EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
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INFORMATION ON THE BUDGETARY AND THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT IN 2013
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REPLIES TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE IN PREPARATION FOR THE EP DISCHARGE FOR 2013
Table of contents
Introduction ...... 4 1.3 External policy codecision and consent ...... 7 1.4 Improving plenary sitting services ...... 8 2.1 Centrally organised activities ...... 8 2.2 Decentralised activities ...... 9 2.3 EYE ...... 2.4 Progress made on the House of European History project ...... 9 2.5 Improving services to visitors ...... 9 4.1 Buildings/property policy ...... 10 4.2 Environmental policy ...... 11 4.3 Catering policy ...... 12 4.5 Continuing to modernise information technologies / security ...... 12 4.6 Relations with national parliaments ...... 13 4.7 Thoroughgoing restructuring of the security service ...... 13 5.1 Improving services to Members ...... 13 5.2 Financial and budgetary management ...... 14 5.3 Human resources management ...... 16 5.4 Document and archive management ...... 16 PARLIAMENT'S GENERAL CONTEXT ...... 18 Resource Efficiency Measures Strategy ...... 18 Transparence et accessibilité aux décisions internes du Parlement ...... 22 President of the European Parliament ...... 26 Members of the European Parliament ...... 28 Cour des langues pour les députés ...... 31 General Expenditure and Daily Allowance ...... 32 Political Parties and Political Groups ...... 32 Contracts awarded in 2013 ...... 35 DG FOR INTERNAL POLICIES (IPOL) ...... 51 AND DG FOR EXTERNAL POLICIES (EXPO) ...... 51 Parliamentary delegations ...... 52 DG COMMUNICATION (DG COMM) ...... 64 Communication strategy and preparation of ...... 64 the information campaign for the 2014 elections ...... 64 LUX prize 2013 ...... 65 EuroparlTV ...... 67 House of European History ...... 69 Visitor’s groups ...... 70 Information Offices ...... 70 Washington Office ...... 73 DG PERSONAL (DG PERS) ...... 76 Parliament's staff (officials and other servants) ...... 76 Changes to Parliament’s Secretariat ...... 85 Training courses ...... 92 Pensions ...... 93 Réclamations articles 90 et 46 ...... 94 Assistants Parlementaires Accredités (APA) ...... 97 DG INFRASTRUCTURE AND LOGISTICS (DG INLO) ...... 102
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Catering services ...... 103 Service cars ...... 104 DG TRANSLATION (TRAD) AND ...... 107 DG INTERPRETATION AND CONFERENCES (INTE) ...... 107 DG FINANCE (DG FINS) ...... 110 DG INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL SUPPORT (DG ITEC) ...... 111 Paperless parliament ...... 115 DG PARLIAMENTARY RESEARCH SERVICES (EPRS) ...... 117 DG FOR SECURITY AND SAFETY (SAFE) ...... 120
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Introduction
The present document presents the answers by the Secretary General to the questions tabled by Members of the Budget Control Committee in the preparation to the decision on the European Parliaments' discharge for budgetary and financial management of the year 2013. In this context this introduction will present the conclusions of the Court of Auditors1 regarding the implementation of the Parliament's budget in 2013 and will give an overview of the main elements regarding the use made of financial resources and important events as well as the fulfilment of the objectives for this year as they were formulated in Parliaments' budget as adopted by the budgetary institutions and by its Bureaus' decisions. CONCLUSIONS OF THE COURT OF AUDITORS REGARDING 2013
Regarding the implementation of the Parliament's budget in 2013, the Court arrives to the following conclusion in paragraph 9.16 of the annual report: "No serious weaknesses were detected in the 15 recruitment procedures and 15 procurement procedures examined at the Court of Justice as part of the assessment of control systems. The audit did not identify any serious weaknesses in respect of the topics audited for the European Parliament, the European Council and Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the European Ombudsman or the European Data Protection Supervisor."
Overall, audit evidence indicates that accepted expenditure is not affected by a material level of error and that the examined internal control systems are assessed as effective. BUDGET OF THE EUROEPAN PARLIAMENT IN 2013
The financial year 2013 was marked by the continuation of action, begun in 2011, to bring about structural improvements in order to give Parliament all the resources it needs to play its role in the legislative process to the full and enable it to capitalise to the full on the enhanced powers conferred on it by the Treaty of Lisbon. The institution also continued to implement multiannual programmes to rationalise and modernise key sectors of its administration, particularly in the field of security, and undertook significant development of its information and communication policy with a view to the 2014 elections. The institutional changes arising from the accession of Croatia were completed without any significant difficulties. Parliament's final appropriations totalled in 2013 EUR 1 750 463 939, i.e. 19.07% of heading V of the Multiannual Financial Framework.2
1 Annual report of the Court of Auditors on the implementation of the 2013 budget, published in the OJ 2014/c 398/01 2 Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management, OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.
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In 2013, 99.2% of the initial budget was committed and only 0.8% (EUR 13 766 453) had to be cancelled. This excellent result could be achieved thanks to a combination of a very high degree of implementation of the budget as requested by the financial authorities on the one hand and an end of the year transfer of EUR 54 Mio. of unspent funds on the request of the Joint Working Group of the Bureau and Committee on Budgets and following a positiv opinion by the Committee on Budgets, so as to help fund the extension and modernisation of the Konrad Adenauer Building (KAD), which is the main construction project in Luxembourg. As a result of this an estimated EUR 18.1 Mio. in financing charges will be saved over the construction period and loan amortisation period. In 2013 four chapters accounted for 70% of total commitments. Those chapters were Chapter 10 (Members of the institution), Chapter 12 (Officials and temporary staff), Chapter 20 (Buildings and associated costs) and Chapter 42 (Expenditure relating to parliamentary assistance).
Members of the *Other institution 9% Parliamentary 12% assistance Expertise 11%and information 6% Data processing, Officials and equipment and temporary staff movable property 33% 8% Buildings and associated costs Other staff and 15% external services 6%
* Other (Chapters 16, 23, 30, 40) 44)
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COMPLIENCE OF BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT WITH POLITICAL DECISIONS
The objectives pursued and outcomes achieved in 2013, which are set out below, stem from the priorities and decisions adopted by the Bureau in 2013, the guidelines adopted by Parliament in its budget resolutions, and the goals and achievements of the 2012-2014 Administrative Work Programme.
1. Bringing about the institutional changes related to the Treaty of Lisbon
1.1 Support for research
A comparative study with four national parliaments and the Congress of the United States has demonstrated a significant margin for improvement in the support structure to the European Parliament, particularly in terms of independent scientific advice. Based on the recommendations of the Joint Working Group of the Bureau and the Budget Committee on the budget of Parliament, the Bureau decided, at its meeting of 20 May 2013, to create a new Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research (DG EPRS) in order to provide independent scientific advice both for political bodies of Parliament and for individual Members. This Directorate-General, whose setting-up took effect on 1 November 2013, brings together the former Directorate for the Library and Document Management (with the exception of the Official Mail Unit, which remains attached to DG PRES) and the Directorate for Impact Assessment and European Added Value, formerly attached to DG IPOL, to which has been added a new Directorate for Members’ Research Services, organised thematically. The new parliamentary research service will support individual Members and complement the policy departments3, which will continue to serve holders of offices and those with particular responsibilities, such as rapporteurs. These products are of a different nature, as the policy departments were explicitly conceived as a way of providing an immediate response to Parliament’s committees and delegations. Nonetheless, these two services will cooperate as closely as possible and exchange information as if they really belonged to the same department. They will share the existing expertise budget heading. At its meeting of 15 April 2013, the Bureau had authorised negotiations with the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions in the context of the 2014 budget procedure with the aim of increasing efficiency in the field of translation, the part of those efficiency gains realised within Parliament being earmarked for the further build-up of the Parliamentary Research Service. Those negotiations having been successfully completed, the Bureau instructed the President to sign a cooperation agreement with the two committees at its meeting of 9 December 2013; this agreement particularly gives staff who are affected by the restructuring of the committees’ translation service and who have the required profile the option of being transferred to Parliament in order to work for the new Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research (a maximum of 80 staff).
3 These policy departments form part of the DGs Internal and External Policies.
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1.2 Knowledge management
The cooperation of committees with Policy Departments is very close, continuous and multi-faceted: Policy Departments' briefings, policy papers, studies and workshops regularly feed into committee deliberations and ensure a valuable interconnection between expertise and policy-making. To enhance the visibility and accessibility of Policy departments’ products, a common newsletter of Policy Departments has been created in 2013. It offers a monthly overview of the main upcoming events organised in the European Parliament, a summary of key studies in preparation and a direct link to a selection of studies published recently. Policy Departments have carried out a major update of Parliament's Factsheets ahead of the election year.
1.3 External policy codecision and consent
According to the Lisbon Treaty, all trade agreements are now subject to the EP’s consent, while the implementation measures of the Common Commercial policy (CCP) are subject to the Ordinary Legislative Procedure. In 2013, the International Trade committee (INTA) worked on major legislative reports on International Procurement Instrument, Enforcement Regulation, and second reading agreements on Omnibus I and Omnibus II (aligning the Union trade legislation to the Lisbon treaty), and also the Public Procurement Instrument and modernisation of the Union's Trade Defence Instruments. INTA monitoring groups continued their work in monitoring trade negotiations. Resolutions were adopted in connection to all negotiating mandates, which were suggested by the Commission. The committees continued the practice of monitoring negotiations of international agreements. For the Foreign Affairs committee (AFET), it concerned especially the pending Framework for Association Agreements with third countries. AFET also questioned the practice by the Council to request Parliament's consent once the ratification process in EU Member States is almost completed. AFET adopted resolutions on all candidate and pre-candidate countries, as is now consolidated practice. Monitoring of developments in Ukraine intensified with a view to determining Parliament's position regarding the signature of the Association Agreement. AFET organised briefings with EU and Ukrainian stakeholders and prepared a resolution on the EU neighbourhood policy, which covers the Association Agrement with Ukraine (and also Moldova and Georgia). The Bureau decided on 26 February 2013 that a programme for Euronest Scola4 would be organised and managed by DG EXPO in line with the principles for the already existing Euromed Scola5, and decided on 15 April 2013 on an extension of the programme for Young Political Leaders from Europe, Palestine and Israel to include the neighbourhood countries. For the first time, a Euronest Scola programme and two new
4 Under the Euronest Scola programme, young citizens from the EU Member States and from the six Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) are invited by the European Parliament to debate, discuss and adopt resolutions on issues of common interest to the Eastern Partnership. It aims at raising the young participants’ awareness of the values of dialogue, knowledge and mutual understanding, and respect for cultural and linguistic diversity. It provides civic education geared towards democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, tolerance and peaceful resolution of conflicts. 5 Euromed Scola was launched in 2008. It brings together young citizens from all over the EU Member States as well as the southern neighbours in order to foster the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.
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Young Political Leaders Fora were very successfully organised in November-December 2013 (Maghreb-EU and Eastern Partnership-EU), expressing concretely via the administrative action the EP priority commitment to strengthen and empower civil society in the neighbourhood.
1.4 Improving plenary sitting services
Efforts to improve the Institution’s image and the attractiveness of plenary continued, with the development of a reliable database containing statistics on plenary work, the adoption of amendments to the Rules of Procedure and modifications to internal procedures, for example written declarations, summary records and voting procedures. The IT applications used in plenary are still being modernised. As regards the drafting of legislative acts, the general introduction of the procedure for finalising texts before their adoption, which makes it possible to sign and publish legislation more quickly, and the development of a substantial programming capacity, made it possible for most of the MFF decisions to enter into force before the end of the year. Other progress has also been accomplished in the ‘on demand’ editing service, for example in creating e-Parliament tools6 and the Drafting Support Tool7. It may be noted that the number of legislative texts adopted by Parliament (drafted by the Directorate for Legislative Acts) has doubled over 2012. The integration of the Croatian language (publication of legislative and parliamentary texts since the date of accession) has been a success.
2. Communication strategy and preparation of the information campaign for the 2014 elections
2.1 Centrally organised activities
The creative concept of the institutional information and communication campaign for the 2014 elections was endorsed by the Bureau on 20 May 2013 and a specific contract for the execution and implementation of the campaign was signed on 7 June 2013. The emphasis of the campaign has been put on the political nature of the European Parliament and the new powers conferred on it by the Lisbon Treaty translated through the message “This time it’s different”. The concept is based on a four-phase approach which revolved around the baseline of “ACT. REACT. IMPACT”. This baseline, which aimed to establish the European Parliament as a recognised brand, was designed to ensure the perennity of the campaign well beyond 2014. The kick-off of the institutional information and communication campaign took place in Strasbourg on 10 September 2013, contextually to the State of the Union, a symbolic moment chosen to highlight the new role of the European Parliament after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. The event enjoyed extensive media coverage, with some 160 journalists attending the kick-off press conference. This coverage, together with the intense interaction on the social media, means that the launch can be considered a true
6 The e-Parliament program aims to empower the Members of the European Parliament (EP) providing them with enhanced and improved support to carry out their law-making activities. 7 The Drafting Support Tool (DST) is a tool which supports drafting, and is available on line. It enables Members to gain access to a pool of lawyer-linguists who are assisting them in drafting legislative amendments. The process is entirely confidential.
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success in terms of awareness raising. In December 2013 the official website of the campaign went online.
The last months of 2013 were dedicated to the implementation of the second phase of the campaign (“Thematic phase”) and the preparation of the following phases (“Go to vote” and “post-election”).
2.2 Decentralised activities
In addition to using traditional communication channels, the thematic phase of the campaign foresaw the introduction of a number of innovative outreach activities such as the organisation of "ReACT" events in five major cities. The first events, organised in Paris, Warsaw and Frankfurt, tackled the main themes such as jobs, the economy, the EU budget and Structural Funds, and registered a high level of interest among civil society and stakeholders.. The Information Offices played a key role in the implementation of the campaign, promoting the centrally developed tools in all Member States, involving stakeholders and media as multipliers in order to achieve wider outreach of the campaign message as well as managing social media at local level.
2.4 Progress made on the House of European History project
The concept of the outlines of the permanent exhibition was adopted by the Bureau during its meeting of 22 October 2012. In 2013, this concept was further developed with a design company and has now been finalised. In parallel to the designing of the permanent exhibition, the House of European History team has started developing the future offer to visitors, comprising temporary and travelling exhibitions, events, conferences, an extensive online offer and learning programmes targeted at different age groups. The House of European History project is an integral part of the visitor offers of the European Parliament and the visitor’s strategy currently under development. The works in the Eastman building, that will host the House of European History, have progressed substantially in 2013.
2.5 Improving services to visitors
Progress in improving services to visitors was made in 2013 thanks to two cooperation agreements with the Autonomous Port of Strasbourg and the Region of Alsace/Memorial Alsace-Moselle following Bureau’s decision of 18 November 2013: the visitor-reception capacity of the EP premises in Strasbourg will be increased in view of the higher number of visitors expected during the election year, and citizens visiting the EP in Strasbourg will be provided with a broader historical overview as part of the new EU-PHORIA project in Schirmeck. At the same time and in accordance with the above-mentioned decision, preparatory work was undertaken to establish a reduced 360° cinema in and to realise role play game exercises in Strasbourg similar to those organised in Brussels.
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3. Institutional changes arising from Croatia's accession
The posts provided for in the budget (124 in total) were filled by appointing temporary staff with effect from 1 July 2013, and then by replacing the temporary staff with officials on probation as the lists of successful candidates in specific competitions for Croat nationals were published. The 12 Croat observers attended Parliament’s proceedings (plenary sittings and meetings of committees and political groups) from 1 April 2012, and became full Members as of 1 July 2013.
4. Continuing to implement the multiannual programmes to rationalise and modernise key parts of Parliament’s Administration
4.1 Buildings/property policy
In keeping with the medium-term buildings strategy adopted by the Bureau on 24 March 2010, a number of projects were approved or implemented, as set out below: Brussels With regard to the Martens project, the urban planning permit was issued on 30 April 2013, with a reduction of around 8% in the surface area originally planned. Due to this alteration to the project, an additional shortfall in office space of 2 562 m2 is anticipated by 2017.
Luxembourg As regards the Konrad Adenauer project, an overall analysis of the work of the consultancy which had initially managed the project was performed under the terms of the partnership agreement signed on 16 January 2012 with the Luxembourg State, with the result that it was decided to dispense with the services of the consultancy. An invitation to tender for an enhanced project management set-up to supervise the work was published on 2 January 2013, and resulted in the appointment of the five entities making up the project management team, headed by a lead coordinator. The new project management began to provide its services in mid-2013. In addition, efforts to cut the cost of the project and the reissuing of the invitations to tender for the east site carcass works made it possible to obtain tenders which remained within the budgets allocated. The construction work began in September 2013. An additional lot (Façades) was awarded on 20 December 2013, and led to the signing of the corresponding contract on 6 January 2014. The financial arrangements for the project have been put into practice for the first time. The initial invoices submitted by the contractors have been paid by the specially constituted property company. A fiduciary agreement was signed on 25 November 2013 with the bank BGL. Its purpose is to guarantee the amounts credited to the accounts of the property company and to make it possible to transfer safely the appropriations allocated to the Konrad Adenauer project by the budgetary authority. As a result, the fiduciary account was able to receive the first transfers in December 2013. In accordance with the contractual obligations, a first loan drawdown was performed on 31 December 2013.
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A cost-benefit analysis showed that moving from the President Building to the Geos Building in 2014 would generate a saving for the period from 1 April 2014 to 31 December 2017 which would exceed that which would be derived from maintaining the lease on the President Building under the new terms proposed by its owner. Consequently, on 13 August 2013, a lease on the Geos Building was signed, once the Bureau had approved it at its meeting of 2 July 20138. Information Offices The preliminary agreement for purchase of the new building in Sofia, for EUR 9 m, was signed on 7 July 2011. Because of poor workmanship and the non-conformity of fitting- out work with building regulations, the building was not accepted in 2012. After the owner had remedied all the construction defects, the procedure for acceptance of the building led to the signature of the deed of purchase before a notary in Sofia on 4 June 2013. The removal took place on 11 June 2013, and since July 2013 the Europe House has been fully operational. New policy on the maintenance and renovation of buildings An external audit was initiated in 2013 with the aim of being able to submit, in the new parliamentary term, an initial assessment of the enhanced maintenance policy. An internal and external audit schedule, to be repeated regularly in each parliamentary term, was approved by the Bureau on 26 February 2013, and the resources to be mobilised will be decided on this basis. Following the discovery, in September 2012, of cracks in three of the ceiling beams in the Chamber roof during inspections carried out as part of the ongoing policy of carrying out inspections and preventive maintenance of Parliament's infrastructure, it was decided to temporarily close zone A of the Paul-Henri Spaak Building. After a detailed analysis of the pros and cons of the options for making the structure safe, the experts selected a solution. As regards the faults affecting the fireproofing (flocking) on the roof frame in the Louise Weiss Building, the inspections being conducted by the group of experts appointed by Strasbourg District Court have in 2013. However, the conclusions reached by the experts on the basis of their initial studies enabled Parliament to plan the initial work required to bring the Chamber roof frame into line with fire safety law. In that connection, two invitation-to-tender procedures have been launched. The first, concerning the work referred to above, and the second covering the drafting of a fire safety study which will set out possible ways of bringing the rest of the structure into line with the law.
