2003 budget: section III, Commission

PURPOSE : to present an amending letter 2/2003 to the draft budget 2003 (Section III - Commission). CONTENT : this amending letter 2/2003 sets out 3 types of amendments in Section III of the budget (Commission) : 1) to propose the creation of a Paymaster's Office responsible for determining, calculating and paying individual staff entitlements, and two Infrastructure and Logistics Offices responsible for all activities relating to buildings policy and the management of social infrastructure (one in Luxembourg and one in Brussels). 2) to create 3 Annexes to Part A of the budget each with their own lists of posts and a detailed description of their own resources and their expenses in order to take account of Article 172 of the New Financial Regulation. 3) to create two new lines, which will be able to accommodate the Solidarity Fund's own operations. They would carry token entries and would be endowed after the Fund has been mobilised. (See CNS/2002/0228). This new financial instrument is proposed in parallel and is intended to assist affected regions in Member States and other countries involved with accession negotiations in the event of major natural, technological and environmental disasters. (Refer also to BUD/2002/2204). It should be noted that all the current references to the different articles of the financial regulation should be adapted to the new text. This amending letter details the first series of amendments. With regard to the three new offices, the amending letter states that they will be responsible for some of the activities concerning the administrative management of the DG Personnel and Administration. Over the years the Offices should also help to achieve potential savings through: - the impact of the increased efficiency; - further economies of scale from an improved inter-institutional approach. Two of these offices shall be established in Brussels and one in Luxembourg. The Paymasters Office shall be for determining, calculating and paying individual staff entitlements and the two Infrastructure and Logistics Offices responsible for all activities relating to buildings policy and the management of social infrastructure, the housing of departments, technical maintenance, purchases, supplies, internal logistics and services. These new offices that could facilitate the reorganisation of the Commission in the light of Reform, and would be an appropriate instrument to prepare the evolution, in due course, towards a reinforced inter-institutional co-operation by pooling together a number of administrative and support tasks. The new offices would also represent a tool implemented by the Commission and/ or the other Institutions to meet the recognised demands for the optimal use of resources, for high quality services, notably through the development of visible centres of expertise. It should be noted that the Commission shall work towards the creation of these three Offices and ensure that no additional costs should arise.