The European Parliament,

–   having regard to Article 272 of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Council Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom of 29 September 2000 on the system of the European Communities' own resources(1),

–   having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure(2),

–   having regard to its resolution of 9 March 2005 on the guidelines for Sections II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII(A) and VIII(B) and on the European Parliament's preliminary draft estimates (Section I) for the 2006 budget procedure(3),

–   having regard to its resolution of 12 May 2005 on the estimates of revenue and expenditure of Parliament for the financial year 2006(4),

–   having regard to the preliminary draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2006, which the Commission presented on 27 April 2005 (COM(2005)0300),

–   having regard to the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2006, which the Council established on 15 July 2005 (C6-0300/2005),

–   having regard to Rule 69 of and Annex IV to its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgets and the opinions of the Committee on International Trade, Committee on Budgetary Control, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and Committee on Petitions (A6-0307/2005),

A.   whereas the current financial perspective has set the ceiling for heading 5 (Administrative expenditure) for the financial year 2006 at EUR 6 708 million at current prices,

B.   whereas the preliminary draft budget (PDB) for 2006 left a margin of around EUR 10,2 million below the ceiling of heading 5 of the financial perspective for the financial year 2006,

C.   whereas the Council's draft budget (DB) left a margin of around EUR 130,1 million below the ceiling of heading 5 for 2006, thus decreasing the expenditure by EUR 119,9 million,

D.   whereas Parliament's estimates were set at EUR 1 341,6 million, corresponding to the maximum level of 20% of heading 5,

E.   whereas the importance of applying the principles of sound financial management and budgetary rigour to Parliament's administrative expenditure was underlined in its abovementioned resolution of 12 May 2005 on Parliament's estimates,

General framework

1.  Reiterates its commitment to provide the European institutions with the necessary means to consolidate the 2004 enlargement, to prepare for the next enlargement and to ensure the proper functioning of the institutions;

2.  Invites all institutions to use the available appropriations in a rational way for improving the effectiveness of their core activities and for the accomplishment of the priorities they have set;

3.  Considers that the requests for fulfilling the level of recruitment of staff from the Member States who joined in 2004 must be satisfied; requests all the institutions to analyse the causes of any delays in recruitment or persisting vacancies and to address them by specific measures;

4.  Can align itself on Council's position of applying budgetary rigour to administrative expenditure, but takes the view that while applying budgetary rigour, the real needs of each institution have to be evaluated individually; criticises the Council for using the method of undifferentiated across-the-board cuts on the level of posts and appropriations, and therefore differentiates its approach from that of the Council;

5.  Is in favour of leaving an adequate margin under the ceiling of heading 5 (Administrative expenditure); proposes to restore some EUR 7,7 million out of the EUR 15,1 million cut made by Council in its first reading on the budgets of the other institutions (excluding Parliament and the Council);

Section I - European Parliament
Level of budgeting

6.  Notes the Bureau's proposal to budget at the maximum level of 20% of heading 5, corresponding to an overall increase in Parliament's budget of 6,1% over the 2005 budget, which is above the 4,5% average increase in the administrative expenditure in heading 5 in the draft budget; confirms Parliament's traditional share of the budget corresponding to 20% of heading 5; stresses that Parliament has successfully respected this self-imposed ceiling and has made important savings on account of the accelerated payments for the buildings;

7.  Recalls that there have been significant amounts of "ramassage" and even cancelled appropriations systematically in recent years; believes that this does not constitute a consistent way of budgeting; recalls that for 2004 the amount of "ramassage" was over EUR 150 million and EUR 27 million were cancelled and that, for 2005, the surplus is estimated at EUR 98 million;

8.  Decides to enter in the reserve of the 'Provisional appropriations to cover the institution's property investments' (Item 2009) an amount of EUR 15 million to allow the continuing acquisition of buildings;

9.  Agrees that, in order to allow capital injections for the purchase of buildings, any amount unutilised within the 20% of heading 5 would be fully supported by its Committee on Budgets through Amending budgets;

10.  Recalls the statement made in paragraph 27 of its abovementioned resolution of 12 May 2005 on Parliament's estimates that the overall level of Parliament's budget should be determined on the basis of justified, real needs after their careful examination; estimates that, after prudent evaluation, for the 2006 budget, there is a potential for reducing Parliament's budget by EUR 20 million below 20% of heading 5 without hindering the effective functioning of Parliament; decides, therefore, to set Parliament's budget for 2006 at EUR 1 321, 6 million; stresses that this does not constitute a precedent for limiting Parliament's right to use the 20% of heading 5 in subsequent years;