4.2 Environmental policy
Parliament has sought to set an example in the fight against climate change by adopting a comprehensive strategy for reducing and offsetting its carbon emissions, with the ambitious target of reducing its emissions by 30% by 2020. In 2013, a cut of 26.4% was achieved, and 28% of the carbon footprint was offset (buildings, missions, official cars). For the first time since the first EMAS registration in 2007 (which covered 9 buildings), Parliament has increased the number of EMAS-registered buildings. Three additional buildings (WIB, JAN and PFL) were added in 2013. This necessitated an environmental
8 The Committee on Budgets decided, on 11 July 2013, not to deliver an opinion on the renegotiation of the lease.
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analysis and audits of these buildings. In addition, this contract was used to order a significant number of inspections to facilitate interpretation of environmental legislation and to ensure that Parliament’s Administration was entirely compliant (a requirement of the EMAS Regulation). After external audits had been conducted in May and June 2013, Parliament was able to apply for an extension of its EMAS registration for three further years.
A contract was signed on 7 November 2013 to offset 28 747 tonnes of CO2 in the context of an energy efficiency project. The offset credits purchased comply with the rules governing the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Three events were also organised in 2013 at the three places of work: the Green Week, the Mobility Week and the Waste Week.
4.3 Catering policy
2013 marked the beginning of a period of reorganisation of Parliament’s catering activities, designed to bring about their complete modernisation by 2019. In this context, at its meeting of 10 June 2013, the Bureau adopted a note by the Secretary- General on ‘Parliament’s future catering policy 2014-2019 - Guidelines for modernisation’, setting out strategic guidelines for the future development of the sector. The Bureau decision covers not only issues relating to infrastructure and operational and nutritional aspects but also economic objectives. The initial effects of the implementation of the structural reform in conjunction with a revision of prices (which had not changed for 12 years) carried out at the beginning of 2013 in Parliament’s restaurants, canteens, cafeterias and bars made it possible to improve the budgetary situation for item 1652 (Current operating expenditure for restaurants and canteens). Thanks to better control of costs, higher productivity, competition between suppliers and realistic pricing, the aim is to break even by the end of the 2014-2019 parliamentary term.
4.5 Continuing to modernise information technologies / security
The implementation of programmes such as e-Parliament (amendments and electronic signature, MEP Portal, etc.), Paperless (e-Committee9, e-Meeting, etc.) and Knowledge Management contributed to move towards a totally on-line EP with full mobility. A pilot project for the introduction of tablets as a standard working tool was also launched. This process has been accompanied by a software upgrade (migration to Windows 7 and Outlook 2010) and a substantial enhancement of the videoconferencing network and Wi-Fi. In response to articles in the press reporting an intrusion into Parliament’s open Wi-Fi network, an inquiry was launched to assess the extent and nature of the attack. At its meeting of 9 December 2013, the Bureau unanimously approved the immediate and medium-term measures proposed by the Secretary-General in order to enhance Parliament’s security rules for the use of mobile equipment.
9 The eCommittee application is a dedicated work space for members, committee secretariats, political group staff and others who need to follow the work of committees. Each committee has its own site, which contributes to increase transparency and work efficiency. It has been used by all committees since February 2012. 10 The eMeeting application makes committee meeting documents available in a user-friendly format, which allows consultation, annotation and sharing of documents anytime, anywhere and on any device.
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4.6 Relations with national parliaments
Relations with National Parliaments have been further strengthened through the European Parliamentary Week from 28 to 30 January 2013, during which Members of the European Parliament and national Parliamentarians met to debate the European semester for economic policy coordination. The first interparliamentary conference on the economic and financial governance of the European Union, provided for by Article 13 of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance, was held in Vilnius from 16 to 17 October 2013. On the technical side, it is important to note the development of the EP’s ‘Connect’ database for documents from national parliaments in order to better disseminate their opinions and contributions, in accordance with the Treaty provisions on subsidiarity and proportionality. The pilot project on videoconferencing – a major asset in interparliamentary cooperation – was successfully completed. The information available to Members and third parties was significantly improved thanks to the development of the databases ECPRD (European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation) and IPEX (Interparliamentary EU Information Exchange).
4.7 Thoroughgoing restructuring of the security service
Since the Bureau decision of June 2012 on internalisation of general security services, a series of preparatory measures to launch the process have been adopted, starting with the procedure to select 1 212 candidates out of a total of 2 443 applicants, making it possible to undertake the stage-by-stage recruitment of contract staff at Parliament’s three places of work, while strictly complying with the action plan approved by the Bureau. Since September 2013, the control centre has comprised solely Parliament staff, and since October, security at the crèche, the Parlamentarium and the entrances to the ASP Building has likewise been brought in house. Internalisation involved a complex and multi-faceted process, entailing not only a major drive to recruit Parliament staff but also, and above all, their training, adjustment and integration and the organisation of work, tasks which have never been carried out in house in the past. The complexity of the process also arises from the fact that, during the transitional stage and until its full completion, the current external security companies and Parliament’s own staff will have to work in tandem. As indicated in the action plan endorsed by the Bureau, the internalisation process in Brussels and Strasbourg will be carried out on a phased basis over the period 2013- 2016. As regards Luxembourg, the internalisation process is connected with buildings policy and the work on the KAD Building. This means that the evaluation and implementation of internalisation are tied in with the progress made in that work.
5. Other modernisation measures
5.1 Improving services to Members
At its meeting of 9 December 2013, the Bureau noted and approved the creation of a One Stop Shop for parliamentary services to Members. This was a follow-up to the conclusions from a process of consultation of Members and Parliament staff concerning
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ways of improving and modernising Parliament’s organisational capacities. This service is attached to the Directorate for Logistics, and the staff for it was recruited by internal redeployment. The Members’ portal for their social and financial entitlements aims at providing Members with a unique Intranet entry point where they can obtain information on the status and trends of their financial and social rights arising from the Members' Statute and its implementing measures. This will substantially facilitate each Member his/her management of financial and social entitlements.
5.2 Financial and budgetary management
During the year 2013, in the framework of the 2014 budget procedure11, the Parliament on the basis of its Bureau's proposals and after consultations in the Joint Working Group Bureau - Committee on Budgets has endorsed the need for strengthening four areas of its activities:
Strengthening independent scientific advice - The comparative study with four national parliaments and the Congress of the United States has demonstrated a significant margin for improvement in the support structure to the European Parliament, particularly in terms of independent scientific advice. Based on the recommendations of the Joint Working Group, the Bureau has decided, at its meeting of 20 May 2013, to create a new General Directorate for Parliamentary Research (DG EPRS) in order to provide independent scientific advice for both political bodies of Parliament and for individual members (see paragraphs 87 to 89).
Strengthening the capacity for scrutiny - The Joint Working Group concluded, on the basis of the above mentioned comparative studies and taking into account that scrutiny is one of the four core tasks of Parliament in the legislative cycle, that it was necessary to strengthen the capacity of parliamentary control over the executive. Lack of capacity became very clear in the field of scrutiny of delegated acts, spending programs and transposition of legislation. Corresponding support structures for Members will have to be created and means put at their disposal once the political decision making process after the elections 2014 has taken place.
Improve logistical support for Members - For the logistics support to Members, the Joint Working Group has identified the need to allocate more office space for Members, to accommodate assistants and trainees serving Member in good working conditions, in full compliance with Belgium laws on working conditions. For that purpose the Bureau has taken several decisions in 2013 regarding the building policy.
Improve local support for Members - On the basis, in particular, of the examples set by the US Congress and the Bundestag, the Working Group also tackled the issue of Members spending more time in their constituencies and of the local support required
11 European Parliament resolution of 23 October 2013 on the Council position on the draft general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2014 (13176/2013 – C7-0260/2013 – 2013/2145(BUD)) and European Parliament resolution of 17 April 2013 on the estimates of revenue and expenditure of Parliament for the financial year 2014 (2013/2018(BUD))
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for constituency work. The Working Group’s recommendations were forwarded to the Bureau, which asked for the issue to be examined in greater depth by the political groups and the Conference of Presidents, particularly the question of a parliamentary calendar organised more effectively to enable Members to spend more time in their constituencies.
In addition, the Joint Working Group has identified seven areas, where Parliament can improve its efficiency in order to allow the development of the four above mentioned areas of activity in a financially responsible manner:
Develop a system of translation on MEPs' demand of Committee amendments - The Joint Working Group recommends to translate amendments at Committee stage into each Committee's language profile (that is, corresponding to languages of Members and Substitutes of the Committee) and on specific request from any MEP not being a Member or Substitute of the Committee wanting a translation into his language. This would allow for a reduction of 54 075 in–house translated pages and 18 025 outsourced pages per year (the last one representing EUR 540 000 of annual savings).
Explore possibilities for inter-institutional cooperation with the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee - after negotiations between the three bodiesduring the autumn, the Bureau expressed its approval of the cooperation project in December 201312, the main points being: Parliament will give staff (a maximum of 80) who are affected by the restructuring of the committees’ translation service the option of working for the new Directorate- General for Parliamentary Research. These transfers will be made on a voluntary basis, in response to a call for expressions of interest which will indicate the requirements applicable in terms of university background and professional experience. Political cooperation will be established, with the aim of strengthening the democratic and scrutinising role of Parliament and the two Committees in implementation of their respective mandates under the Lisbon Treaty. Administrative cooperation will be established which can generate savings by increasing the support provided by staff for core political tasks, synergies with regard to security and access to buildings, the designation of Parliament as the default provider of interpreting services, improvements to cooperation on the use of meeting rooms, cooperation in the field of IT, and mutual access to canteens.
Explore to offer interpretation capacities to other institutions in no-peak times - The agreement to be signed with the two advisory Committees foresees that Parliament can develop into the standard provider for interpretation of these two Committees. Further cooperation agreements are in preparation with other institutions.
Explore the possibility of complete outsourcing of payments to the paymaster office – the working group has proposed replacing Streamline, the main system for managing human resources at Parliament, with Sysper2, the system used by virtually all the European Institutions. This replacement will constitute an additional interinstitutional cooperation measure, and will enable the personnel administration to concentrate on its
12 The cooperation agreement was signed between the three institutions in February 2014.
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core tasks and to economise on resources by developing synergies and economies of scale.
Prepare for a more efficient structure of the working rhythm of Parliament - Proposals for a more efficient structure of the working rhythm of the Parliament have been developed by the Joint Working Group. The proposals which fall under the competence of the Conference of Presidents have been transmitted to this organ as well as to the Political Groups.
Prepare for a paperless Parliament in committees, through best practice and the full implementation of the e-meeting project - the Working Group also considered the issue of moving towards a ‘paperless’ Parliament. The Bureau in its budget proposal for 2014 decided to adopt ‘paperless’ good practices for all committees so as to reduce the number printed documents used in committee meetings. The annual savings anticipated from this will be 21.5 m sheets of paper and EUR 648 000 per annum. This measure will also make it possible to reduce the carbon footprint by 73 tonnes per annum.
Developing a system of on-request interpretation for meetings other than Plenary - The newly elected Parliament will have to analyse its real needs in interpretation and could come forward with new proposals for a more efficient use of its in-house and free-lance interpretation capacities.
5.3 Human resources management
The preparations for the implementation of the new Staff Regulations continued throughout 2013. Because virtually all the new provisions were to apply as of 1 January 2014, the work of revising rules and certain procedures and updating the IT systems was carried out to very tight deadlines. In preparation for the end of the parliamentary term and the beginning of the new one, measures were taken to organise the management of the termination of the contracts of some 1 700 accredited parliamentary assistants (APAs), assistance to these staff in their administrative procedures and the arrival of several hundred new APAs, and to support the action to be taken by the political groups in relation to the changes in the make-up of their secretariats after the elections. For example, a platform for uploading documents (APA- People) was established, together with a Departure Desk and an Arrival Desk open for a long period to give parliamentary assistants and political group staff more support with administrative procedures.
5.4 Document and archive management
At its meeting of 2 July 2012, the Bureau adopted the new concept for document and archives management. This model is based on the identification of various stages in the life of documents and on appropriate management of the whole cycle. It also facilitates Parliament's compliance with the rules on public access to documents. The arrangements for implementing the document management rules have been prepared. At its meeting of 15 April 2013, the Bureau approved the decision on the processing of confidential documents at the EP, and on 10 June 2013 it adopted the annual report on the management of classified documents. The Council approved the technical aspects of the plans to create a secure reading room, which is now open.
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PARLIAMENT'S GENERAL CONTEXT
Resource Efficiency Measures Strategy
1. What measures were taken during 2013 to make the EP more cost efficient and to reduce overall costs of the Institution? How much savings were made in 2013 from which budget lines? Could it be indicated for which purpose these savings were used/ or transferred to other budget lines?
1. During the 2012 and 2013 budget procedures the Secretary-General submitted proposals to the Bureau for an initial package of organisational reforms which, without undermining the quality of the work performed by Parliament, generated the following substantial annual savings:
• a saving of €15 million on interpreting services, achieved by spreading committee meetings more evenly across the period from Monday to Thursday, optimising night sitting times during Strasbourg part-sessions and confining delegation travel to constituency weeks; • a saving of €10 m on translation services, achieved primarily by replacing systematic translation of the verbatim report of proceedings by an on-request system and securing a 50% increase in productivity in this area, which has also made it possible to transfer some 100 posts to priority sectors.
2. The Bureau-BUDG working group set up as part of the preparations for the 2013 budget has continued this drive to make organisational savings to fund new initiatives. The first measures approved by the Bureau generated savings of some €14 m, as follows: • a €4 m saving resulting from a 5% cut in Members' travel expenses and staff mission expenses (including a freeze on allowances);
• a €10 m saving on future buildings-related interest payments resulting from advance payments totalling €45 made on the Trebel and KAD building projects, using operating appropriations left unspent at year-end 2012.
3. These efforts continued in preparation of the 2014 budget, the Bureau-BUDG working group has instructed the Secretary-General to explore the possibility of making major changes that will generate substantial organisational savings. Preparations should be made for strategic decisions to be taken before the summer, with a view to implementation at the start of the next parliamentary term, on relevant proposals which could include:
a) developing a system of on-request translation of committee amendments;
b) developing a system of on-request interpretation in meetings other than plenary sittings;
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c) exploring the scope for interinstitutional cooperation arrangements under which Parliament would provide translation services to the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee;
d) exploring the possibility of offering interpretation services to other institutions at off-peak times;
e) preparing for further outsourcing of payments to the Paymaster Office;
f) preparing for a more efficient structure of the working rhythm of Parliament;
g) expanding paperless working in committee meetings, on the basis of best practice, making the fullest possible use of the new e-meeting tool.
The great majority of the surpluses made available in 2013 (EUR 54 million) were used to finance the project for the new building Konrad Adenauer in Luxembourg via a transfer authorised by the Committee on Budgets on 27 November 2013, operation which allow Parliament to save 18,1 mio. in interest rate payments.
2. What was the cost associated with having the seat in Strasbourg in 2013, including monthly travel, and how does this cost compare to 2012? What was the annual cost of transporting, loading and unloading the trunks between Brussels and Strasbourg, and how does this cost compare to 2012?
In 2014 the Court of Auditor has prepared an ‘Analysis of potential savings to the EU budget if the European Parliament centralised its operations’, in response to the EP’s resolution of 20 November 2013 on “The location of the seats of the European Union's Institutions” (P7_TA(2013)0498)”. The cost associated with the workplace Strasbourg for 2014 is estimated at EUR 109.1 million by the Court of Auditors. It is assumed that figures for previous years are essentially very similar, but no specific analysis on the years 2013 and 2012 was carried out.
The full report is available on the webpage of the Court: EN : http://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/PL1407_LETTER/PL1407_LETTER_EN.pdf FR : http://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/PL1407_LETTER/PL1407_LETTER_FR.pdf
The annual cost of transporting trunks between Brussels and Strasbourg, including loading and unloading them, stood around EUR 300 000 for 2013, similarly to previous years. This makes up around 0.3% of all the costs related to having the Strasbourg workplace.
3. Des efforts ont-ils été faits en matière de recours aux téléconférences et au télétravail pour réduire les frais administratifs et de déplacements? Comment est-ce que l´utilisation de la vidéo conférence a-t-elle contribué à des économies à travers l´administration?
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In relation to official activities of the Parliament, Video-conferencing is organised for some meetings with National Parliaments.
Video-conferencing is used within the administration wherever possible for regular and ad- hoc meetings between staff in Brussels and Luxembourg (eventually Strasbourg), saving time and money to the Institution. Since 2014 staff organising meetings with video-conferencing have completed a form set up online to calculate savings in CO2 emissions gained by not having staff travel between the workplaces for meetings. This has raised awareness of the cost and time savings, as well as the positive environmental impact of using such technology. Some examples: - DG PERS has notably increased the use videoconferences, from 367.04 hours in 2012, to 600.57 hours in 2013; - DG TRAD has increased from 200 hours in 2012 to 281 hours in 2013 - in the Legal Service the average for 2013 was 3.5 hours per person, way above the average of 2012; - DG FINS had meetings in 2013 using video-conferencing facilities for 830 hours.
Video conferencing is used, whenever appropriate, for interviews for posts.
Missions to Strasbourg are also limited to the absolutely necessary minimum.
DG INTE is currently developing a programme that will allow pre selection tests for accreditation of conference interpreting agents, to be taken online, avoiding the necessity of additional mission costs to Brussels.
Several meetings of both DG EXPO and DG EPRS with experts and contractors are also held by video-conference, to avoid travel costs to the EP.
DG COMM’s internal communication between the central services and the EP Information Offices (EPIOs) located in the 28 member states, takes places largely via IT tools, such as video-conferences, e-mails and telephones. A limited number of staff from EPIOs attends Strasbourg sessions in order to take part in regular DG COMM management meetings, meetings of Heads of Office and Working Groups with a view to discuss, exchange views and thereby guarantee a coherent management approach in line with Bureau decisions. During the Strasbourg weeks, regular training sessions are organised for staff from the Information Offices taking into account the increasing need for specialisation of staff and new tasks both in terms of communications tools and administrative matters.
Acloser control on the justification of the mission was enforced within the EP administration with the entry into force of the new Mission's Guide: the missions are only allowed when video-conferencing solution is not possible.
The reinforcement of the number of Videoconference equipment deployed in the EP continues: over the last 10 years the ITEC equipped over 164 small meeting rooms equipment, 3 studios and 60 pilot individual equipment. The use of this service grew by 64% from 2012 to 2013 with around 5940 video conferences held in 2013 (495 videoconference/months) of 1 hour duration on average. The growing figures indicate a positive cultural shift toward a more modern and efficient way of working through the fullest possible use of available technology.
