Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-03-08-Speech-2-351"
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"en.20050308.28.2-351"2
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"Mr President, I shall also present an amending budget, which implies a response. It is the amending budget for Parliament’s financial year 2005, which must take account of the fact that staff salaries and pensions in 2004 were adjusted by a rate lower than had originally been expected. The adjustment of salaries and pensions, adopted by the Council at the end of last year, only amounted to 0.7%, and, when we prepared the budget for this year, we anticipated a 2.6% increase in salaries. Like the other EU institutions, Parliament can now, therefore, cut back the staff appropriations in the 2005 budget. That is something about which we, of course, agreed in the budget conciliation. When all is said and done, we are, then, concerned here with a EUR 7.98 million reduction in the European Parliament’s expenditure on, for example, salaries and that is something to be welcomed.
In the same connection, we are directing the Secretary-General of the European Parliament to examine Parliament’s budget in July, to assess the situation and to see if we need another amending budget. The background to this is that we envisage the real possibility of a budget surplus for Parliament this year, meaning that the appropriations will be discontinued at the end of the year. This is because, for a number of years, Parliament has secured us future savings on rent by purchasing buildings – a very sensible policy, meaning that we can save some money. In 2004, the ‘mopping-up’ transfers of EUR 190 million made it possible to release a portion of the appropriations we have from the 2005 budget for buildings. I am well aware that Parliament’s services are engaged in negotiations about further purchases of buildings that we are at present renting, but these are at an early stage, so we do not know what position we shall ultimately be in.
The fact is, however, that the appropriations we have in 2005 following the reduction for salaries will make it possible to fund important areas we do not at the moment have in the budget, notably the preparations for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, and they will perhaps also make it possible for us to purchase further buildings housing Parliament’s information offices in the Member States. We shall return to this subject in July.
I also have a number of remarks to make concerning Mr Dombrovskis’ report on the 2006 budget, now that there is time for doing so. This budget will, of course, also be characterised by the preparations for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania which, as Mr Dombrovskis pointed out, it is anticipated will take place in 2007. It will also be characterised by the already completed enlargement to include ten new countries and by the continued need to recruit staff from the new Member States. A huge effort has, of course, already been made to acquire the upwards of 1 200 new employees we have obtained in Parliament, an effort that has in many ways been a great success. I think, however, that our rapporteur, Mr Dombrovskis, is right to demand that we investigate whether the resultant staffing situation is satisfactory in all respects. We must ensure that recruitment does not take an unnecessarily long time and is not unduly bureaucratic. It must be ensured that we have the translators and interpreters we need. We must see to it that, as Members of Parliament, we have access to the necessary expertise so that we can do some serious legislative work. The quantity of legislation has, of course, risen significantly in recent years in view of the new treaties, and the demand for better legislation, with which we of course all agree, means that we must have proper legal guidance. Moreover, there must be resources for proper impact assessments in connection with the legislation, including assessments of the financial consequences for the public sector, the EU budget, the national treasuries and the business sector. We therefore need more assistance.
Last but not least, I am delighted that, in Parliament’s draft budget for 2006, we propose a significant strengthening of Parliament’s information policy. This involves a radical evaluation of information policy so that we ensure that we achieve the objectives of the effort to provide information. It must become easier and simpler for journalists and people in general to follow the legislative process. It must become easier for people to find out how they can secure their civil liberties with Parliament’s help. We must ensure that the fine speechifying about transparency does, in actual fact, bear fruit. My group and I are, therefore, also in favour of our giving more financial support to information policy, even if we always say that we must be economical. It is also important for us to increase our efforts in favour of decentralisation by means of the information offices in the Member States where a better sense can be obtained of the practical needs that exist for information. I would thank Mr Dombrovskis for his efforts. We are able to support his report."@en1
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