 2000, together with a proposal to revise the scheme. A total of 127 new permanent posts shared out between the Anti Fraud Office (76), the Court of Justice (47), the ESC (2) and the Ombudsman (2) were agreed. As regards the Commission, the Committee took note of the Commission's intention to deal with human resources in a forthcoming letter of amendment and supports the effort it has made in reviewing in depth the deployment of its staff and whether staff levels are appropriate for the tasks to be performed in each area, which must as far as possible lead to redeployment within existing staff numbers. Pending the outcome of this review, no conversion or upgrading of posts has been adopted. into account the results of its work on reorganisation -Lastly, the Council left a margin of EUR 113 million under the ceiling of heading 5 on the financial perspective in order to be able to deal with any eventual new needs that might emerge, particularly pending the letter of amendment announced by the Commission.�

• #2285
• 2000/07/20 Council Meeting
  • 2285
• 2000/05/23 Commission preliminary draft budget published
  • COM(2000)0300 summary

    PURPOSE: presentation of the preliminary draft general budget of the European Communities for the 2001 financial year - Other sections. CONTENT: This preliminary draft budget refers to the administrative and operating expenditures for each of the Institutions of the Union. As far as what specifically concerns the administrative expenditure, the increase in the ceiling for heading 5 of the budget for 2001 is 3% (from EUR 4 638 million to EUR 4 776 million), excluding staff contributions for the pensions. With the contribution, which amounts to EUR 163 million, the ceiling for heading 5 becomes EUR 4 939 million. Since administrative appropriations for all the institutions in the 2000 budget totalled EUR 4 702 million, administrative expenditure could rise by EUR 237 million (+ 5%) in 2001. A forecasr for the other institutions from the last indicative financial programming gives an increase of 2.5% (EUR 1 675 million in 2001). It should be noted that the administrative budget for the Commission takes into account a sum of EUR 12.5 million relating to the administrative reform of the Commission. It should also be noted that the budget for OLAF increases by 36.1% (to EUR 34.7 million). This increase is the result of 76 new posts (to 300 posts in 2001), the renting of a new building and the reinforcement of the IT systems. Appropriations to cover the pensions of all the institutions will increase by 10.1% to EUR 621.5 million due to the rise in the number of former officials, the increase in the average cost of pensions as new pensioners have more years' service and an adjustment to weightings to take account of the changes in the cost of living in the Member States. As far as the other institutions are concerned, the request from the Court of Justice regarding the creation of 95 new posts mainly for the translation directorate (mainly jurist-linguists), as well as for the Court of First Instance. The budget for the Court of Auditors does not provide for any increase in staff, while the budget for the Economic and Social Committee integrates, for the first time since the dissolution of the common ESC/CoR organisational structure, the ESC's contribution to the operating expenditure of the ESC's common services. The Committee of the Regions' budget is characterised by its stability and the autonomy of its financial management. As far as the European Parliament is concerned, its budget is set at EUR 987.8 million (in this context, it should be noted that a new budget article has been created relating to expenditure on parliamentary assistance, mounting to EUR 90 million). Lastly, it should be noted that, from 2001 onwards, the Ombudsman's budget will no longer be annexed to that of the European Parliament. Overall, the 'Other sections' part of the Preliminary Draft Budget amounts to EUR 4 860 million in 2001. �

• 2000/03/30 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0127/2000 summary

    The European Parliament adopted its resolution drafted by Mr. Markus FERBER (EPP/ED, D), on the 2001 budgetary guidelines - other sections. Parliament points out that the policy of budgetary rigour will also apply in the 2001 budget and that setting priorities amongst the needs of the various institutions continues to be extremely important, to avoid the ceiling of heading 5 expenditure being reached. It emphasises that every request for additional expenditure has to be duly justified, and may, in principle, be granted only for new tasks, and in respect of requests for new staff, only where redeployment is not possible. It asks the institutions to consider the administrative, budgetary and financial implications of the forthcoming enlargement with particular reference to staffing requirements, office space, and the need to refurbish buildings currently in use. It welcomes the White Paper on Commission reform and considers that general principles of reform have to apply to all institutions in order to increase transparency, responsibility and accountability to European citizens. It considers that in parallel with the administrative reform under way in the Commission, the other institutions should improve the management of their own human and financial resources. It calls on the Commission to propose that a capital-based pension system for Community officials be set up. With specific reference to the Parliament, it notes that owing in particular to the increase in Parliament's powers resulting from the Amsterdam Treaty, the workload of Members has seriously increased over recent years and that for Members to fulfil their mandate they require adequate resources. Parliament instructs its Secretary-General to submit an assessment of the 2000 mobility exercise before 01/04/2001, as well as to ensure that future privatisation and/or outsourcing of services is cost-effective, and maintains a high level of quality of service. It also instructs its Secretary-General to submit by 01/07/2000 a report on the progress made in inter-institutional cooperation in the property sector - to include a quantitative assessment of future office space requirements - and of the state of play in the negotiations with the Luxembourg authorities. The implications of the large number of experts employed in the Parliament's administration and in the political groups on the basis of outside contracts also need to be examined, as well as alternatives in the data processing sector. The Secretaries-General of the Parliament, Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee are called upon to submit a report by 30/06/2000 setting out those areas such as interpretation where a common use of services might be useful to the institutions. Parliament asks the Commission to make a critical review of the allowances and the arrangements for the reimbursement of expenses set out in Annex VII to the Staff Regulations, since some of them no longer appear to be justified. It also asks the Commission to submit before 01/09/2000 a legislative proposal on the statute of, and for financial support to be provided to, European political parties, given that they 'contribute to forming a European awareness and to expressingthe political will of the citizens of the Union'. The Court of Justice is called upon to submit in good time before the EP's first reading of the 2001 budget an analysis on its future human and financial resources requirements with a view to the upcoming enlargement and the expected increase in the Court's workload. The Court of Auditors is asked to bring its standard abatement into line with the number of vacant posts. The CoR and ESC are urged to do their utmost to conclude the negotiations with the owner of the Belliard building as quickly as possible. They are also called on to enter travel and daily allowances for its Members under Chapter 10 (Members of the Institution), as the other institutions do, rather than under budget line 250 (Meetings in general). The Committee of the Regions is asked to bring its costs for auxiliary agents into line with those of the other institutions by applying the principle of permanent posts for permanent tasks, and to make the necessary changes to the establishment plan in its estimates for 2001 accordingly. The Parliament stresses that although the Ombudsman's budget became an independent section of the general budget of the Communities as of the 2000 budget, this should not lead to staff increases in the administrative, budgetary and financial sectors.�

• 2000/03/29 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2000/03/20 Preparatory budgetary report tabled for plenary
  • A5-0068/2000
• 2000/03/20 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading

Documents

• Preparatory budgetary report tabled for plenary: A5-0068/2000
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0127/2000
• Commission preliminary draft budget published: COM(2000)0300
• Debate in Council: 2285
• Council draft budget published: 10299/2000
• Budgetary report tabled for plenary, 1st reading: A5-0292/2000
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0473/2000
• Council amended draft budget published: 13830/2000
• Budgetary report tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A5-0380/2000
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T5-0568/2000
• : Budget 2001/110
• : OJ L 056 26.02.2001, p. 0001

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)