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The following savings have been estimated for 2013: • The service is mainly used for internal purposes (between the 3 locations of EP headquarters) and for communicating with the EP Information Offices. However, the studios are often used for external communications (i.e. Parliamentary Committee work, MEPs etc.) • An average of 6 people per meeting through videoconference (3 on each side) which per se should reduce by half travel and mission costs for the Administration and increasing productivity and work of staff not travelling. • It is also considered that a full day work is worth in average EUR 350 / a mission = EUR 15713 giving an average cost of EUR 507/day;there was an average of 495 videoconferences per month in 2013 with 6 participants of whom 3 travel (1/2 working day + mission expenses) = 495 x3 x(350/2+ 157)= EUR 493 020 /month • Therefore, on this basis, the savings are estimated to EUR 493 020 /month in average (saved working time costs + mission expenses), of which EUR 233 145 for saved mission expenses14.
13 Travel costs of EUR 67 and daily allowance of EUR 90. 14 Please note that only the amount related to mission expenses is a real saving for Parliament’s budget: the cost related to the working time saved is a theoretical calculation with no impact on the budget as staff salary is always paid in full.
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Transparence et accessibilité aux décisions internes du Parlement
4. Le paragraphe 44 de la résolution sur la décharge PE 2012, souligne qu'il est fondamental que tout le processus décisionnel au sein du PE soit transparent afin de veiller à ce que les citoyens de l'Union puissent se faire une idée exacte et précise de la façon dont le Parlement prend ses décisions et utilise les ressources qui sont mises à sa disposition. Le paragraphe demande également que tous les ordres du jour des réunions, ainsi que les décisions prises par les organes décisionnels du Parlement soient communiqués immédiatement tant à l'ensemble des députés et du personnel du Parlement qu'au public en général. Quelles sont les mesures prises par le Parlement pour répondre à ces demandes ? (Il est parfois difficile de trouver certaines décisions éparpillées dans les milliers des décisions internes en raison de l’absence d'index ou des regroupements par sujets)
1. Transparency of the internal EP process
The Conference of Presidents, the Bureau and the Quaestors are committed to full transparency in their decision-making. Therefore, the Agendas and Minutes of these governing bodies are available to Members and staff of Parliament and to the general public. Members and staff of Parliament have access to the Agendas and Minutes of these bodies via Parliament's Intranet. Agendas are usually published around a week before the meetings take place. Minutes are made available as soon as they have been adopted, which is normally on the day following the meeting on which they are placed on the agenda for adoption. In addition, the Agendas and Minutes of the Bureau and the Quaestors are also available via the website of the Secretariat of the Bureau and the Quaestors.
Agendas and Minutes of these governing bodies, which are translated into the official languages, are also available to the general public via the Public Register of Documents which can be accessed via Parliament's official website. Furthermore, Parliament's Intranet offers a compendium of rules, which includes relevant decisions of Parliament’s governing bodies.
2. Transparency of decision making process related to Plenary:
a) Agenda
− The Draft Agenda is adopted by the Conference of Presidents (CoP) around one month before the relevant part-session. A synoptic version is published both in English and French after the meeting of the CoP. The full version of the Draft Agenda is published on the website of the EP in all official languages at the beginning of the following week. It is also printed and available at the Distribution service. − The Final Draft Agenda is adopted by the CoP the week before the relevant part- session. As soon as the Draft Agenda is adopted by the CoP, the synoptic version of the Final Draft Agenda is published both in English and French after the meeting of the CoP on the EP website. The full version of the Final Draft Agenda is published on the EP website in all official languages the next day. It is printed in all languages and available at the Distribution service and also at the entrance of the Chamber before the opening of the part-session and during the first day of the part-session.
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− The Agenda is adopted by the Plenary at the opening of every part-session. As soon as the Agenda has been adopted, it is published under 'Priority information' on the website of the European Parliament. The synoptic version of the Agenda is published both in English and French as soon as possible after the adoption of the Agenda on the website of the EP. The full version of the Agenda is published on the website of the EP in all official languages usually not later than 2 hours after its adoption. It is printed in all languages and available at the Distribution service and also at the entrance of the Chamber. − The Daily Agenda is published on the website of the EP in all official languages. It is printed in all languages and available at the Distribution service and also available at the entrance of the Chamber until the end of the part-session.
b) Minutes:
− The minutes of the previous sitting, containing the proceedings of and decisions taken by the European Parliament, the attendance register, the ‘Results of votes’ and the ‘Results of roll-call votes’ annexes, are translated into all official languages and approved at the beginning of the afternoon period of each sitting (Rule 192, 2), are signed by the President of the sitting and by the Secretary-General, are preserved in the records of Parliament and published in the OJ (Rule 192 (4)). − The minutes are published on the EP website in all official languages in the morning after the sitting concerned and are available in the "Register of Documents". They are distributed before the beginning of the afternoon period of the next sitting (Rule 192, 1). The printed version is placed in the MEPs’ pigeon holes and can be found at the Distribution Service. − A provisional version of the ‘Results of roll-call votes’ annex is published on the EP website and at the latest two hours after Voting Time has finished, and is translated into all languages within two weeks. − A provisional version of the ‘Results of votes’ annex is published on the EP website towards the end of the afternoon. It is then translated and published in all languages in time for the approval of the Minutes. This annex records the result of votes taken by a show of hands, the numerical results of electronic and roll-call votes and other detailed information concerning each vote. − For 2013 the attendance register contained, in alphabetical order, only the names of Members who had signed. Since the modification of Rule 148 in March 2014, the attendance register records the names of the Members who have signed as "present" and the names of the Members excused by the President as "excused". The attendance register is published on the EP website the morning following each sitting. c) Texts Adopted
All texts adopted by the plenary, whether legislative or non-legislative, are published in a provisional version on the day of the vote and are available on Europarl and at the Distribution on the following morning. They are submitted to the plenary at the opening of the afternoon sitting of the following day, together with the Minutes.
Parliament's positions at first and second reading under the ordinary legislative procedure are published in the form of a consolidated text, containing the proposal submitted to Parliament and the amendments adopted.
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The final version of the Texts Adopted is published some months after their adoption, following legal-linguistic verification and signing of the resulting legislative acts.
In addition, in order to grant access to the general public, the Parliament’s services ensure the webstreaming of all plenary sessions (24 channels audio) and parliamentary committees in all official languages.. Every decision taken by the European Parliament as well as each official document related to the legislative work is published online on the Register of documents webpage. In order to allow an easier access to the EP documents, the Search Engine Optimization project was launched aiming to optimise the research on the EP website.
3. Transparency of decision making process related to Committees:
The draft Agenda is proposed by the coordinators and published on the public website of the EP in all official languages a few days before the Committee meeting. It is also sent by email to all Members concerned. The Agenda is adopted by the Committee at the opening of the meeting. The Committee meetings are in general broadcasted by webstreaming and thus available to the wide public in several languages.
The draft Minutes of the meetings are sent to the Members concerned by email with the other documents of the meeting on which they are placed on the agenda for adoption. Members receive also a hard copy of all these documents by internal mail. Minutes are made available to the public as soon as they have been adopted, which is normally on the day following the meeting on which they are placed on the agenda for adoption.
Documents discussed at the meetings of the Committees, such as Reports, Opinions, Amendments, Draft reports, Draft opinions, are also available to the wide public on several languages on Parliament’s website.
5. Quel est l'état des relations entre le PE et l'OLAF? Un cadre de fonctionnement a-t- il déjà été établi? Quel est le nombre de cas d’intervention de l’OLAF au Parlement en 2013 ?
The operating framework between OLAF and EP was set up by Regulation 883/2013, the inter-institutional agreement of May 1999 and Annex XI of the Regulation of the EP. These rules have been completed by in the 'Practical Arrangements' approved on 19 July 2013 by the Director of OLAF and the Secretary-General of the EP. They foresee technical and operational clarifications (transfer of mail, confidentiality, ect,..
6. How many and which internal audit reports for 2013 are now in the public domain and which ones are not?
The Internal Auditor has adopted ten reports for 2013, including the annual report. None of these is currently in the public domain. (Please note that each annual report is adopted in the year following that to which it pertains: thus Report 13/01 was the Annual Report for 2012 and Report 14/01 concerns 2013.)
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Public access to internal audit reports is only considered on request. Each request is examined in the light of the provisions of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001, which lays down conditions for and limits to public access to documents held by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, taking into account Article 99(6) of Regulation (EU) No. 966/2012 of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union.
Article 99(6) states that "the reports and findings of the internal auditor, as well as the report of the institution, shall be accessible to the public only after validation by the internal auditor of the action taken for their implementation". That means that internal audit reports (or portions thereof) may only be disclosed after the Internal Auditor has validated the audited services' implementation of all the actions resulting from the audit.
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President of the European Parliament
7. Why the function of the President of the European Parliament convey an allowance 365 days per year, which is meant to cover expenses incurred by Members during parliamentary activity periods and since when has this been payable?
On 20 March 1991 the Bureau decided to create a special budget item (1007) to enable the President to carry out adequately the duties incumbent on him as President of a Community Institution, by analogy with the corresponding provisions adopted by other institutions in this regard. This budget item was created to cover the flat-rate subsistence and representation allowances in connection with the duties of the President. The Bureau confirmed this arrangement at its meeting of 17 June 2009..
8. What distance did the car at the service of the President cover in 2013 and how much of this was the President actually in the car?
In total 146 160 km were driven with both service cars which are put at the disposal of the President. The President's presence in these cars is not recorded but is ruled by the rules concerning transport arrangement for the Members which strictly monitor the assignment and the official use of cars (Bureau Decision of 30/11/2011).
9. What privileges were accorded to former Presidents of the Parliament during 2013.
The decision of the Bureau of 11 November 2009 contains the list of privileges of former Presidents. Former Presidents of Parliament are entitled, during the remainder of their term of office as a Member, in Parliament's places of work, to offices equivalent to those provided for committee chairs. They are entitled to secretarial assistance (secondment of a category AST official or recruitment of a contract staff member) in order to help them deal with their correspondence and they are assigned a car with a driver for a period of two and a half years following the end of their term of office as President.
10. Pourquoi le Parlement est la seule institution européenne dont la décharge pour la gestion du budget de l'institution est donné à son Président et non au Secrétaire General?
The decision to grant discharge to the President has been explicitly taken in the European Parliament´s decision on the amendment of the provisions of Parliament's Rules of Procedure concerning the discharge procedure (2001/2060(REG)) of 23 October 2002, based on the proposal contained in Report A5-0308/2002 of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of 16 September 2002.
Granting discharge to the Secretary General instead of the President would leave the political level outside the accountability process and would not be in line with the role that the Rules of Procedure give to the President.
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According to the Rules of Procedure the President is directing all the activities of Parliament (rule 22.1 RoP), in particular he is representing the Parliament in all administrative matters (Rule 22.4 RoP), and he holds the power to incur and settle the expenditure of Parliament (Rule 98.1 RoP and Bureau decision of 16 June 2014 - PE422.541/BUR ).
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Members of the European Parliament
11. There have been reports that MEPs have hired their relatives as assistants or service providers in their offices in Brussels or their Member State from the envelope of Parliamentary Assistance Allowance? If yes could you please give more information about this situation in 2013 and the current state?
According to Article 43(d) of the Implementing Measures for the Statute for Members adopted in July 2008, MEPs are not entitled to employ their spouses or stable non-marital partners or their parents, children, brothers or sisters as assistants. This prohibition applies as from the 2009-2014 term. As a transitional measure, Article 78 of the above rules also permitted that contracts concluded before 1 July 2008 directly or indirectly with the members of MEPs’ families could remain in force for the 2009-2014 term period. Members were required to give details of any such directly or indirectly contracts in their declarations of financial interests and those were also published on the EP’s website.
As of July 2014, the above mentioned transitional measures are no longer in force. When recruiting assistants, all Members are required to confirm in writing that they comply with this restriction.
12. Could you please indicate how many and which MEPs (regardless of their nationality) hired their relatives as assistants or service providers from the envelope of the Parliamentary Assistance Allowance in 2013?
As mentioned in the reply to the previous question, the rules prohibited entering into any new such contract as from the beginning of the 2009-2014 term. A small number of such contracts, concluded before 1 July 2008, remained in force during that period. Employment of relatives had to be clearly stated in the declaration of financial interests of those concerned MEPs and it was published on Parliament’s internet site. There was no other report issued on this matter as the declarations were available online and ensured a full transparency. The number of MEPs concerned is not available as the informatics system for the management of the assistants do not track this kind of information. There is no such contract in force anymore since 1 July 2014.
13. Could you please indicate how many relatives of MEPs were employed as assistants or service providers with other MEPs that are members of the same political group or come from the same member state in 2013?
When hiring a parliamentary assistant, be it local or accredited, both the Member and the prospective assistant are required to confirm in writing that the contract will not be affected by a situation of conflict of interests. Parliament has no means to investigate all parental relations of all assistants, therefore it has to rely on the declaration signed by the MEP and the assistant.
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14. How many former MEPs worked for the Parliament as advisors, contract agents or others in 2013? What were/are their tasks and their respective salaries?
The information on former MEPs working after their mandate in Parliament became relevant under the new statute, as transitional allowances to former MEPs cannot be paid, once they receive remuneration from public sources. However, before this, Parliament did not hold a specific database of these cases as it was not relevant to the EP budget. The DG in charge proposes to make a backward comparison between the lists of names (former MEPs / persons working for the institution) and will inform the Committee once this work has been finalised.
15. In how many cases did the check on the Declarations of Members Financial Interests in 2013 establish that they were incorrect or incomplete? What action was undertaken to remedy the shortcomings in those declarations?
Parliament's Administration implemented the following checks, according to the rules in force15: − a review of all the declarations already available and published on the Europarl website on 1 July 2013, as well as all the declarations and their subsequent amendments submitted as of that date; − a general plausibility check, by default, of any entirely blank declaration (i.e. containing no other element than the name, date and signature of the Member); − a general plausibility check, by default, of any declaration which contained no information filed under Section (A) even if some other sections were filed in. Indeed, Section (A) covers the Members' occupations during the three-year period before taking up office with the Parliament and it is obvious that apart from a very few exceptions (e.g. former students, unemployed, pensioners, etc.), most Members undertook some occupation before taking up their parliamentary functions.
As a result the administration:
− identified 174 declarations either entirely blank or with a blank Section (A), of which. 116 submitted by re-elected Members (who should have indicated being MEP in section (A); − identified 9 declarations manifestly illegible or incomprehensible; − formally requested these 183 Members to clarify their declarations of financial interests within 30 days; − received 161 amended declarations of financial interests, subsequently published online. The other 22 Members could legitimately argue why their respective declarations should remain unchanged, e.g. if they undertook indeed no activity at all before taking up functions with the Parliament.
15 Following the entry into force on 1 July 2013 of the Implementing Measures for the Code of Conduct for Members with respect to financial interests and conflicts of interest, the Secretary-General designated the Member's Administration Unit (MAU) as the competent service to perform, on behalf of the President, a "general plausibility check for clarification purposes (...) where there is reason to think that a declaration contains manifestly erroneous, flippant, illegible or incomprehensible information", in accordance with Article 9 of the Implementing Measures.
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16. After the measures taken in accordance with the resolution of 10 May 2011, what are the estimated savings on the MEP travel expenses since then?
The EP’s resolution of 10 May 2011 was the first step to initiate savings through reducing Members' travel and subsistence expenses. The EP’s resolution of 26 October 2011 asked the Bureau to find ways of making a 5% saving in this respect. The related measures adopted by the Bureau have been implemented in two stages.
The first, already in operation in the 2012 financial year, consisted in not applying the indexation of MEPs’ allowances foreseen under Article 69 of the Implementing Measures for the Statute for Members (IMSM). The second stage comprised a set of measures which have been applied from 1 January 2013 onwards:
− Air travel: use of business (D) class instead of full business class; incentive to use the cheapest fares arranged by the travel agency under contract to Parliament; promotion of the use of economy class for short journeys. − Travel by car: 1 000 km ceiling per journey (outward or return) − Abolishing reimbursement for intermediate journeys during constituency weeks and for a second intermediate journey during other working weeks. − Closure of the central register on Fridays of constituency weeks.
The estimated savings of these measures amounted to EUR 5 600 000 for the period 2012- 2014 and will keep generating savings in further years too (3 Mio. in 2013).
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Cour des langues pour les députés
17. En 2013, combien de MEPs ont suivi des cours de langues individuels auprès des professeurs mis à leur disposition par le Parlement européen? Quel a été le coût de ces cours?
112 MEPs took 1 871 hours of language tuition with in-house language teachers. Members have at their disposal a virtual envelope of maximum 5 000€/year. 40€ are deducted for each lesson taken.
18. En 2013, combien de MEPs ont suivi des cours en dehors du Parlement, auprès d'un organisme habilité de leur choix? Quels ont été les lieux de formation? Quel a été le coût de ces cours?
165 MEPs took external courses in Brussels, Strasbourg, in their constituencies or abroad in one of the EU countries (mainly UK, Malta, France, Spain, Italy and Germany). The global amount reimbursed to these MEPs was EUR 521 313 in 2013. This total amount includes tuition fees, travel costs and daily allowances.
19. En 2013, combien de MEPs ont sollicité et combien ont obtenu le remboursement "sous certaines conditions" des frais de voyage et de séjour, en sus de leur enveloppe budgétaire annuelle prévu à ce sujet pour les cours de langues hors du Parlement et hors leur pays d'origine? Sur quelle ligne budgétaire sont imputés ces frais supplémentaires? Quel a été le coût des formations elles-mêmes? Quelle est la valeur ajoutée et le suivi et évaluation de cette formation?
The European Parliament is a unique working place with 24 working languages. Although Parliament provides its Members with language services in the field of interpretation and translation, it remains still essential for Members to be able to communicate efficiently in foreign languages, at least in languages commonly used in the EP.
75 MEPs obtained the reimbursement of their travel costs and daily allowances in relation to language courses outside of Brussels, Strasbourg and outside of the Member State in which they were elected. This is a standard procedure defined in the relevant Bureau decision. It is these rules that state also that the EUR 5 000 annual envelope applies to the course fees, but not to the travel expenses and daily allowances. All the expenses are charged to budget item 1050. The total amount spent to tuition fees was EUR 145 401. The cost for travel expenses and daily allowances amounted to EUR 167 147.
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General Expenditure and Daily Allowance
20. The amount of 4 299 is the maximum amount MEPs may request as GEA. How many MEPs used the full amount? How many MEPs returned (part of) the GEA afterwards? What amount of funds was thus left either unused (because MEPs did not ask for the full allowance to be paid to them) or was returned afterwards?
All Members except 5 requested the full amount in 201316. The appropriations left unused amounted to EUR 145 116. In addition, 7 Members reimbursed to Parliament EUR 90 935, corresponding to a part of the full amount they initially received. The total amounts thus reimbursed correspond to 0.6% of the appropriations.
21. What precise costs are covered by the Daily Allowance of MEPs? What costs are covered by the Distance Allowance of MEPs?
The subsistence allowance (“daily allowance”) is a flat-rate sum, fixed at EUR 304 without indexation between 2011 and 2014, which is intended to cover all costs incurred by the Member at the place of work or the venue of the meeting, mainly accommodation expenses and meals. The amount of the allowance and the implementing rules are set by the Bureau.
