2000 budget : other sections

The European Parliament adopted its resolution on the draft general budget of the EU for 2000 - Section I European Parliament - Ombudsman Annex, Section II Council - Section IV Court of Justice - Section V Court of Auditors - Section VI Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the Regions. The Rapporteur was Mr. Kyösti Tapio VIRRANKOSKI (ELDR, SF). It calls on the Secretary-Generals of the Parliament, Court of Auditors, Court of Justice, Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the Regions to present before 30/06/2000, a medium-term plan of their staff needs. It proposes that all, institutions in Luxembourg, in the context of expanding interinstitutional cooperation in the buildings sector, develop a global and coherent property policy approach. It intends to address more seriously the integration of environmental requirements in the administrations of the institutions and other bodies of the EU and calls on them to consider more carefully the durability of equipment to be purchased and the sustainability of working methods within the institutions and other bodies of the Community. The following cover the main amendments relating to the individual institutions/bodies: 1) European Parliament: creation of a number of posts relating to Parliament's premises and buildings, audiovisual service, Quaestors (fulltime contracts for secretaries), legal service, and regional information offices; 2) Court of Justice: the EP points out that the Court had requested 104 posts, many of them for the translation directorate, and that the Council authorised 4A, 30 LA, 7B and 4C posts. The EP's amendment seeks to create a further 2 A7, 1 B5 and 1 C5 posts; 3) Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: the Parliament has decided, by means of an amendment, to split up the Joint Organisational Structure in line with the abolition of Protocol 16 of the Amsterdam Treaty; it has therefore amended the nomenclature, with Section VI now covering the ESC and a new Section VII the CoR. It has decided, by means of amendment, to allow for the creation of 2 temporary posts to monitor the refitting works at the Belliard buildings; it has decided, by means of amendments, to create 2 temporary A7 posts, 2 temporary B5 posts and 1 temporary C5 post at the CoR in order to help the political groups to cope with their increased workload. It has amended the establishment plan of the CoR to make the post of Secretary-General temporary in future, which is in line with the CoR's amended Rules of Procedure. The Parliament expressed its commitment to establishing a Statute for the Members of the European Parliament as soon as possible and called upon the Council and the Member States to reopen the discussion with Parliament towards this end.