BUDGET: ADMINISTRATIVE NEEDS EXPECTED TO DOMINATE PROCEDURE.

• Position: European Union

In her introductory report on the PDB 2004, Neena Gill states that in addition to the challenges of enlargement, Parliament will be undergoing deep changes (the question of Members' Statute, rise in their number in accordance with the Treaty of Nice, administrative reform to improve assistance provided to Members) whose precise impact on spending will have to be taken into account at first reading of the budget. For the Budgets Committee, it is also important to develop the concept of "controlled multilingualism" while respecting the equality of languages. Finally, the broadcasting of plenary sessions and of certain meetings on internet is welcomed, as is the modernisation of Parliament's site, but these are also measures that will have a cost.

The need for money is also the leitmotiv of the report by the Council General Secretariat, which states that enlargement will have an impact on most expenditure, particularly staff and infrastructure. In terms of human resources, thanks in particular to cuts in overtime (reduced from 130,000 hours in 1999 to 99,000 in 2002), evolving working methods (use of computer-assisted translation and voice recognition software) and the replacement of departing civil servants with staff at lower levels (of 94 posts in 2003 and 2004, only half will be replaced at the same grade), the Council could be content with the creation of 284 jobs and postpone the other 76 foreseen in the 2002 report until 2005 and 2006. The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), which became operational in late January, is also expected to lead to economies of scale.

Other factors could nonetheless have a considerable impact on the Council Budget. This will particularly be the case for CFSP, with the operations in Bosnia and Macedonia, but also the implementation of the EU/NATO agreement on security and the protection of classified information. Certain parts of buildings also need to be renovated and new equipment is needed for preventive and reactive protection against electronic attacks and wiretapping and specialised training programmes for the personnel concerned. This need was amply illustrated by the recent discovery of an illegal phone-tapping operation targeting Council activities. The Security Office does not currently have enough staff to meet the needs resulting from the extension of the General Secretariat's CFSP/ESDP activities to the...