The distance and duration allowances cover all expenses related to ordinary journeys, such as parking charges, motorway tolls, reservation fees, excess baggage charges and all other reasonable expenses. Members are entitled to a distance allowance and a duration allowance in respect of journeys within the EU. This entitlement applies to one ordinary return journey per Parliament working week, referred to as the main journey. These allowances are not payable in respect of journeys undertaken using a means of transport made available by Parliament
Political Parties and Political Groups
22. Could the EP give an exhaustive and detailed explanation about the funding of European political parties and European political foundations?
Exhaustive and detailed explanation about the funding of European political parties and European political foundations is available on Parliament’s website, at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/00264f77f5/Grants-to-political-parties- and-foundations.html (section About Parliament/At your service/Contracts and grants/Grants to political parties and foundations).
16 According to article 25 of the Implementing Measures for theSstatute for Members of the European Parliament, “Members shall be entitled to a general expenditure allowance in the form of a lump sum to cover expenses which arise in the course of their parliamentary activities.”
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23. Could you please indicate the total budget for each Political Party in 2013? What was the contribution from the European Parliament's budget? Is there any demand that the Parties should finance at least some of their own activities through other sources (v.g. Membership fees)?
15 % of eligible expenditure and all non-eligible expenditure must be financed by own resources (i.e. membership fees, contributions and donations) of the parties, since the grant can not exceed 85% of those expenditure. This is defined in Article 10, paragraph 2 of the Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003.
Total 2013 revenue and EP grant amounts for each party are shown in the following table:
Total revenue and EP grant of political parties at European level (2013, in thousand EUR) Own Total Grant as % of Party EP grant resources revenue (1) eligible expend. European People's Party (EPP) 1.439 6.464 9.729 85% Party of European Socialists (PES) 1.283 4.985 6.841 85% Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe-Party (ALDE) 518 2.232 3.009 85% European Green Party (EGP) 461 1.563 2.151 78% Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) 307 1.403 1.970 85% Party of the European Left (EL) 233 948 1.180 68% European Democratic Party (EDP/PDE) 91 437 528 85% EUDemocrats (EUD) 48 197 245 85% European Free Alliance (EFA) 93 439 592 85% European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) 61 305 366 85% European Alliance for Freedom (EAF) 68 384 452 85% European Alliance of National Movements (AEMN) 53 350 403 85% Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (MELD) 107 594 833 85% Total 4.762 20.301 28.299 83% (1): Total revenue includes previous year's carry-over in accordance with Article 125(6) of the Financial Regulation
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24. What was the number of staff employed by the political Parties in 2013 compared to 2012? Please give detail for the evolution of staff expenses by the political parties in the same period.
Staff of political parties at European level
Political Staff expenses (in thousand EUR) Number of the staff employed (FTE) party 2013 2012 change 2013 2012 change EPP 2.976 2.719 9% 28 26 7% PES 3.052 2.794 9% 31 35 -10% ALDE 1.090 871 25% 12 11 8% EGP 688 498 38% 14 11 30% EL 304 308 -1% 4 4 0% PDE 60 16 273% 1 1 0% EFA 193 176 10% N/A N/A - AECR 178 103 73% N/A N/A - EAF 152 148 3% - - - EUD 66 59 11% 1 1 0% ECPM 129 128 1% 2 - - MELD 124 122 2% N/A N/A - AEMN ------Total 9.011,1 7.940,4 13% 94 89,0 5%
25. What salary structures apply in the political groups?
The temporary and contract staff employed in the political groups have the same salary structures as the ones employed in the General Secretariat.
Article 66 of the Staff Regulations sets out the basic monthly salary structure officials and temporary staff.
Article 93 of the CEOS (Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union) sets out the salary structure for contract staff.
The staff regulations can be found at the following page: http://www.epintranet.ep.parl.union.eu/intranet/ep/lang/en/content/administrative_life/personn el/staff_rules/staff_regulations#10
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Contracts awarded in 2013
26. All contracts awarded by the European Parliament that are greater in value than EUR 15 000 have to be entered in the WebContracts register17 (with informational details of varying degree). In 2012, 7 contracts had to be added to the register of contracts after the closing date, after the list was sent to publication. Those contracts had a volume of EUR 5.3 Mio. In 2013, however, 20 contracts needed to be “corrected” and were entered into the Webregister after it was send to publication, their total value being EUR 143 Mio. Could you please explain for each contract why the responsible Directorate had not entered the contract before publication?
The use of Webcontracts has been implemented gradually since 2011, first for the registration of awarded procurements and in 2012 and 2013 for contracts.
At this time, technical difficulties were encountered and internal and inter-institutional administrative workflows were not fully aligned, resulting in delays in the procedures. Since then, improvements have been made by the DGs concerned. DG ITEC has reinforced its contractual management capacity as from January 2014, aiming at a more centralised approach and an efficient "streamlining" of the process.
The Secretary-General has taken note of the omission to register a number of contracts timely in Webcontracts, following submission by the responsible services of the draft Report on Contracts awarded. In a note of 16 October 2014 D (2014) 38592 to the Authorizing Officers by delegation, the Secretary-General has again insisted on timely and accurate registration in Webcontracts as the Institution’s central management and reporting tool.
It should be noted that the omission to register the contracts does not affect the legality and regularity of the procurement process and that, with a view to accurate and transparent reporting, they were listed in the abovementioned report in a corrigendum.
27. One of these late contracts was a contract worth EUR 94.6 Mio awarded by DG ITEC using an open procedure for the acquisition of hardware, software, solutions and services, linked to an EP database infrastructure. Lot 1 was successfully awarded.
i) To which contractor and for what period? ii) What are the results of the contract? iii) Why was the procedure for lot 2 unsuccessful? iv) What were the consequences and implications of the unsuccessful procedure of lot 2?
This concerns the procurement procedure ITC_SOL, and the details are the following:
17 pursuant to Article 103 of the Financial Regulation as well as Articles 123 and 124 Rules of Application and pursuant to paragraph 35 of the European Parliament’s resolution of 23 April 2009 and paragraph 61 of the European Parliament’s resolution of 5 May 2010.
Page 35 of 123 i) Fujitsu Technology Solutions (2 years with yearly extensions limited to 4) ii) The framework contract is being executed as expected. iii) A claim from a potential tenderer led the Authorising Officer to declare the lot unsuccessful. iv) There were no consequences as it was possible to join an inter-institutional procedure rather quickly afterwards to procure the same items.
28. Could you please explain, which Oracle licenses and associated maintenance and further specialised Oracle IT services were contracted and for what period using the negotiation procedure worth EUR 11.6 Mio. and why this contract was registered late?
Late registration was due to the same reasons as outlined in Q.26 (inter-institutional procedure).
The European Commission concluded a negotiated procurement procedure and signed on 19 February 2013 an inter-institutional framework contract for a period of 4 years, acting on its own behalf and on behalf of other institutions, agencies and bodies for the acquisition of Oracle software licenses and associated services. The amount of EUR 11.6 Mio corresponds to the total estimated value of the needs for the European Parliament, covering the period from February 2013 to February 2017. The European Parliament uses Oracle licenses and associated services in the areas of database management systems and eBusiness Suite Human Resources Management (Streamline).
However, given it is an inter-institutional Framework Contract, additional information can only be provided after consultation with the European Commission, leader of this public procurement.
29. Could you please inform, for which Microsoft software products and licences, respectively and for what period, the contract worth EUR 6.8 Mio. under inter- institutional licence contracts (ILA) was awarded in an open procedure and why was it registered late?
The late registration can be explained by the same reasons as for Q.26 and Q.28 (inter- institutional procedure).
As for Q.28, the inter-institutional licence contract was concluded by the European Commission on 1 March 2012 for a period of 2 years and annual tacit renewal of up to 2 years. The amount of EUR 6.8 Mio corresponds to the total estimated value of the needs for the European Parliament during the duration of this framework contract. The European Parliament uses Microsoft software products and licenses of the categories client products (such as MS Office), server products (Windows server, Exchange Server, Share Point, System Management, Security Products, SQL Server, Project Server) and development products (Visual studio).
However, given it is an inter-institutional Framework Contract, additional information can only be provided after consultation with the European Commission, leader of this public procurement.
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30. Could you please give more information for which external network services and for what period a contract worth EUR 10 660 355,91 was awarded in an open procedure and why it was registered late?
Late registration can be explained by the same reasons as for Q.26 Q.28 and Q.29 (inter- institutional procedures).
The contract was awarded following the ENS II inter-institutional procedure led by the European Commission, after an open call for tender procedure.
The general purpose of ENS II is the provision of a set of Supply of Services:
1. WAN services: IP connectivity to remote sites of the Commission/respective European Institutions, Agencies or Bodies, 2. Remote Access Services: dial-up, satellite based emergency communication services and teleworking, 3. Internet Fall-back services, 4. Consultancy services.
Concerning the European Parliament, it addresses the Wide Area Network connecting all remote buildings as well as Information offices to headquarters. It concerns also teleworking and Internet fall back services (see reply to question 2 as well).
31. Could you please give the specific reasons that justified the negotiation procedure under Article 126(1)(b) of the Implementation Rules to the Financial Regulation for the supply of electronic voting equipment and services relating to the installation, upgrading, maintenance and monitoring of the development of the electronic voting system at Parliament worth 12 000 000. With how many candidates did the Parliament negotiate? Who is the contractor? Why was it registered late?
The initial contract for the supply, installation, implementation and development of electronic voting systems (equipment and software) was awarded at the end of 2007 through an open call for tender to the EUREL Group, Luxembourg. The duration of this initial contract was four years. The EP electronic voting architecture was especially designed according to the Parliament's requests by EUREL Group. After expiry of the initial contract, the following contract was for technical reasons related to the specificity and customisation of the electronic voting system, its high level of security and for reasons connected to the protection of intellectual property, awarded to the aforementioned former laureate on basis of an exclusive negotiated procedure (Article 126(1)(b) former IR) .
32. Could you please inform us about the specific reasons that justified the negotiation procedure under Article 126(1)(b) of the Implementation Rules to the then Financial Regulation or the renting of offices in Rome for the Europe House worth 3 075 953. Why was it registered late? With how many candidates did the Parliament negotiate? Who was the contractor? Why were the offices rented?
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This negotiated procedure falls under the category of Article 126 (1)(h) of the Implementation Rules to the then Financial Regulation: "Use of a negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice for building contracts, after prospecting the local market." In the specific case of Rome, only very few buildings satisfied the requirements of a Europe House within the desired area, both for rent and for purchase. For this reason, the negotiations with the owner of the previously occupied building were initiated and approved by the Bureau at its reunion of 19 November 2012.
In application of the Bureau’s decision of 19.11.2013, the Committee on Budgets was informed about the project by letter from the President of 18.12.2012. The Financial Regulation in force at that time did not require an opinion of the Committee on budgets for this kind of projects.
33. Could you please explain the specific reasons that justified the use of a negotiated procedure pursuant to Article 126(1)(b) of the IR for a supplementary agreement to a framework contract for the purchase of furniture and more specifically lot 2 for the purchase of high-end office furniture worth 60 000. What furniture was ordered? In which offices is it now used? With how many candidates did the Parliament negotiate? Who was the contractor? Why was it registered late?
The supplementary agreement was established for the whole contract according to article 126.1 b) of the former implementing rules (technical reasons) so as to have a continuity for the type of furniture purchased.
There were no purchases made for the amount in question. The amount of EUR 60 000 was the maximum amount allowed by the supplementary agreement to the contract AC PE 2004/19 AR MOB signed in 2012 to cover the period until a new contract was signed. However, no purchases of 'high-end office furniture' were done through this supplementary agreement.
Parliament’s administration started to register the contracts of this category of value in WebContracts during 2013, as this obligation did not exist before. All contracts have now been registered and all new contracts are registered by default.
34. Could you please explain the specific reasons that justified the use of a negotiated procedure pursuant to Article 126(1)(b) comprising maintenance contracts for five service cars worth 50 446. For which service cars and for what period? For what purpose are the service cars used? With how many candidates did the Parliament negotiate? Who was the contractor? Why was it registered late?
The use of maintenance contracts has proven to be a more economical way to deal with the service cars in Parliament's car fleet. Under this contract, most of the reparations for the service cars are taken in charge by the contractors.
The contractors are selected from among the garages servicing the brands of cars Parliament has purchased. These contractors have the best technical knowledge and expertise and render direct services at the best price since they can deliver without any intermediaries. When a low value contract is to be awarded, as regards the choice of candidates, the contracting authority must invite at least three candidates (five candidates before 2013), for a contract with a value
Page 38 of 123 of more than EUR 15 000 and not exceeding EUR 60 000 under a negotiated procedure (article 104 of FR and 137 of RAP). The only other requirement imposed by the rules is the compliance with the principles common to all public contracts, namely transparency, proportionality, equal treatment and non-discrimination. These requirements have been followed for the purchase of the vehicles. For reasons of quality, guarantee and expertise the maintenance was also given to the contractor chosen.
These particular contracts were signed for five Mercedes 'Viano' vehicles, for the duration of 72 months or 150 000 km. These vehicles are used for the transport of Members and official delegations visiting the EP, e.g. transport of Members from the airport to the EP. Furthermore, these cars respond to the environmental and operational request to encourage grouped transport for Members, in accordance with article 4 of the Annex to the Rules governing transport arrangements for Members (Bureau decision of 30/11/2011).
The responsible unit started to register the contracts of this category of value in WebContracts during 2013, as this obligation did not exist before. All contracts have now been registered and all new contracts are registered by default.
35. Could you please inform us about the specific reasons that justified the use of a negotiated procedure pursuant to Article 126(1)(b) comprising a maintenance contract for a vehicle worth 16 225.20. For which vehicle and for what period? For what purpose is the vehicle used? With how many candidates did the Parliament negotiate? Who was the contractor? Why was it registered late?
A Volkswagen Phaeton was bought with contractor D'IETEREN which is the only contractor providing a guarantee for this type of vehicle. For reasons of guarantee and expertise the maintenance was also given to a Volkswagen garage. The guarantee covers 72 months or 180 000 km. The car is used for the official transport of the Deputy Secretary-General.
The responsible unit started to register the contracts of this category of value in WebContracts during 2013, as this obligation did not exist before. All contracts have now been registered and all new contracts are registered by default.
36. Could you please explain the specific reasons that justified the use of a negotiated procedure pursuant to Article 126(1)(b) for a supplementary agreement to a framework contract for the purchase of furniture and more specifically lot 1 for the purchase of coat racks. Where are the coat racks installed now? Who is the contractor? With how many candidates did the Parliament negotiate? Why was it registered late?
The provider was contracted to guarantee the visual and functional uniformity and technical compliance with the product that is already used in the EP. The coat racks are mobile and used in all premises of the EP in front of official parliamentary meetings.
The responsible unit started to register the contracts of this category of value in WebContracts during 2013, as this obligation did not exist before. All contracts have now been registered and all new contracts are registered by default.
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37. Could you please explain the specific reasons for the use of a negotiated procedure pursuant to Article 126(1)(b) for a contract worth 56 000 concerning cards for the supply of fuel and other expenditure on the vehicle fleet. What cards are meant? With how many candidates did the Parliament negotiate? Who is the contractor? Could you please explain the purpose and duration of this contract? Why was it registered late?
An inter-institutional call for tender on the supply of fuel for vehicles was organised earlier and signed in 2013. The services rendered by the inter-institutional contractor did not entirely cover the specific needs of the Parliament, in particular as regards the geographical coverage (Strasbourg) creating and emergency for business continuity for European Parliament cars. Therefore, the Parliament was obliged to organise a separate negotiated procedure to cover this deficit. The negotiations took place with one candidate who already had a contract with the Parliament, to cover a transitional period. The contract was awarded to the company DKV in 2012. DKV uses a card system for managing the supply of fuel for vehicles. The duration of this contract was limited to one year with a possible extension of one year in order to organise and launch a new call for tender. It was foreseen to organise a new call for tender for this service in 2014. This negotiated procedure (on the basis of article 135 of the Rules of Application of the Financial Regulation) has been finalised in 2014 and a new contract for 4 years has now been signed with the company UTA.
The responsible unit started to register the contracts of this category of value in WebContracts during 2013, as this obligation did not exist before. All contracts have now been registered and all new contracts are registered by default.
38. In 43% of contracts awarded by the DG PRES negotiation procedures were used above any other DG. 15 of these contracts concerned online databases and technical equipment. Could you please list the contracts, contractors, purpose, duration, terms and volume of the 17 contracts? Could you please also explain how the databases and technical equipment is used?
The concerned contracts relate to database subscriptions for Parliament’s Library. The remit of the Library is to provide a non-partisan documentary research and information service on any subject relevant to the work of the European Parliament. Databases are chosen according to the type and quality of the information available, in order to provide high quality services to Members according to their needs, and therefore the normal procurement procedures are not suitable. The aim of offering access to databases is to provide Members of the European Parliament with independent, objective and authoritative information resources on policy issues relating to the European Union. Databases are used daily by Members and staff of the EP in order to support parliamentary work. Databases are a purely internal service, not made available to external visitors. The Library's intranet can be accessed from computers connected to the Parliament's network in the three main places of work and its information offices. Certain sections may be accessed by Library clients working away from the Parliament's buildings by means of a secure extranet link.
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In 2013, 14 contracts were awarded following an exceptional negotiated procedure. The list of contracts is the following:
Contract Contractor Purpose Cost over whole Duration period Subscription to parts of Lexis EP/DGPRES/BIB Lexis Nexis not covered by Factiva 4 years EUR 257 892.00 /SER/2013-040N Nexis (Dutch News Service) IHS EP/DGPRES/BIB Subscription to IHS Global Global 4 years EUR 164 000.00 /SER/2013-031N Insight S.A. EP/DGPRES/BIB Tomson Subscription to legal database 4 years EUR 89 200.00 /SER/2013-047N Reuters Westlaw International LD EP/DGPRES/BIB Subscription to the Database Service 1 year EUR 18 500.00 /SER/2013/059N OECD + Statistiques AIE Sprl EP/DGPRES/BIB Informa Subscription to Agra Europe 1 year EUR 36 000.00 /SER/2013/051N Ltd EP/DGPRES/BIB Polityka Subscription to Polityka Insight 1 year EUR 17 029.33 /SER/2013-057N Insight Service Taylor and EP/DGPRES/BIB Francis Subscription to Europe World 4 years EUR 30 916.67 /SER/2013-050N Group and Plus service database Informa Business Bloomber EP/DGPRES/BIB Subscription to Bloomberg g Finance 1 year EUR 39 420.00 /SER/2013-036N Government online database L.P. BNS EP/DGPRES/BIB Baltic Subscription to Baltic News 1 year EUR 22 754.76 /SER/2013-034N News Service Service Subscription to the online EP/DGPRES/BIB Complex Hungarian Law database 4 years EUR 16 192.00 /SER/2013-028N Kiado Kft COMPLEX DPA EP/DGPRES/BIB Deutsche Subscription to DPA-Insight EU 9 months EUR 26 250.00 /SER/2013-009N Presse Information Service Agentur Bureau de EP/DGPRES/BIB Subscription to NBN Salle de Normalisa 4 years EUR 20 919.00 /SER/2013-058N lecture tion NBN MedieArk EP/DGPRES/BIB ivet Subscription to MedieArkivet 4 years EUR 38 000.00 /SER/2013/005N Svenska Svenska databases AB
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Roubini EP/DGPRES/BIB Global Subscription to Roubini Global 1 year USD 15 000.00 /SER/2013/109N Economic Economics research services s
39. DG IPOL used two negotiation procedures. One of these procedures “concerned a contract whose implementation could only be entrusted to a particular economic operator (Article 134(1) (b))”. What was the reason therefore? Who was the economic operator? What were the specific reasons that justified the use of 134(1) (b) of the RAP? What was the contract about? What was the other contract about for which also a negotiation procedure was used?
