2005 budget: EP's estimates

The committee adopted the report by Wilfried KUCKELKORN (PES, D) setting out Parliament's estimates for its revenue and expenditure in the year 2005. MEPs stressed the importance of meeting the needs of enlargement despite the financial constraints on administrative expenditure (heading 5) and of continuing to improve the services provided to MEPs. The report focused on a number of key issues: - the principles of good financial management must be respected; - the reform of Parliament's Administration must be continued by rationalising and modernising working methods, making better use of new technologies and concentrating on core activities; - the parameters and underlying assumptions will have to be reviewed during the first reading of the 2005 budget in the light of the political priorities; - the committee reiterated its support for the introduction of a statute for MEPs' assistants; - the Secretary General should present a report on the budgetary impact of the new code of conduct on "controlled multilingualism"; - the committee would reserve its final decision on the creation of 140 new enlargement-related posts until the first reading of the 2005 budget; - proposals on upgradings might be put forward in the first reading to take account of the financial implications of the new staff regulations; - interinstitutional cooperation should be further developed with a view to making savings; - the EP's website, Europarl, and the Legislative Observatory should be provided with sufficient means; - the Secretary General was asked to report on the reinforcement of security measures in Parliament. �