11.  Considers that a prudent approach should be taken when deciding on new priorities in order to ensure that Parliament's financial needs are covered in the longer term; points to the introduction from the middle of 2009 onwards of the new Statute for Members, which it is estimated will cost around EUR 100 million per year;

Information and Communication policy

12.  Considers that the Bureau proposal to set aside an amount of EUR 50 million in an 'Information' reserve and to leave an additional amount of EUR 17,2 million in the contingency reserve is not in line with the current stage of development of new political priorities nor with the principle of budgetary rigour;

13.  Reiterates its position that information and communication policy is one of Parliament's priorities and supports investment to improve communication between EU citizens and Parliament; has decided to enter EUR 20 million in an 'Information and Communication' reserve to be used for improving Parliament's communication with citizens;

14.  Observes that better communication of its work presupposes greater use of the modern (audiovisual) media and a more comprehensible and attractive structure for debates in plenary;

15.  Recalls the priorities highlighted in paragraphs 11 and 12 of its abovementioned resolution of 12 May 2005 on Parliament's estimates, mainly to improve the Visitors' Service and to strengthen the role of Information Offices in order to decentralise information activities to Member States, with a view in particular to facilitating Members' contacts with citizens;

16.  Considers that any proposal should provide clear information on the financial cost and the medium-term financial requirements; points out that new projects on information and communication policy should ensure appropriate oversight arrangements involving Parliament's governing bodies and political groups;

Enlargement

17.  Supports further improvement of provision of linguistic services to Members; is concerned about the high level of vacancies in this specific area and considers that this issue should be given the necessary attention; expects the Administration to put forward specific proposals by 30 November 2005;

18.  Confirms the following enlargement measures:

19.  Has decided, in addition to the amount of EUR 13,8 million entered in its estimates, to make available further appropriations totalling EUR 9 726 000 in connection with preparations for Romanian and Bulgarian accession:

More comprehensive budgeting

20.  Calls for improvement in the presentation of revenue accruing from loans or rents or the provision of services, which should be clearly indicated in the Statement of Revenue of Parliament's budget;

21.  Proposes that a separate item be created for the Information Offices and requests that the number of staff related thereto be indicated in a footnote in Parliament's establishment plan;

22.  Requests that mission costs related to training be presented in a separate budget item;

Buildings policy

23.  Regrets that the Bureau has not responded to the request to present an updated plan for the acquisition of property, including the options to purchase premises for Information Offices; requests that this information be provided by 30 November 2005; considers that Parliament should have a clear property policy to allow appropriate financial planning;

Personnel policy

24.  Regrets that the Bureau requests for 112 new non-enlargement staff did not take account of the possibility of redeploying existing staff, as stated in paragraph 6 of its abovementioned resolution of 12 May 2005 on Parliament's estimates;

25.  Reiterates its request for a report containing detailed information on the current numbers of contract and temporary staff and a comparison of the situation before and after the change in status by 30 November 2005; considers that the information in the previous report was too brief and general;

26.  Requests Parliament's administration to include detailed information on the number of contract staff in Parliament's Secretariat and political groups as well as all staff in the Information Offices in the proposal for Parliament's preliminary draft estimates;

27.  Has decided the following establishment plan measures:

28.  Notes that Parliament's administration should fully comply with the Code of Good Practice for the employment of people with disabilities;

Other issues

29.  Has decided to enter a token entry for the debate about the "Future of Europe" pending the deliberations of the Conference of Presidents;

30.  Requests Parliament's administration to examine the possibility of developing an apprenticeship programme, which will allow a certain number of trainees to benefit from a training programme within Parliament; invites the Secretary-General to present a report on this issue; proposes to create in the reserve 5 (1 A* and 4 B*) posts for the vocational training unit and a new budget line 1407 Training allowance (European Parliament apprenticeship programme) with a token entry;

31.  Calls on the newly-established posts for EMAS to examine the use by Parliament of vehicles that are less polluting for the environment;

32.  Has decided to make adjustments in other areas in which developments have taken place since the estimates were adopted:

33.  Notes the progress achieved in the context of the 'Raising the Game' administrative reform in assisting Members in their legislative work in the enlarged European Union; invites the Secretary-General and the Bureau to examine regularly the functioning of committee secretariats, and calls for full support to be provided to committee chairmen in fulfilling their tasks; encourages the Secretary-General to take the necessary measures in order to accommodate the increased responsibilities of the Members and the parliamentary committees in assuming Parliament's legislative role;

34.  Calls on the Bureau to study ways to reduce the rise in energy costs, e.g. by following the Japanese initiative of "no-ties", reducing air-conditioning in summer time;

35.  Points to the importance of daily exercise for the health of members and staff; asks the Bureau to carry out an evaluation of the functioning of the Sports Centre, notably the services provided and the Centre's price policy, taking into account opening hours;

36.  Calls on the Bureau to look at further improvements in its training policy, including language training for Members;

Other institutions

37.  Has created new posts in relation to the next enlargement to ensure that the needs of the institutions are met in this respect; has reinstated a part of the appropriations cut by the Council to enable the institutions to function properly;

38.  Approves the upgradings for career development following the provisions of the new Staff Regulations, as requested by the institutions and agreed by the Council in the draft budget;

Section II - Council

39.  Is concerned as regards the appropriations allocated to cover expenditure on CFSP activities as well as the introduction of multiple new budget lines for ESDP/CFSP-related activities; recalls that other institutions' budgets should cover administrative expenditure;

40.  Notes the creation of 161 new posts (1 A*15, 4 A*12, 6 A*11, 1 A*10 T, 8 A*9, 12 A*7, 58 A*5, 2 B*7, 6 B*6, 17 B*3, 23 C*4, 23 C*1) and the transfer of 1 C*1 post to the Commission;

Section IV - Court of Justice

41.  Calls on the Court of Justice of the European Communities to amend by 1 November 2005 its administrative decision of 31 March 2004 in such a way as to rule out private use of official cars;

42.  Has decided the following establishment plan measures:

43.  Points out that the decision on the final number of posts for the new Civil Service Tribunal has been brought forward and will be taken during 2005;

44.  Has decided to increase the appropriations made available by the Council in the draft budget by EUR 3 398 000, mainly for salary appropriations, freelance translation and information technology;

Section V - Court of Auditors

45.  Calls on the Court of Auditors to amend by 1 November 2005 its administrative decision of 15 June 2004 in such a way as to rule out private use of official cars;

46.  Has decided the following establishment plan measures:

47.  Has decided to increase the appropriations made available by the Council in the draft budget by EUR 1 555 000, mainly for salary appropriations;

Section VI - European Economic and Social Committee

48.  Has decided the following establishment plan measures:

49.  Has decided to increase the appropriations made available by the Council in the draft budget by EUR 1 190 000, mainly for salary appropriations and to make adjustments on buildings-related expenditure;

Section VII - Committee of the Regions

50.  Notes with satisfaction that the completion of the Belliard building took place on 15 June 2004 and appreciates the fact that the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee have jointly informed Parliament on a regular basis of the progress of the construction work; requests that the two Committees ask for a report from the Sicabel consultancy company, which monitored the construction work from the commencement of the refurbishing project, to acknowledge that the project was carried out in conformity with the contract and its annexes; requests that the report be submitted to Parliament before 1 March 2006;

51.  Has decided the following establishment plan measures:

52.  Has decided to increase the appropriations made available by the Council in the draft budget by EUR 1 259 500, mainly for salary appropriations and to make adjustments on buildings-related expenditure;

Section VIII (A) - European Ombudsman

53.  Has decided the following establishment plan measures:

54.  Has decided to increase the appropriations made available by the Council in the draft budget by EUR 173 056;

Section VIII (B) - European Data Protection Supervisor

55.  Has decided the following establishment plan measures:

56.  Has decided to increase the appropriations made available by the Council in the draft budget by EUR 136 600;

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57.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution, together with the amendments to Sections I, II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII(A) and VIII(B) of the draft general budget, to the Council, the Commission and the other institutions and bodies concerned.

(1) OJ L 253, 7.10.2000, p. 42. (2) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1. Agreement amended by Decision 2003/429/EC (OJ L 147, 14.6.2003, p. 25). (3) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0067. (4) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0181.