DG IPOL made use of two negotiated procedures on the basis of Art. 134.1 of the Rules of Application of the Financial Regulation.
1. In March 2013, the Conference of Presidents authorised the sending of an EP delegation of 10 Members, composed from the ENVI and ITRE Committees, to the high– level segment of the Climate Change Conference (COP19) in Warsaw, in November 2013. In view of the special nature of COP19, the EP Delegation organised a side event on 20 November 2013. Due to the fact that the venue of this conference was the National Stadium facilities in Warsaw, the EP's side event needed to take place within these premises. Also, adequate working conditions with some office space, within these premises, needed to be ensured for the EP delegation. The sole operator of the National Stadium was PL.2012+ SP.z.o.o, with whom an agreement was signed for the rental of office space, equipment and services, for the duration of the Conference, from 10 to 23 November 2013. The total amount was EUR 20 725.33. The use of an exceptional negotiated procedure as foreseen in the Rules of Application under Article 134 1.b) was considered the best solution in terms of economy, efficiency and effectiveness, which are the principles of sound financial management laid down in Article 30 of the Financial Regulation.
2. In 2010, DG IPOL commissioned from the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence a study on "How to create a transnational European party system". It focused mainly on the challenges related to the 2004/2007 enlargements and examined the prospects for a harmonization of electoral law, including party financing systems. In view of the later developments, the Committee on Constitutional Affaires requested an update of this study in order to show the changes in party positioning, ideological coherence and with regard to the adoption of the Statue of European Political Parties. On the basis of Article 134.1.e) of the Rules of Application, DG IPOL considered it appropriate to use the same consultant who carried out the initial study because of the advantages, not only in terms of continuity and simplifying procedures, but also in terms of Art. 30 of the Financial Regulation referring to sound financial management. The additional contract amount was EUR 30 000, not exceeding 50 % of the value of the initial contract.
40. Could you please give the specific reasons, procedure details and the purpose of the 14 contracts awarded using a negotiation procedure by DG INLO?
The reasons for using a negotiation procedure are shown in a table in annex.
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41. Could you please give detailed Information regarding the two supply contracts valued at more than 31 m (term: 96 months) and 40 m (term: 108 months) for the sale to the EU Institutions of complex hardware and informatics services (MEQIII) and for the supply (purchase, rental or leasing) of complex and non-complex IT equipment and the provision of maintenance, documentation or other services relating to these products?
Both contracts are inter-institutional framework contracts, which were signed by the Commission on behalf of all other Institutions or Agencies, after an open call for tender procedure.
The framework contract MEQ III with a total share for the European Parliament of EUR 31.1 Mio. concerns the acquisition of special IT equipment, accessories and associated services (maintenance, professional services).
The breakdown of the costs over the duration of the framework contract is as follows (amounts in EUR Mio.): Devices18 Services PDA Energy Total Total Accessories Total Total without phones (without without with PDAs & & Energy) energy and security tablets tablets with margin accessories (15%)
22.3 0.8 1.8 0.1 24.9 25.0 2.2 27.1 31.2
The framework contract APS III with a total share of the European Parliament of EUR 40.5 Mio. covers the acquisition of x86 server systems with associated equipment (options and extensions), maintenance, upgrades accessories and associated services.
The breakdown of the costs over the duration of the framework contract is as follows (amounts in EUR Mio.):
Purchase Standard Critical Associated Professional Moves 10% Total Maintenance Maintenance Equipment Service Reserve
9.2 0.1 3.0 3.7 20.7 0.1 3.7 40.5
42. Could you please explain the following contract and its purpose?
This contract (Order Form number PRES/PRO/2013/312) was signed following a restricted procedure (EP/DGPRES/PRO/FOUR/2013/014R) under the C.E.I (Call for Expression of Interest) published in the OJEU 2012/S 124-204017 of 30 June 2012.
18 Mainly notebooks, netbooks, bar code equipment and readers.
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Its purpose was the purchase of Ties for men (800 units with two different motifs, 400 each) and Scarfs for women (100) used as Protocol gifts for guests of the European parliament.
43. Could you please explain the following contract and its purpose. Could you please also give the specific reasons that justified the negotation procedure in Article 134. With how many candidates was negotiated? Which other funds were paid to the contractor? Could you please specify what was supplied?
This contract is a contract related to security issues; therefore no further information can be given on this contract. If the rapporteur is interested in further information he can receive it via the Cabinet of the Secretary General.
44. In 2013 a contract was awarded for the development on online ergonomics: Could you please give more information on the costs incurred and how many contracts of what volume were awarded by the European Parliament in the years 2009 - 2013 for v) the maintenance? vi) the design development? vii) the layouting? viii) and other services related to the websites of the European Parliament?
With regard to the Framework Contract EP/DGPRES/BIB/SER/2013/006 a total of three specific order forms were issued in 2013 for a total amount of EUR 126 359. The tasks performed relate to design development and layout exclusively. No maintenance or other services were ordered.
45. Could you please inform us about the reasons why the office in Athens concluded two contracts for security services in 2013 one with ISS and one with G4S?
In Athens, the EP's information office doesn't share the premises with the EC Representation. Therefore, each Institution had until recently its own contract for security services. In the context of the inter-institutional cooperation, the EP was associated to the open tender procedure launched by the EC for the renewal of the security services. At that time, the security contract was running until 31 March 2013 and could not be extended. In order to line up with the calendar of the EC tender and maintain service continuity, the EP had to award,
Page 44 of 123 through a negotiated procedure with three tenderers, a 6-months contract to ISS, extended until 31 January 2014.
In the meantime and before the expiry of the ISS contract, the EC and the EP awarded the open tender, for their respective lot, to G4S for 5 years starting on 1 February 2014.
Two tenders were thus awarded in 2013 for the same type of services but performed at different periods of time.
46. Could you please explain the purpose and details of the following contract and costs incurred in 2013?
This contract (Order Form number PRES/PRO/2013/123) was signed following a restricted procedure (EP/DGPRES/PRO/FOUR/2013/004R) under the C.E.I (Call for Expression of Interest) published in the OJEU 2012/S 124-204017 of 30. June 2012.
Its purpose was the purchase of 3 types of watches for men and women for a total of 1 200 units used as Protocol gifts for guests of the European parliament. These watches were delivered and paid in 2013 for an amount of 63 000.The watches are used as official gifts during Parliaments delegation visits according to strict rules laid down by the protocol service.
47. Could you please explain the purpose and details of the following contracts respectively and costs incurred in 2013 :
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The purpose and details of the aforementioned contracts and the costs incurred in 2013 are as follows:
Contract with National Air Cargo Deutschland, Frankfurt a.M.
Purpose of the contract was the transportation of materials, IT and technical equipment from Brussels to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in connection with the 26th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, and return transportation to Brussels. As the actual freight was less than initially expected, the actual costs incurred in 2013 were with EUR 14 204 below estimation.
Contract with Alpha Trans, Berlin
The framework contract was signed by the EP Information Office in Berlin and covered the storage and distribution of publications and PR material produced in-house. The real costs incurred in 2013 amounted to EUR 5 060 (the framework contract entered into force only on 11 December 2013).
Contract with Archimedes Exhibitions, Berlin
The EP Information Office in The Hague signed a contract for the acquisition of a “Giga Smartphone” a firmly fixed, touch-screen type device through which the users have easily accessible electronic information related to the EP. A tender procedure under Article 134b was chosen since the entire software was already produced exclusively for EuroparlTV and already installed in Brussels and Strasbourg. Since the software was fully developed in advance, the contract covered a total amount of EUR 44 848.00 including only costs for hardware, transport and installation.
Contract with Art Group Marketing, Budapest
The contract concluded by the EP Information Office in Budapest covered all organisational aspects and the implementation of Regional Discussion forums aiming to bring together MEPs, stakeholders, EU experts and the general public at the regional and local level raising awareness about key legislative issues. The costs incurred in 2013 related to this contract amounted to EUR 10 790 and covered two Regional Discussion forums in two regional cities: Pécs and Debrecen with the participations of 2 Hungarian MEPs and 228 participants.
Contract with Autotech Teknikiformation, Skelleftea/ Sweden
The framework contract signed by the EP Information office in Stockholm (which entered into force on 27 March 2013 and covered the period from June to December 2013) covered storage and distribution across Sweden of publications produced by the EPIO, centrally produced brochures as well as an information package for the use of teachers. Real expenditure amounted to EUR 3 597.
Contract with Leaseplan, Luxembourg
The framework contract was signed in May 2013, following an inter-institutional call for tender with the aim to use long term leasing for new vehicles (if required) for the use of the
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Parliament. One vehicle has been leased and the lease contract started in 2013 for 4 months and continues in 2014 until 2016.
Contract with Wolters Kluwer, London
The purpose of this contract was the purchasing of consultancy services, in relation to the migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 in order to guarantee the operational capability of the Internal Auditor team. EUR 21 831 were paid on this contract.
48. Could you please indicate where and how many of the 22 electrical bicycles are used?
The electrical bicycles are available in Brussels (8), Luxembourg (4) and Strasbourg (10) on ad hoc demand by Members and the staff of the Institution in accordance with the Bureau Rules governing the bicycles service. There were no electric bikes in 2013. They were ordered at the end of 2013 and delivered during summer 2014, so they were not used in 2013.
49. Could you please explain how and why the European Parliament compensates ECOACT for the emission of global warming gases by the European Parliament? What does ECOACT do with the money? What service does the European Parliament receive in return?
Parliament's environmental policy, as implemented in the EMAS[1] Action Plan, is based on the principle of preventing emissions and, where emissions are unavoidable, of limiting them. However, emissions cannot be reduced to zero and, where emissions cannot be limited any further, other options have to be explored. In this context, CO2 offsetting, i.e. the purchase of carbon offsets to compensate for the purchaser's own emissions, is a valuable part of the European Parliament's strategy to tackle climate change, as a final step in a comprehensive carbon management plan. Offsets are typically achieved through financial support[2] for projects such as renewable energy, energy efficiency etc., which reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
On 12 September 2011, the Bureau decided to install in the European Parliament an offsetting scheme based on a so-called medium perimeter. This perimeter includes the following emission sources: official staff travel, emissions from energy use and from technical installations in the buildings and official cars.
In 2013, the European Parliament launched, for the second time after 2012, a public procurement procedure for offsetting emissions from its carbon footprint in 2012, including
[1] Environmental Management and Audit Scheme based on Regulation 1221/2009 [2] via purchase of offsetting credits, each being equivalent to a reduction of 1 tonne of CO2.
Page 47 of 123 the following technical specifications: Joint Implementation project located in the European Union which reduced carbon emissions in 2012 and generated carbon credits managed in a register under the European Union`s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).
The Joint Implementation mechanism is defined in Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol and allows a country (so-called Annex B Party) to acquire emission reduction certificates from an emission-reduction or emission-removal project in another Annex B Party which can be counted towards meeting its Kyoto targets. Joint Implementation offers a flexible and cost- efficient means of fulfilling Kyoto commitments, while the host Party benefits from foreign investment and technology transfer.
The contract in question was awarded to the offsetting company EcoAct in France which had chosen a district heating project in Pernik, Bulgaria, for a volume of 28 747 T of CO2. Following the drastic decrease in the market price of carbon offsetting credits in 2012 and 2013, the price paid by Parliament to offset the emissions was EUR 17 823, compared to EUR 89 558.55 paid in 2012 for offsetting.
EcoAct has specific expertise in the area of offsetting and is certified by an independent auditor (Bureau Veritas). It`s role is to finance projects reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. These reductions are calculated according to the best standards and verified by independent auditors (Verification report JH-No. 2122 1406 by TUV Rheinland). In order to ensure that Parliament`s emissions have been compensated in accordance with the technical specifications of the tender, the following information had to be provided by EcoAct:
− A detailed project description indicating the exact location of the project and highlighting the environmental benefits. − The project identification number in the ITL ((International Transaction Log) and the link to the United Nations website containing a technical documentation and description of the project.
On 22 November 2013, EcoAct certified the compensation of 28 747 Tonnes of CO2 emissions from Parliament`s carbon footprint in 2012 (REF. A2013-837).
50. Could you please explain the specific reasons for why VisitBrussels had been chosen in a negotiation procedure to promote the Parlamentarium. With how many other candidates did the Parliament negotiate?
A negotiated tender procedure with a single supplier under Article 134 (b) of the Rules of Application was launched with the Brussels Region VisitBrussels ASBL, the official tourist board of the Brussels Region. This non-profit association is de facto the only supplier when it comes to promotional activities centred on the Brussels region itself (Brussels tourism flyers, official Brussels tourism website, official tourism city maps) allowing a more cost-effective promotion of the Parlamentarium.
51. Could you please provide the audit report of the following contract:
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This report concerns the annual audit of the accounts of the Société Immobilière that was created to manage the construction of the new KAD building in Luxembourg. As it concerns a private company it can only be disclosed to the public with its permission. Members that would like to consult the report can address a request to the secretariat of the Committee on Budgetary Control.
52. Photocopy machines that are available for Members in the floors are of deficient quality and reliability. On notice maintenance takes days to fix a problem. Could you please explain how the Parliament makes sure that the contractor delivers the performance he is contractually obliged to? What is the failure quota of the machines? What is the mean time to failure? Which copy machines are concerned by the following contract and what time period is covered?
Copy machines from two different manufacturers, Getsys and Ricoh, have been put at the disposal of Members. Getsys, whose contract covers the period from November 2012 to May 2018 has a MTBF (mean time between failure) of about 50 000 copies for middle range copiers and Ricoh, whose new contract covers the period from September 2014 to August 2015, has a MTBF of 89 000 copies for the same model. Parliament controls the performance of the copy machines by monitoring the delays of intervention and the quality of repairs. Getsys has not delivered the performance required by the contract and as a consequence, Parliament stopped the rental of Getsys equipment and will rely on more quality performing services of Ricoh.
53. Parlamentarium and the European House of History: Could you please describe the scope and purpose of the following contracts and costs incurred in 2013?
Parlamentarium
The contract with the external company Wycor signed in February 2013 covered standard maintenance and repair works (for example painting), renewal of damaged exhibition items
Page 49 of 123 due to the very high number of visitors (around 350 000 visitors per year) as well as updates of exhibition items to stay abreast with the political developments within the European Parliament. This framework contract has a duration of 4 years and a maximum financial volume of EUR 1 476 000 (for the entire period). In 2013, purchase orders amounting to EUR 227 554 were signed to updates of the exhibition in light of the accession of Croatia (update of entire signalisation, new enlargement and accession panels etc.) besides other regular maintenance and repair works.
House of European History
The contract awarded in 2013 to the external contractor "Acciona Producciones y Diseno" covered the development of the permanent exhibition of the House of European History including design of the permanent exhibition, coordination and project management. The total amount committed for this contract in 2013 was EUR 1 428 000. The amount paid was EUR 672 000.
Following a negotiated procedure according to Article 137.1 of the Rules of Application of the Financial Regulation (EUR below 60 000) the company C-Album was awarded a contract to develop the visual identity of the future House of European History around which all communication actions of and approaches to the future HEH are to be aligned. The amount committed in 2013 was EUR 59 350.
The contract signed with the external company Hakim Iche Rose Helen concerns the purchase of the bronze sculpture (together with its copyrights) 'Guernica' which will have a prominent place in the HEH permanent exhibition. The plaster model was created in 1937 by the sculptor René Iché, in a successful attempt to express the terror of the bombing of Guernica. The contract was awarded further to a negotiated procedure according to Article 134.1.b) of the Rules of Application of the Financial Regulation launched in 2013. The contract was signed in February 2014 and commitment and the payment were done in 2014 for EUR 59 950.
The financial estimates for the House of European History are set out in a detailed Business Plan, which was approved by the Bureau on 26 September 2011, and remain unchanged. The business plan was sent to the Committee on Budgets in October 2011 and to the Committee on Budgetary Control on 18 January 2012 in the framework of the 2010 EP discharge - D(2012)1507.
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DG FOR INTERNAL POLICIES (IPOL) AND DG FOR EXTERNAL POLICIES (EXPO)
54. What is the average length a Committee administrator stays in one committee? What rules govern their mobility? Do the rules differ for assistants in the Committee secretariats?
The mobility of a committee administrator as well as of all AD permanent staff is ruled by the Bureau decision of 29 March 2004 (Regulation governing mobility policy). The mobility system established by this regulation does not apply for the moment to ASTs.
The average length a committee administrator stays in one Committee is directly linked to the different situation foreseen by the mobility rules. According to the above mentioned rules, any new AD official should move twice the first seven years, and the maximum an AD official can subsequently stay in a post is seven years. However, the present trend seems to be that AD staff may actually seek to move before compulsory mobility in order to have a better personal choice of posts. It should also be pointed out that during the previous years, due to the arrival of officials from new Member States, as well as to an increase of staff in the committee secretariats, the staff turnover has been high. The administration does not keep specific statistics on the actual turnover of staff for Committees secretariats.
55. What is the total DG IPOL budget for procurement of studies externally? Will this budget change with the creation of DG EPRS? How many studies were prepared internally and outsourced during 2013?
The 2013 budget of DG IPOL for the procurement of expertise, mainly studies, impact assessments and briefings, amounted to EUR 9.15 Mio, out of which EUR 7.5 Mio. corresponded to the policy departments, EUR 1 Mio. to the directorate for Impact Assessment & European Added Value and EUR 0.65 Mio. to STOA. The latter two directorates were both moved to DG EPRS on 1 November 2013.
With the creation of DG EPRS, the expertise budget of DG IPOL was reduced. The relatively low budget for 2014 of EUR 4.95 million was impacted by the creation of DG EPRS and by fluctuation of the activities due to the elections. The year 2015 offers hence a better basis for comparison with 2013. The expertise budget of DG IPOL amounted to EUR 6.2 Mio. in 2015, a decrease of EUR 2.95 Mio. as compared to 2013.
In 2013, IPOL commissioned some 225 expertise items externally. 179 of these were commissioned by the Policy Departments and 44 of them were commissioned by the services moved to EPRS. In addition to this, it should be noted that the policy departments organised some 37 workshops and, for these, the participating experts have also made written contributions.
The number of internally produced IPOL expertise items in the same year was 372.
In the field covered by Directorate C of the new DG EPRS (previously Directorate G of DG IPOL) a total of 80 publications were prepared in 2013, of which, 26 were outsourced and 54 prepared internally.
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56. In 2013, how many hearings were cancelled and what were the costs incurred?
For 2013, a total of 168 hearings were planned for both DG IPOL and DG EXPO combined.
Of these, two hearings organised by DG IPOL and one hearing organised by DG EXPO had to be cancelled at relatively short notice. They did not generate any additional costs.
Parliamentary delegations
57. In 2013 what were the ten most expensive delegation trips, in absolute terms, and what were the ten delegation trips where the average cost per MEP was the highest?
The aforementioned total costs of delegations in 2013, in absolute terms, have been calculated including: − the mission costs of Members; − the mission costs of officials (including internal interpreters) who took part in the delegations; − the external interpretation costs (free-lance interpreters); − the miscellaneous costs incurred.
On that basis, the ten most expensive delegation trips, in absolute terms, are shown in the table below. Total cost of Delegation Activity Venue Dates* delegation (EUR) EUROLAT Santiago de EuroLat Plenary Session 23-25/01/2013 493 193 (DLAT) Chile (Chile) ACP Addis Ababa JPA 26th session 23-27/11/2013 385 400 (DACP) (Ethiopia) WTO Parliamentary ADHOC Conference session & 9th Bali (Indonesia) 02-06/12/2013 138 887 Delegation WTO Ministerial conference (INTA) JURI Committee JURI delegation to China Beijing (China) 28-31/10/2013 113 249 delegation EUROLAT EuroLat Committee Vilnius 15-18/07/2013 112 638 (DLAT) Meetings (Lithuania) Tokyo/Sendai Japan (D-JP) 34th IP Meeting 11-15/02/2013 106 896 (Japan) Elections Antanarivo observation Election Observation 18-22/12/2013 103 763 (Madagascar) (EOM)
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IMCO Beijing/Hong Committee delegation 17/10-01/11/2013 103 021 Committee Kong (China) LIBE LIBE delegation to Washington 28-30/10/2013 97 768 Committee Washington (USA) AFET Brasilia/Sao Committee delegation 02-05/04/2013 97 473 Committee Paulo (Brasil) * Dates of the meeting, travelling time excluded
The aforementioned average costs per Member in 2013 have been calculated considering: − the total costs of missions of Members include the travel costs, the different allowances reimbursed (daily and travel allowances), the accommodation costs and miscellaneous costs incurred directly by the Members; − the number of Members considered for the calculation includes all Members who took part in the delegation (delegation chair, members of the delegation and accompanying members).
On that basis, the ten most expensive delegation trips, where the average cost per MEP was the highest in 2013, are shown in the table below. Average cost per Delegation Activity Venue Dates** MEP (EUR)* EOM of the JPA Antanarivo ACP (DACP) 18-22/12/2013 8 883 Bureau (Madagascar) Elections Antanarivo observation Election Observation 18-22/12/2013 8 368 (Madagascar) (EOM) AFET Brasilia/Sao Paulo Committee delegation 02-05/04/2013 8 164 Committee (Brasil) Managua/San Central Salvador (El America Working group 28/10-01/11/2013 7 983 Salvador & (DCAM) Nicaragua) WTO Parliamentary ADHOC Conference session & Bali (Indonesia) 02-06/12/2013 7 819 Delegation 9th WTO Ministerial conference (INTA) Bureau to the ASEAN Southeast Asia Inter-parliamentary Bandar Seri 18-20/09/2013 7 736 (DASE) Assembly meeting (Brunei) (AIPA) IMCO Beijing/Hong Committee delegation 27/10-01/11/2013 7 678 Committee Kong (China)
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Beijing, Pyongyang, Seoul Korean (China, DPRK Peninsula IPM 14-20/07/2013 7 675 (North Korea), (DKOR) RoK (South Korea)) MERCOSUR Brasília/Recife Working group 28-31/10/2013 7 439 (DMER) (Brasil) DEVE Harare Fact Finding Mission 30/04-02/05/2013 7 275 Committee (Zimbabwe) * Travel costs representing about 80% of the total costs ** Dates of the meeting, travelling time excluded
58. Quels ont été les développements principaux dans le fonctionnement des délégations parlementaires en 2013? Qu'est-ce que le PE est en train de faire pour mettre en marche les recommandations faites dans le paragraphe 65 de la résolution pour la décharge du PE 2012? Existe-t-il un projet pour développer les pages web des Délégations dans la ligne de celles des commissions parlementaires, ce qui n'est pas le cas en ce moment pour la plupart et qui s'avère absolument indispensable?
In line with the Resolution of 30 March 2012 on the 2013 estimates § 1319, the Secretary- General gave appropriate instructions to the services for the preparations of the work programme of the delegations. The main result was that on 31 January 2013, the Conference of Presidents "noted that the overall estimate cost for the 2013 inter-parliamentary delegation missions for the whole year 2013 is estimated at EUR 8 212 753 and for the period covered by the present decision (March to December) at EUR 6 356 923; commended the significant reduction of more than one third for the whole of the year 2013 compared to the annual estimated cost for 2012". Measures were also taken regarding the time slots devoted to the meetings of delegations in the places of work with a view to reduce the interpretation costs (reduction of the number of parallel meetings). Finally, a debate on the reform of the "Implementing provisions governing the work of delegations and missions outside the European Union" was launched and led to the adoption of new rules in April 2014.
In line with the recommendations, the level of coordination with the EEAS services for the preparation and effective capacity response be ensured to guarantee the security aspects of Parliament's external delegations and missions was increased both at Headquarters level and with the permanent delegations of the European Union in third countries. The coordination has been improved with a system of single points of entry for requests for contribution to the "Country Security Assessments" (CSA) for parliamentary delegations both within the EEAS (Unit for Field Security) and the EP Secretariat (DG EXPO Policy Department) and access to security and safety related information available has been improved. Inside the EP General Secretariat internal coordination and exchange of information has been enhanced between DG EXPO and the newly created DG SAFE. The remaining concerns are related to the decisions of the Conference of the Presidents.
19 Resolution of 30.03.2012 on 2013 estimates § 13 " ...invite le Secrétaire général à procéder à une éventuelle révision du calendrier des réunions de commissions et des missions des délégations; demande en outre au Secrétaire général d'examiner d'éventuelles autres possibilités d'économies concernant les délégations;"
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Such a project is on-going and is very much in line with the digitalisation of the work in the General Secretariat of the EP. Nevertheless, it must be noted that, due to the differences in the respective role of committees and delegations and therefore of the procedures they apply, a simple extension of the current webpages of committees to delegations is not possible. This requires additional work in terms of software development. The late constitution of the new delegations (October 2014) has also delayed the full implementation of the project. In 2014 has been decided to give priority to the implementation of committees pages while the improvement of pages of delegations in Europarl will be carried out in 2015. In the meantime, preparatory work as started to define the business requirements and identify the types of documents to load, with a view to launch the project at the beginning of 2015.
59. What were the costs of travel outside the EU in 2013(delegations, missions, etc.)? Could the EP provide an exhaustive and detailed list?
The aforementioned costs of delegations, joint parliamentary assemblies, ad-hoc delegations and election observation missions outside the UE in 2013, in absolute terms, have been calculated including: − the mission costs of Members; − the mission costs of officials (including internal interpreters) who took part in the delegations; − the external interpretation costs (free-lance interpreters); − the miscellaneous costs incurred.
Delegations to Croatia which took place before 1st July 2013, date of entry into force of the Treaty of Accession of Croatia to the EU, have been considered as outside UE.
The detailed list of the delegations outside the EU in 2013 is shown in the table below. Total cost of delega- tion Code Purpose Venue Country Start date* End date* (EUR) WTO Parliamentary Conference session & 9th WTO Ministerial conference ADHO (INTA) Bali Indonesia 02/12/2013 06/12/2013 138 887 WTO Public Switzerlan ADHO Forum (INTA) Geneva d 01/10/2013 03/10/2013 13 706 UN General Assembly - Millenium Development Goals Review ADHO Summit New york USA 24/09/2013 25/09/2013 54 313
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Total cost of delega- tion Code Purpose Venue Country Start date* End date* (EUR) (DEVE) Fact Finding delegation to ADHO Georgia Tbilisi Georgia 03/06/2013 04/06/2013 28 145 Ad hoc delegation to ADHO observe the process of journalists Istanbul Turkey 25/09/2013 27/09/2013 8 694 Annual AFET delegation visit Washington USA 28/10/2013 30/10/2013 48 197 Committee delegation to AFET the UNGA New york USA 30/10/2013 01/11/2013 46 996 Committee Brasília & AFET delegation Sao Paulo Brasil 02/04/2013 05/04/2013 97 473 Commitee AFET delegation in Albania Tirana Albania 21/06/2013 24/06/2013 17 220 Committee Bogota & DEVE delegation Cali Colombia 12/02/2013 14/02/2013 28 467 Fact Finding DEVE Mission Harare Zimbabwe 30/04/2013 02/05/2013 34 976 D-IR 4th IP meeting Teheran Iran 13/12/2013 17/12/2013 33 237 Committee DROI delegation Belgrade Serbia 28/10/2013 29/10/2013 7 665 Committee Islamabad & DROI delegation Lahore Pakistan 25/08/2013 29/08/2013 28 900 Committee Yangon & DROI delegation Naypyitaw Myanmar 03/04/2013 05/04/2013 48 941 Committee DROI delegation Skopje FYROM 13/02/2013 15/02/2013 15 130 22nd session of the UN Human Switzerlan DROI Rights Council Geneva d 27/02/2013 01/03/2013 9 839 DROI Commission Addis Ababa Ethiopia 14/07/2013 18/07/2013 27 458 Saudi DROI Riyadh Arabia 7 419 New Delhi, Annual Pune & INTA delegation visit Mumbai India 28/10/2013 01/11/2013 35 654 Annual INTA delegation visit Washington USA 08/04/2013 12/04/2013 86 167 Committee Kabul, Afghanis- SEDE delegation to Mazar-e- tan 28/10/2013 31/10/2013 32 527
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Total cost of delega- tion Code Purpose Venue Country Start date* End date* (EUR) Afghanistan Sharif Jointly with D-AF Committee delegation to EUTM Mali and EUCAP Bamako, Mali / SEDE Sahel Niger Niamey Niger 02/04/2013 05/04/2013 37 540 Committee delegation to Georgia SEDE EUMM Tbilisi Georgia 15/07/2013 18/07/2013 14 419 Committee AFCO delegation Washington USA 28/10/2013 01/11/2013 52 751 Committee BUDG delegation Washington USA 15/07/2013 19/07/2013 53 225 Serbia, BUDG Committee Belgrade, Monte- delegation Podgorica negro 02/04/2013 06/04/2013 27 387 Committee Bulgaria, CONT delegation Sofia, Edirne Turkey 18/09/2013 20/09/2013 20 986 Committee CONT delegation Kaliningrad Russia 07/07/2013 09/07/2013 18 167 Committee CRIM delegation Washington USA 28/04/2013 01/05/2013 86 386 Committee CULT delegation Zagreb Croatia 28/04/2013 30/04/2013 12 286 Committee ECON delegation Washington USA 14/07/2013 17/07/2013 55 349 Committee EMPL delegation Oslo Norway 08/04/2013 10/04/2013 10 464 Committee ENVI delegation Washington USA 15/07/2013 18/07/2013 49 481 Committee ENVI delegation Bangkok Thailand 23/10/2013 25/10/2013 7 516 Committee ENVI delegation Belgrade Serbia 28/10/2013 30/10/2013 23 599 Committee FEMM delegation New York USA 25/09/2013 25/09/2013 4 443 Committee FEMM delegation New York USA 03/03/2013 06/03/2013 42 498 Committee IMCO delegation Zagreb Croatia 02/04/2013 04/04/2013 13 348 Committee Beijing/ IMCO delegation Hong Kong China 27/10/2013 01/11/2013 103 021
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Total cost of delega- tion Code Purpose Venue Country Start date* End date* (EUR) Committee Japan, ITRE delegation Korea 26/08/2013 30/08/2013 55 139 ITRE CULT Committee STOA delegation Denpasar Indonesia 22/10/2013 25/10/2013 26 333 Committee JURI delegation Peking China 28/10/2013 31/10/2013 113 249 Committee LIBE delegation Washington USA 28/10/2013 30/10/2013 97 769 Committee Amman, Al LIBE delegation Zaatari Jordan 11/02/2013 14/02/2013 29 865 Committee South PECH delegation Cape Town Africa 22/11/2013 24/11/2013 15 361 Washington, TRAN NY USA 11/02/2013 14/02/2013 51 686 UN Habitat - 2nd International Tripartite DACP Conference Kigali Rwanda 04/09/2013 06/09/2013 51 200 Fact finding mission of the DACP JPA Bureau Monrovia Liberia 29/05/2013 31/05/2013 22 898 Regional Santo Dominican DACP meeting Domingo Republic 13/02/2013 16/02/2013 77 567 EOM of the Madagasc DACP JPA Bureau Antanarivo ar 18/12/2013 22/12/2013 28 316 EOM of the DACP JPA Bureau Bamako Mali 26/07/2013 30/07/2013 30 486 Fact finding mission of the DACP JPA Bureau Bamako Mali 05/03/2013 07/03/2013 21 184 JPA 26th DACP session Addis Ababa Ethiopia 23/11/2013 27/11/2013 385 400 Regional DACP meeting Nigeria 17/07/2013 19/07/2013 82 178 Fact-finding mission to the ACP-EU JPA Port au DACP to HAITI Prince Haïti 06/11/2013 08/11/2013 40 615 Visit of the Bogotá, DAND working group Medellin Colombia 28/10/2013 31/10/2013 43 153 Visit of the DAND working group Lima Peru 02/05/2013 04/05/2013 29 651 DANZ 36th IP Sydney, Australia 11/02/2013 16/02/2013 89 258
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Total cost of delega- tion Code Purpose Venue Country Start date* End date* (EUR) Meeting Canberra, Adelaide and Port Lincoln DARP 2nd IPM Manama Bahrein 28/04/2013 01/05/2013 79 606 Manila, Philippine DASE IPM Cotabato s 11/02/2013 15/02/2013 71 755 Inter- parliamentary DASE Meeting Vientiane Laos 28/10/2013 01/11/2013 36 997 DASE Bandar Seri Brunei 20 949 El Managua, Salvador, DCAM Working group San Salvador Nicaragua 28/10/2013 01/11/2013 63 780 Trinidad and DCAR JPC meeting Port of Spain Tobago 03/04/2013 04/04/2013 34 539 Uzbekista DCAS CPC Tashkent n 28/10/2013 30/10/2013 50 034 XVIII meeting of the mixed parliamentary Santiago de committee EU- Chile & D-CL Chili Valparaíso Chili 21/01/2013 22/01/2013 79 281 Beijing, Nanning, Hong Kong, D-CN PE/Chine IPM Macao Chine 14/07/2013 20/07/2013 79 329 D-CN Bureau of the Delegation for D-CN Relations with the People's Republic of Peking, Hong China Kong China 14/07/2013 20/07/2013 2 894 D-DI EU- D-DI Myanmar Task Myanmar/ Force Yangon Burma 13/11/2013 16/11/2013 46 115 Liechten- DEEA 41st EEA JPC Vaduz stein 28/10/2013 29/10/2013 5 304 3rd Northern Dimension Parliamentary DEEA Forum Arkhangelsk Russia 11/11/2013 12/11/2013 6 053 Standing Svalbard, DEEA committee of Ny-Ålesund Norway 03/06/2013 05/06/2013 7 748
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Total cost of delega- tion Code Purpose Venue Country Start date* End date* (EUR) Parliamentaria ns of the Arctic Region (SCPAR) Standing committee of Parliamentaria ns of the Arctic Region DEEA (SCPAR) Murmansk Russia 18/09/2013 19/09/2013 5 692 DEEA 6th JPC Reykjavik Iceland 27/06/2013 28/06/2013 19 637 Euronest ECON DEPA committee Chisinau Moldova 11/02/2013 13/02/2013 17 160 Euronest PA Bureau DEPA meeting Kiev Ukraine 01/11/2013 02/11/2013 19 155 Euronest Committee on Energy security DEPA meeting Baku Azerbaijan 11/02/2013 13/02/2013 20 755 Euronest Committee on DEPA POL Tbilisi Georgia 13/02/2013 16/02/2013 27 326 D-HR JPC meeting Split Croatia 29/04/2013 30/04/2013 13 712 Tel Aviv, D-IL Working group Jerusalem Israel 04/11/2013 05/11/2013 19 055 Delhi, D-IN Working group Kolkata India 29/04/2013 03/05/2013 76 942 Delegation D- D-IR IR Tehran Iran 26/04/2013 07/05/2013 29 099 34th IP Tokyo, D-JP Meeting Sendai Japan 11/02/2013 15/02/2013 106 896 China, DPRK (North Korea), Beijing, RoK Pyongyang, (South DKOR IPM Seoul Korea) 14/07/2013 20/07/2013 84 261 EuroLat Plenary Santiago de DLAT Session Chile Chile 23/01/2013 25/01/2013 493 193 DLAT EuroLat Puerto Plata Dominican 19/09/2013 20/09/2013 31 521
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Total cost of delega- tion Code Purpose Venue Country Start date* End date* (EUR) Executive Republic Bureau * 13th IP DMAG Meeting Alger Algeria 28/10/2013 31/10/2013 39 056 Beyrouth, DMAS IP Meeting Bekaa Valley Liban 11/02/2013 15/02/2013 27 762 Bureau DMED meeting Amman Jordan 06/07/2013 06/07/2013 6 535 Economic DMED committee Istanbul Turkey 22/11/2013 22/11/2013 6 309 Brasília, DMER Working group Recife Brazil 28/10/2013 31/10/2013 81 357 Montevideo, Uruguay, DMER Working group Buenos Aires Argentina 29/04/2013 03/05/2013 51 612 XV meeting of the mixed parliamentary committee EU- Mexico City, D-MX Mexico Cuernavaca Mexico 02/05/2013 04/05/2013 83 475 IPM with the DPAP Pan-African South /D-ZA Parliament Midrand Africa 25/10/2013 26/10/2013 16 098 DPLC IP Meeting Palestine Palestine 28/10/2013 30/10/2013 21 392 Ramallah, Jerusalem, DPLC IP Meeting Hebron Palestine 27/04/2013 02/05/2013 54 319 Working group Energy/Climat D-RU e change Moscow Russia 28/10/2013 29/10/2013 31 290 D-RU CPC Kaliningrad Russia 28/04/2013 30/04/2013 28 411 IPM EP-Sri Lanka and IPM Male, Sri Lanka, DSAS EP-Maldives Colombo Maldives 14/07/2013 19/07/2013 58 627 IPM EU- Bhutan and stopover in DSAS Nepal Bhutan Nepal 25/10/2013 02/11/2013 33 970 DSCA PCC Bureau Yerevan Armenia 30/10/2013 01/11/2013 5 393 DSEE SAPC meeting Belgrade Serbia 15/11/2013 16/11/2013 15 381 6th EU- Albania SAPC DSEE meeting Tirana Albania 28/10/2013 29/10/2013 24 257 6th IP Meeting (combined DSEE with EOM) Pristina Kosovo 30/10/2013 31/10/2013 29 918
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Total cost of delega- tion Code Purpose Venue Country Start date* End date* (EUR) 6th EU- Montenegro Monte- DSEE SAPC meeting Podgorica negro 29/04/2013 30/04/2013 21 251 D-TR JPC meeting Ankara Turkey 13/02/2013 15/02/2013 42 510 EU-Turkey JPC Bureau D-TR meeting Istanbul Turkey 25/10/2013 25/10/2013 6 624 73rd meeting of the EU- D-TR Turkey JPC Ankara Turkey 05/12/2013 06/12/2013 37 595 Bureau D-US meeting Washington USA 04/12/2013 05/12/2013 23 552 Working group visit of the EP Delegation for the relations Pretoria, with South Johannesburg South D-ZA Africa , Cape Town Africa 02/04/2013 05/04/2013 28 749 Election ELEC Observation Yerevan Armenia 16/02/2013 19/02/2013 24 491 Election ELEC Observation Baku Azerbaijan 07/10/2013 10/10/2013 41 661 Election ELEC Observation Nairobi Kenya 02/03/2013 06/03/2013 50 732 Election ELEC Observation Tegucigalpa Honduras 22/11/2013 26/11/2013 86 394 Election Madagasc ELEC Observation Antanarivo ar 18/12/2013 22/12/2013 103 763 Election Madagasc ELEC Observation Antanarivo ar 23/10/2013 27/10/2013 54 302 Election Bamako, ELEC Observation Ségou Mali 26/07/2013 30/07/2013 81 537 Election ELEC Observation Kathmandu Nepal 17/11/2013 21/11/2013 23 974 Election Amman, ELEC Observation Irbid Jordan 21/01/2013 25/01/2013 39 250 Tbilisi, Kaztegi, Election Gori, Kakheti ELEC Observation region Georgia 25/10/2013 28/10/2013 27 671 Asuncion, Election Caacupé, ELEC Observation Paraguari Paraguay 19/04/2013 23/04/2013 53 756 Election ELEC Observation Dushanbe Tajikistan 04/11/2013 07/11/2013 54 654
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Total cost of delega- tion Code Purpose Venue Country Start date* End date* (EUR) Election ELEC Observation Islamabad Pakistan 09/05/2013 13/05/2013 39 810 Extension of the 6th DSEE interparlemen- ELEC tary meeting to cover also the elections Kosovo 01/11/2013 04/11/2013 13 945 Grand
Total 5 794 360 * Dates of the meeting, travelling time excluded
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DG COMMUNICATION (DG COMM)
Communication strategy and preparation of the information campaign for the 2014 elections
60. En septembre 2013 a débuté une campagne d'information et de communication visant à mettre l'accent sur les politiques conférées au Parlement européen par le Traité de Lisbonne et à inciter les européens à voter aux élections de mai 2014. Il serait cependant important, afin d'optimiser de futures campagnes, comment il sera mesuré et comment le parlement compte-t-il justifier les couts. Quel était le budget 2013 pour l'élection de 2014? Veuillez détailler la réponse par chaque DG, et aussi par le fait que les fonds ont été utilisés internement ou en par une société externe.
In July 2012, the Bureau adopted the political guidelines for the institutional information and communication campaign, giving DG COMM a mandate for the preparation of the campaign. Following the adoption of these guidelines and further to the Bureau’s endorsement of the campaign’s creative concept on 20 May 2013, a specific contract for the execution and implementation of the campaign was signed with Ogilvy Group on 7 June 2013. The contract with this agency for the implementation of the campaign covered a variety of services and deliverables, such as:
− Public relations actions and events − Audiovisual and multimedia productions − Online communication products and actions − Print material and promotional objects − Media buys (different outlets: e.g. online, radio, outdoor)
The information and communication campaign was rolled out in 24 languages and across the 28 Members States of the EU. The total amount paid to contractor, over a two year period (2013 and 2014), was EUR 17.8 million which is equivalent to a cost of EUR 0.04 per citizen.
Some 180 factsheets provide an overview of European integration and the EP contribution to that process, which were updated internally all along 2013 and distributed in print, on USB keys and DVDs to Members, EP information offices, National Parliaments and Permanent Representations with a view to be available for the election campaign.
61. In general, what are the performance indicators for the communication activities of the EP in general and for its Information Offices?
DG COMM developed an Integrated Evaluation Model which integrates a large database of indicators measuring the effectiveness of the different communication platforms including all activities centralised and decentralised as well as different communication products. Moreover, in the context of 2014 European Elections information campaign a wide range of additional indicators related to the different projects of the campaign were collected and classified according to a dashboard structure. The final version of DG COMM database of performance indicators measuring the effectiveness of all communication platforms will be
Page 64 of 123 submitted together with 2014 Annual Activity Report. Specific indicators related to the 2014 European elections information and communication campaign will be provided following an ex-post evaluation exercise.
LUX prize 2013
62. What was the total cost including staff working time expenditure for the LUX prize 2013? How can further savings be reached? If this is considered a core activity for the EP was the scope and value of the LUX Prize for the European culture already evaluated?
The expenditure for the LUX Film Prize 2013 amounted to EUR 448 000 and covered: − the procedure related to the official selection and competition; − communication in Brussels and Strasbourg; − targeting MEPs, specialised media partners, as well as the general public; − costs of subtitling (including Croatian); − creation of the adapted version of the winning film for hearing or visually impaired; − the European Parliament’s involvement in major European film events, in order to promote the Lux Prize.
The European Parliament via the LUX Film Prize promotes cultural and linguistic diversity. It is a valuable instrument for the institution and its Members in terms of cultural diplomacy as demonstrated by mass media (e.g. ARTE).
Parliament’s administration has taken a series of measures to respond to the recommendations presented in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 discharge reports, in particular reducing costs of promotion. A targeted communication mix combined with the maximization of recourse to internal resources has also improved cost-efficiency: e.g. use of internal resources for design and printing, reduction of the range of products, optimization of internal communication through an emphasis on e-products. DG COMM will continue to examine the Lux Prize budget in order to seek to identify further possible savings. It is not possible to produce a separate figure for the cost of staff time related to the Lux Prize because tasks are undertaken across a large number of Units and services within DG COMM with only one administrator working exclusively on the Lux Prize.
63. Could you please provide the Committee with an overview of MEPs and staff members attending film festivals or other cultural events during 2013 as representatives of the Parliament?
The detail of Members and staff attending film festivals is as follows:
Staff Festival or cultural event MEPs members Festival of Berlin 2 2 Festival de Cannes 5 3 Festival Karlovy Vary 3 2 Mostra di Venezia 2 3
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The participation to international film festivals was endorsed by the Bureau on 5 July 2010 and the subsequent decision of the Bureau´s Working Party for Information and Communication Policy of 30 November 2010 identifying key European and international film festivals like Berlin (Panorama), Cannes (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs), Venice (Giornate degli Autori) helping to extend the reputation of the LUX Prize within the European film industry and allow to use the major players of European cinema to raise the profile of the LUX Prize.
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EuroparlTV
64. Despite calls in the 2010 discharge report (para. 55) for proposals "for the closure of the operation", the Parliament continues to attribute funds to EuroparlTV. The Bureau Working Party has made a number of recommendations to improve the service, especially with regard to cost-effectiveness. What has been the outcome of this process and will it allow significant savings as requested by the Parliaments resolution on the discharge for 2010? Please provide the figures for spending on EuroparlTV for 2012 and 2013.
Following the decision of the Bureau of 3 December 2012 (D(2012) 62207) numerous changes have been implemented leading to a significant improvement of the cost- effectiveness of EuroparlTV. These were described in detail in the reply to question 35 (repeated here as question 64 in identical form) of the 2012 discharge questionnaire (enclosed in annex).
The budget for the WebTV has been reduced from EUR 8 000 000 in 2012 and 2013 to EUR 5 000 000 in 2014. During the same period the average monthly number of videos watched has gone from 53 000 to 400 000. On the basis of an external study a second phase of the reform will be carried out (see also question 66).
65. Which were the 5 most viewed clips on EuroparlTV during 2012 and 2013?
The five most viewed clips on EuroparlTV in 2012 were:
1. Close to you: Presidential home town http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=f406122f-35f6-47e2-a111- 9fdb011627c3 2. How it works: European laws http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=2943a9f1-0a1a-4f7c-9fe8- 9f82009fa481 3. Death knell for ACTA http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=8115a07d-0ca3-4918-957c- a084012bd739 4. Interview: Were not asking for the budget to be doubled! http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=51ff56c8-af66-48e2-b567- a0f400e7ae21 5. Reporter: China in Greece http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=0c3054a3-244e-43bc-a04c- a016011bad20
The five most viewed clips on EuroparlTV in 2013 were:
1. How it works: European laws http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=2943a9f1-0a1a-4f7c-9fe8- 9f82009fa481
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2. A-Z: C for Croatia http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=53e5fc1a-f974-4567-a44c- a1e200a72b5a 3. MEPs look into e-cigarettes - no ban in sight http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=339ff85a-397f-42b8-864c- a1b7011e9b08 4. Water, a human right or a commodity? http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=fb195fef-5443-44d2-8f04- a163012bfb60 5. Erasmus: how work and study abroad works http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=ef61783c-f5d5-4505-9162- a24d00d13a9d
66. L'étude d'évaluation indépendante de la production multimédia en ligne du Parlement a-t-elle été menée? Si oui, quelles en sont les conclusions?
Following the decision of the Bureau taken at its meeting of 12 December 2012, an external study was launched in 2014 to give inputs on future developments of the Parliaments web- video service. The findings of the study acknowledge the impact of changes already introduced following the above-mentioned decision and propose a comprehensive series of recommendations that can be characterised as a continuation of the process started in January 2012.
The recommendations of the study are to be implemented during the first half of 2015 following discussions by the Bureau Working Party on Information and Communication. The guiding principles for the adaptations of the Parliament’s web-video service will be to adapt the products to correspond to current multimedia trends, to change focus from production to distribution and to ensure a better coherence between the different communication instruments.
67. DG Communication has concluded a large number of media monitoring contracts in 2013, what was the total amount paid for those contracts in 2013? Who has access to the output /production of these contracts and how are they distributed?
The total cost of these contracts in 2013 was EUR 374 075. It is to be noted that the final products were often generated in-house, using the various paid external databases of media sources as a basis for further processing by Information Offices. In order to improve the media monitoring service, the Bureau Working Group on Communication (based on a decision taken on 18 September 2012 and confirmed on 29 January 2013) endorsed the roadmap for implementing the harmonization and outsourcing of daily press reviews (media clippings and summaries). Subsequently 28 media monitoring contracts were signed at the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, allowing homogeneous and timely daily press reviews from all EP information offices. On the basis the new contracts, Members receive daily English summaries and press clippings on their own country from around 2500 printed, online and audio-visual sources, reflecting the European Parliament's work and its Members' activities on EU-related matters. Members also have access to the summaries of all articles from across the EU through the media monitoring platform.
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House of European History
68. Could the Secretary General provide a full overview of all amounts being spent and committed until now for the House of European History and to which budget lines these amounts were charged? Could he also indicate how many staff, including contract agents, has been deployed for the project, and how many are due to work in the Museum once it opens? What will be the annual operational budget for the Museum including the participation of the European Commission? The project was foreseen to be completed by summer 2014. When is the end of the works planned? Is there an insurance clause to cover possible delays in the project?
Expenditure for the House of European History (in million EUR) Commitments Expenditure type / budget item 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total Building related 0,7 0,1 2,1 14,6 14,1 3,3 34,9 (2005, 2007, 2008, 3247) Staff related - 0,03 1,4 1,8 2,5 2,8 8,6 (1200, 1400) Content related - collection, exhibition, - 0,1 0,04 0,1 1,8 9,5 11,6 expertise etc. (3247) Total (commitments) 0,7 0,2 3,6 16,4 18,5 15,6 55,1 Payments Building related 0,4 0,1 2,1 13,3 3,5 0,03 19,4 (budget items 2005, 2007, 2008, 3247) Staff related - 0,03 1,4 1,8 2,5 2,8 8,6 (1200, 1400) Content related - collection, exhibition, IT - 0,05 0,04 0,1 1,6 0,1 1,8 equipment, expertise etc. (3247) Total (payments) 0,4 0,1 3,6 15,1 7,6 3,0 29,8
The House of European History's Business Plan20, approved by the Bureau in 2011, included a museum staff of 15 Administrators and 16 Assistants excluding staff for non-museum tasks like finance, personnel, IT and communication. The current organisational chart includes 25 posts (17 administrators, 8 assistants) and 14 contract agents (2 FG IV, 12 FGIII), but these positions also cover the ancillary tasks previously excluded. At the end of 2013, the 25 posts were filled by officials or temporary agents and two contractual agents were recruited. The staff number will remain at the level as in the current organisational chart plus floor staff and security staff.
The estimation of the annual operating expenditure in the 2011 Business Plan at EUR 11.5 million (12.65 million including 2% annual inflation until 2016) is still valid. It would be subject to a minor increase in staff costs and other ancillary costs as the museum will be opened on seven days per week rather than on six as initially planned.
20 The business plan was sent to the Committee on Budgetary Control on 18 January 2012 in the framework of the 2010 EP discharge - D(2012)1507.
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Regarding the contribution of the Commission towards the operating costs, honouring its earlier commitment as stated by the Commission President in, it included in its 2014 budget a new article 16 03 04 ‘House of European History’ with EUR 800 000 in commitment appropriations. The same amount is also inscribed in the 2015 budget. However, due to administrative difficulties on its side, the Commission was so far unable to actually pay any contributions to Parliament.
The initial date of completion of construction works at the end 2014 is now postponed to the end of the first semester 2015 due to unforeseen events. The contractor is re-evaluating the time schedule prior to announcing a final date. The contract foresees daily penalties in case of unjustified delays.
Visitor’s groups
69. Quelle a été l´évolution dans la méthode de paiement utilisé pour les groupes de visiteurs en 2013 ? Quand la méthode de paiement des subventions aux groupes de visiteurs sera-t-elle révisée? Le paiement par virement bancaire est-il désormais privilégié au paiement en espèces? Quels sont les avantages et désavantages du paiement par virement bancaire ou en espèces?
Although Parliament’s administration highly recommends payments by bank transfer, the leader of a group of visitors opts for payment in cash most of the time. In 2013, 73% of the subsidies were paid in cash and only 27% by bank transfer.
As for the other questions, please refer to the reply provided to paragraph 69 of the 2012 discharge resolution (enclosed in annex).
Information Offices
70. Concernant l'acquisition du bâtiment abritant le bureau d'information du Parlement européen à Sofia comment le Parlement expliquera-t-il la signature de prêt achat d'un bâtiment comportant des malfaçons et des non-conformités? Lors de la signature, le Parlement européen a-t-il été informé de la non-conformité du bâtiment? Le cas échéant, dans quelles circonstances l'appel d'offre a-t-il été effectué et pourquoi le choix s'est-il porté sur ce bâtiment comportant apparemment "des vices de la construction"?
Prior to the signature of the preliminary purchase agreement of 7 July 2011, the competent services carried out a negotiated procedure for building contracts, after prospecting the local market, in accordance with Article 126(1)(h) of the Financial Regulation applicable at that time. In February 2011, a structural survey of the 124 Rakovski Building was commissioned from a local expert who came to the following conclusions:
1. The technical design project in part "Structure" of Benchmark building at 124, Rakovski Street fully meets the requirements of the Bulgarian Standards.
2. The quality of construction works is good and in line with the Bulgarian Standards.
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3. The structure of the Benchmark building has a high level of safety under exploitation and seismic loads.
4. It is not expected to have serious damages in the non-structural element after seismic impact.
As regular missions to the site were carried out by the competent services of the Parliament, the defects and non-compliances of the structure could be detected whilst structural works were actually taking place. This timely detection has enabled the institutions to oblige the seller to take corrective actions at his cost, and thus defended the institutions’ interests.
71. How much was spent on mission expenses in 2013 for the Information Offices? (i.e between the office and Brussels, between the office and Strasbourg, between the office and all other location outside the member state where it is based)
2013 missions from the Information Offices by destination Number Destination Days Total costs of mission Strasbourg 3.384 945 1.090.290 Brussels 934 440 338.942 Luxembourg 195 42 46.999 Missions inside the IO's country 1.450 1.096 302.109 Missions outside the 3 places of work 382 103 61.357 Total 6.345 2.626 1.839.696 .
72. Les bureaux d'information du Parlement européen ont-ils réduits leurs frais de missions à Strasbourg en privilégiant la vidéo-conférence?
Despite the continued efforts to replace missions by video-conference whenever feasible, the cost of missions from Information Offices to Strasbourg increased by around 7% from 2012, and a further 2% due to the creation of the new Information Office in Croatia.
A limited number of staff from EPIOs attends Strasbourg sessions in order to meet with Members and take part in regular DG COMM management meetings, meetings of Heads of Office, Working Groups and project teams in order to guarantee a coherent management approach in line with Bureau decisions. During the Strasbourg weeks, regular training sessions are organised for staff from the Information Offices taking into account the increasing need for specialisation of staff and new tasks both in terms of communications tools and administrative matters (including, in particular, financial management). Staff of the Information Offices also accompanies journalists invited to plenary sessions from the Member States in order to follow debates and meet MEPs.
73. Could you provide an overview of the costs of running each Information Office in the Member States in 2013? How do these Offices contribute to the work of Members in their constituencies? How is added value in that respect measured, and is there any transfer of costs from national parties to the EP?
The European Parliament Information Offices are responsible for informing EU citizens in the Member States about the decisions taken by the European Parliament and promoting the EP
Page 71 of 123 and its activities as widely as possible, according to the mission statement as adopted by the Bureau. They organise platforms of communication and debate for Members of the European Parliament not only in the capital, but also in the regions, mostly on legislative issues of interest to the citizens of that region. For more details on their activities please see the 2013 annual report in annex.
The expenditure of the Information Offices in 2013 is summarised in the following table:
2013 expenditure for Information Offices (EUR thousands)
Building Staff Communication Member State City Total costs costs activities Belgium Brussels 0 1.001 418 1.419 Bulgaria Sofia 189 213 129 531 Czech Republic Prague 226 416 180 822 Denmark Copenhagen 341 742 152 1.235 Berlin 801 1.103 420 2.324 Germany Munich 79 286 74 439 Estonia Tallinn 176 308 131 615 Ireland Dublin 417 755 217 1.389 Greece Athens 260 1.027 193 1.480 Madrid 783 1.421 266 2.471 Spain Barcelona 194 340 74 607 Paris 1.320 1.214 258 2.792 France Marseille 60 326 56 443 Strasbourg 0 1.645 231 1.875 Croatia Zagreb 401 99 53 553 Rome 853 989 332 2.173 Italy Milan 157 275 129 561 Cyprus Nicosia 182 280 121 582 Latvia Riga 215 236 87 539 Lithuania Vilnius 204 273 178 654 Luxembourg Luxembourg 237 289 98 625 Hungary Budapest 132 307 140 579 Malta Valletta 67 270 131 469 Netherlands The Hague 273 591 264 1.127 Austria Vienna 191 654 206 1.051 Warsaw 209 470 335 1.014 Poland Wroclaw 302 190 72 564 Portugal Lisbon 158 620 231 1.009 Romania Bucharest 369 176 88 633 Slovenia Ljubljana 141 202 107 451 Slovakia Bratislava 154 439 153 746 Finland Helsinki 454 717 137 1.307 Sweden Stockholm 560 664 206 1.430 United London 285 1.285 621 2.191 Kingdom Edinburgh 184 250 57 492 Total 10.573 20.073 6.545 37.191 Building costs: rent, works, maintenance, cleaning, utilities, security etc. Staff costs: including mission costs
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74. Quelle est la valeur ajoutée d'avoir des bureaux d'information indépendants dans les villes où siège le Parlement européen ? ? Des études ont-elles été menées afin d’éviter la duplication et le chevauchement?
The Information Offices in Brussels and Luxembourg have the same mission and tasks as the similar offices in all capitals of the 28 member states. They organise platforms of debate for members with the citizens of Belgium and Luxembourg across the country. In line with the mission statement they also maintain contacts with national and regional public authorities, in particular with national and regional parliaments, they develop and maintain wide-ranging contacts with civil society and monitor trends in public opinion and public attitudes to the Parliament. The Strasbourg Office has a more specific role mainly focused on welcoming visitors to the European Parliament premises outside the plenary sessions, the organization of the Euroscola Programme and Euroscola days in Strasbourg as well as the Open Days of the EP in Strasbourg. It also ensures the relations between the authorities of the city of Strasbourg and the region of Alsace and the European Parliament.
Washington Office
75. What were the full costs of the Washington Office in 2013 (i.e. staff salary costs including all allowances and mission expenses, office and overhead costs, mission costs within the United States, mission costs between the United States and the European Union, costs relating to the office's programme of activities)? Were there changes in posts in 2013?
The full cost of the Washington Office in 2013 was of 2.122.000 Euros, including 225.000 Euros for the building, 1.856.000 Euros for staff costs (all costs linked to staff including missions) and 41.000 Euros communication costs.
The number of officials in the Washington office has not changed in 2013. However, it was decided in 2013 to discontinue to practice of long-term missions and rather transfer the posts for the time of the placement to Washington, a practice leading to considerable savings.
76. Can the SG provide the report of activities of the Washington Office 2013 with its corresponding budget balance?
Please find in annex the report on the Washington Liason Office’s activities.
The main objectives of this office are raising the profile of the EP in Washington and contributing to an effective cooperation between the Congress and the EP at the political and administrative level as well as with international organisations based in Washington (IMF, World Bank, inter alia), think tanks (SAIS, CTR, Brookings, Peterson Institute, Atlantic Council, for instance) and universities (Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, and American in particular plus a selection of university departments outside the DC area: Tufts, NYU, Yale, Pittsburgh). In 2013, a communication budget of EUR 41 166.22 was spent on:
− Re-designing and re-printing of EPLO brochure − Conferences with EU Delegation in the US
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− Briefings and training seminars with staffers − Public conferences in DC on EU-US themes. For other expenses, see reply given to the previous question.
77. How many visits of parliamentary committees, MEPs, Parliament's administrative leaderships and officials were made to or facilitated by the Washington office? What were the costs and the purposes of these visits (indicate separately by category)?
2013 visits to the Washington Liaison Office and visits to Washington facilitated by the Office Organ Reason Expenditure The visit concentrated on key issues related to the transatlantic transport discussions (including transport security). Members of TRAN met with Members of TRAN Congress, the office of the USTR, the Department of Transportation, the 51.686 Comm. Transportation Security Administration, representatives of major US airlines, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Members of the delegation met with US counterparts in order to discuss transatlantic implications of organised crime, corruption and money laundering. CRIM Meetings were held with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, 86.386 Comm. the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Justice. The INTA visit took place just after the announcement to launch negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement (TTIP), but before the INTA negotiations started in June 2013. Members met with relevant Members of 86.167 Comm. Congress, business- and labour organisations and held discussions with think-tanks on the outlook for the negotiations. They also met with Ambassador Froman, who was nominated as USTR only weeks after the meeting. The purpose of the delegation was an exchange of best practices in the budgetary and budgetary control fields. Members of the BUDG committee held meetings with their Congressional counterparts (House Budget Committee, House Appropriations BUDG Committee), the Office of Management and Budget, the Government 53.225 Comm. Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service, the Congressional Budget Office, the National Conference of State Legislators, and the Department of State. A delegation of nine Members from the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, chaired by Chairwoman Sharon Bowles, paid a regular annual visit to Washington D.C. in order to meet with legislators and financial regulators and continue in the financial regulatory dialogue. The delegation held high level meetings with Members of the Congress, including Tim Johnson, Maxine Waters, Scott Garrett, and Mark Warner and met Federal Reserve Board Chair Ben ECON Bernanke. As it is customary, and in order to pursue dialogue with financial 55.349 Comm. regulatory agencies, the delegation met with top ranking officials from the U.S. Treasury and regulatory agencies including Mary Jo White, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Martin Gruenberg, Chairman Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Mark Wetjen, and Scott O'Malia, Commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The programme also included meetings at the IMF.
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A delegation of Members of the Environmental Committee travelled to Washington to meet key counterparts and discuss transatlantic dimension of issues such as environmental protection, climate change, clean energy, public health and food safety, not only from domestic regulatory agenda perspective but also with regard to the negotiations on the TTIP. The delegation met with Members of the U.S. Congress, including Fred Upton, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, John Shimkus, Chairman of the Environment and the Economy ENVI Subcommittee of the House committee on Energy and Commerce, Tom Carper, 49.481 Chairman of the Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Sheldon Whitehouse, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Environment and Public Works Committee. The programme comprised meetings with Ambassador Miriam E. Sapiro, Deputy US Trade Representative for Europe, Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change, U.S. Department of State and with top ranking officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Food and Drug Administration.
AFCO Visit to AG, Supreme Court of the US and the Marlyland House of Representatives. 52.751 Comm.
The discussions concentrated on the electronic mass surveillance of EU citizens by US agencies, which had come to light following the revelations by Edward Snowden earlier that year. Members of the delegation met with Members Congress, the US Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department AFET of the Treasury, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, the President's 48.197 Comm. Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Executive Office of the President, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of State. They also met with representatives of civil society and business. The discussions concentrated on the electronic mass surveillance of EU citizens by US agencies, which had come to light following the revelations by Edward Snowden earlier that year. Members of the delegation met with Members Congress, the US Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department LIBE of the Treasury, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, the President's 97.769 Comm. Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Executive Office of the President, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of State. They also met with representatives of civil society and business.
The Bureau of the US delegation visited Washington with a programme organised US by the EPLO in order to prepare the upcoming TLD meetings, and to meet with 23.552 deleg. Members of the Congress, the administration as well as with think- tanks.
37 visits of individual MEPs facilitated by EPLO to provide support for the - 70.597 MEPs in the execution of the mandate. Programmes facilitated by EPLO in connection with the professional functions of 2 - secretariat officials. 25.645 Annual training programme for 10 AD officials involved - in transatlantic issues, facilitated by EPLO. Total 700.805 Expenditure includes all reimbursements paid to MEPs, group staff, Secretariat staff and interpreters and miscellaneous expenditure (in case of Committee and parliamentary delegations).
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DG PERSONAL (DG PERS)
Parliament's staff (officials and other servants)
78. How many former staff members of Presidents’ cabinets work in the Parliament Administration without having successfully participated in an official EPSO competition?
Since 2005 (limit of available data in Streamline) 14 former staff members of a total of 4 President's cabinets have integrated the General Secretariat of the EP as officials. During their time in the respective cabinets they were employed as temporary or contractual staff. All of them have passed internal competitions or selection procedures as foreseen by the staff regulations before becoming officials in the General Secretariat of the EP.
79. Due to the internalisation of the security services 80 security and prevention agents were recruited in Brussels. Could you please give us detailed information about their respective grades?
As mentioned in the Action Plan adopted by the Bureau in June 2012, all safety and security agents are contract agents with the same grade i.e. GF1.
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80. Pouvez-vous nous fournir un tableau par nationalité et genre des chefs d'unité, directeurs et directeurs généraux ?
The following tables describe the situation as at December 31, 2013.
General Secretariat:
DIR DIR GENERAL GENERAL DIRECTOR DIRECTOR HoU HoU TOTAL MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE AT 1 6 1 8 BE 2 1 2 24 3 32 BG 3 3 CZ 3 1 4 DE 1 2 5 16 5 29 DK 2 5 2 9 EE 1 1 2 ES 1 1 3 1 23 9 38 FI 1 4 4 9 FR 1 5 2 23 8 39 GB 1 1 3 8 8 21 GR 1 1 1 11 1 15 HU 1 1 1 3 IE 4 1 5 IT 2 1 4 1 17 7 32 LT 1 2 3 LU 1 2 3 LV 1 1 2 MT 2 2 NL 2 9 2 13 PL 2 4 6 PT 3 10 5 18 RO 1 2 3 SE 4 2 6 SI 2 1 3 SK 3 1 4 TOTAL 9 4 29 15 182 73 312
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81. Combien de jours de congé de maladie ont été pris en 2013 par le personnel? Spécifier par catégorie de personnel et indiquer les pourcentages (fonctionnaires et agents temporaires et leurs grades, agents contractuels et leurs grades et assistants parlementaires accrédités).
In 2013, 92 984.50 days of sick leave were taken by the staff. Distribution is as follows:
Officials Temporary Agents Grade Nb of days % Nb of staff % Nb of days % Nb of staff % AD10 973,00 1% 127 3% 41,00 1% 12 1% AD11 1.261,00 2% 148 3% 141,00 2% 10 1% AD12 1.829,50 3% 160 3% 285,50 4% 18 2% AD13 4.815,50 7% 391 8% 396,00 5% 17 2% AD14 909,00 1% 153 3% 92,00 1% 12 1% AD15 48,50 0% 24 0% 4,00 0% 1 0% AD16 163,00 0% 11 0% 3,00 0% 5 0% AD5 1.224,00 2% 235 5% 1.053,50 13% 205 19% AD6 2.167,00 3% 158 3% 192,00 2% 94 9% AD7 4.146,00 6% 405 8% 247,50 3% 54 5% AD8 3.237,50 5% 275 5% 111,50 1% 34 3% AD9 1.850,50 3% 198 4% 89,00 1% 28 3% AST1 1.737,50 2% 137 3% 1.518,00 19% 184 17% AST10 1.023,50 1% 60 1% 222,00 3% 6 1% AST11 1.212,50 2% 72 1% 39,00 0% 6 1% AST2 1.485,50 2% 127 3% 677,50 9% 88 8% AST3 5.695,00 8% 428 8% 685,00 9% 90 8% AST4 3.916,50 6% 265 5% 452,00 6% 67 6% AST5 6.183,00 9% 295 6% 390,00 5% 32 3% AST6 7.980,00 11% 365 7% 289,50 4% 24 2% AST7 7.723,00 11% 377 7% 75,00 1% 21 2% AST8 6.874,50 10% 393 8% 614,00 8% 45 4% AST9 4.683,50 7% 233 5% 186,00 2% 14 1% 71.139,00 100% 5038 100% 7.804,00 100% 1067 100%
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Contractual Agents APA Nb of days % Grade Nb of staff % Nb of days % Grade Nb of staff % 434,50 5% I1 124 14% 165,00 4% AP1 68 4% 2.261,00 24% I2 88 10% 76,00 2% AP2 58 3% 1.100,50 12% I3 64 7% 43,00 1% AP3 53 3% 382,00 4% II4 57 7% 130,00 3% AP4 76 4% 1.056,00 11% II5 80 9% 263,00 6% AP5 103 6% 753,50 8% II6 71 8% 416,50 9% AP6 84 5% 422,50 5% II7 20 2% 356,50 8% AP7 158 9% 377,50 4% III10 46 5% 614,50 13% AP8 169 10% 439,50 5% III11 27 3% 491,00 10% AP9 171 10% 225,50 2% III12 21 2% 440,50 9% AP10 177 10% 127,50 1% III8 48 6% 225,00 5% AP11 135 8% 542,00 6% III9 29 3% 347,00 7% AP12 171 10% 291,00 3% IV13 54 6% 383,00 8% AP13 95 5% 359,50 4% IV14 45 5% 62,00 1% AP14 62 4% 139,50 1% IV15 38 4% 179,00 4% AP15 60 3% 90,50 1% IV16 18 2% 20,00 0% AP16 46 3% 105,00 1% IV17 10 1% 9,00 0% AP17 21 1% 252,00 3% IV18 18 2% 3,00 0% AP18 21 1% 458,00 10% AP19 36 2% 9.359,50 100% 858 100% 4.682,00 100% 1764 100%
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82. In accordance with the 2012 EP follow up report 121 political group staff have become officials since 2009. Could you please indicate the recruitment grades and the political groups of origin for the 26 that have passed a conventional procedure (EPSO, internal competition or selection procedure based on Article 29.2 of the Staff Regulation) and the recruitment grades and the political groups of origin for the 95 candidates that have passed a competition based on Article 29.3 ("Passerelle")
CONVENTIONAL PROCEDURE Last Political Grade and step at Group/NI recruitment Total ALDE/ADLE AST12 1 AST32 1 ALDE/ADLE Total 2 GUE/NGL AD71 1 AST32 1 GUE/NGL total 2 NI AST31 1 NI Total 1 PPE AD91 1 AD93 2 AST12 1 AST13 2 AST14 2 AST15 1 AST31 1 AST34 1 EPP Total 11 S&D AD141 1 AD54 1 AD92 1 AST14 2 S&D Total 5 VERTS/ALE AD52 2 AD91 1 AST32 2 VERTS/ALE Total 5 TOTAL CONVENTIONAL PROCEDURE 26
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“PASSERELLE” PROCEDURE Last Political Grade and step at Group/NI recruitment Total ALDE/ADLE AD52 1 AD91 1 AST74 1 AST81 1 AST93 2 ALDE/ADLE Total 6 ECR AD125 1 AST101 1 AST105 1 AST72 1 ECR Total 4 EFD AD102 1 AD121 1 EFD Total 2 GUE/NGL AD111 1 AD113 1 AD91 2 AST115 1 AST65 1 AST71 1 AST92 1 AST93 1 GUE/NGL Total 9 NI AST81 1 NI Total 1 PPE AD102 1 AD111 2 AD112 3 AD114 1 AD115 3 AD121 7 AD123 1 AD125 3 AD91 3 AST12 1 AST13 1 AST61 7 AST62 1 AST65 1 AST71 2 AST81 4 AST85 1
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PPE Total 42 S&D AD115 3 AD121 3 AD125 2 AD141 1 AD91 1 AD92 1 AST111 1 AST61 1 AST62 3 AST85 1 S&D Total 17 VERTS/ALE AD101 2 AD102 1 AD105 2 AD115 2 AD125 2 AD91 2 AD93 1 AST72 1 AST75 1 VERTS/ALE Total 14 TOTAL “PASSERELLE” 95
83. Quelles sont les raisons de la diversité des frais de mission à Strasbourg pour les travailleurs du PE? Existe-t-il un mécanisme qui permet de les adapter au coût de la vie à Strasbourg pendant les séances plénières?
The rules for reimbursement of mission costs differ between staff of the Secretariat-General, accredited parliamentary assistants and trainees. The Bureau of the Parliament and/or the Secretary-General adopted specific legal bases in order to address the specific nature and needs of each of these populations. The detailed rules are specified in following provisions.
- Officials: Articles 11 to 13 of Annex VII of the Staff Regulation and the Internal rules governing missions and duty travel by officials and other servants of the European Parliament (see http://www.epintranet.ep.parl.union.eu/intranet/ep/lang/en/content/administrative_life/personn el/missions/missions_rules)
- APA: Article 22 of the Implementing Measures for Title VII of the Conditions for Employment of other servants of the European Communities (PE422.579/BUR) (see http://www.epintranet.ep.parl.union.eu/intranet/webdav/site/refin/shared/missions/new_apa_l egal_basis/apa_legal_basis_en.pdf)
- Trainees: Internal rules governing traineeships and study visits in the Secretariat of the European Parliament, Article 15. (see
Page 82 of 123 http://www.epintranet.ep.parl.union.eu/intranet/webdav/site/refin/shared/trainees/staff_trainee s_rules/regles_de_stage_en.pdf)
Reimbursement of accommodation costs and payment of daily allowance are based on the scale defined in the Staff regulations for each Member state (see Annex VII, Article 13.2 (a)). For France, the following rates are applicable: − Daily subsistence allowance: EUR 95 − Accommodation costs: real costs with a maximum of EUR 150/night or lump sum of EUR 90/night
As foreseen in Annex VII, Article 13 of the Staff regulations, a flat-rate reimbursement of accommodation costs can be accepted. Internal mission rules adopted by the Secretary- General foresee that this flat-rate is 60% of the ceiling (i.e. EUR 90 for France).
Annex VII, Article 13 of the Staff regulations states that “the Commission shall review every two years the rates set out in point (a) of paragraph 2. That review shall take place in the light of a report on the prices of hotels, restaurants and catering services, and shall be based on the indexes on the evolution of such prices.(…)”. The latest adaptation took place in July 2006 and the resulting scale has been in force since January 1, 2007. In relation to the reimbursement of mission costs for staff of the political groups, each political group establishes its own rules based on their administrative autonomy.
84. Please outline the number of posts, in functions and grades, for the staff serving the non-attached Members in 2013.
In 2013, 24 posts were affected to the non-attached Members, with the following grade distribution:
AD 11 1 AD 10 1 AD 6 1 Total AD 3 AST 9 2 AST 8 1 AST 7 2 AST 6 1 AST 5 3 AST 4 3 AST 3 3 AST 2 3 AST 1 3 Total AST 21
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85. Les Away Days au niveau politique (Membres du Bureau, le Président, le S-G et les D-G) ont lieu tous les deux ans et demi notamment lors d'un changement de Présidence et des membres du Bureau. Pourtant, les Away Days au niveau administratif ont lieu tous les ans. Quelle est la raison de réaliser ces Away Days tous les ans? Quelle est la valeur ajoutée de réaliser ces réunions hors du Parlement et d'un lieu de travail?
DG Away Days are part of the professional training programme of the European Parliament geared at improving management capacities of the middle management. The added value of staying outside the EP premises is to enhance concentration, allow for team spirit to be increased and for open and informal discussions, not disturbed by daily work.
Following a decision in 2006 of the Director-General for Personnel, every DG in the framework of its training programme is allowed once per year to organise up to two days and one overnight stay as away days.
The rhythm corresponds to the annual management cycle, as the administration works other than the Bureau corresponding to a yearly cycle of budgets, objectives, evaluation of staff, discharge. However not all DGs take up this possibility every year: on average only 6 to 8 DGs (out of 13) do so in a given year.
The Professional Training Unit is monitoring choices for locations very closely to check that they are reasonably priced, and are close enough to the EP to ensure reasonable travel costs while still providing the informal context in which management teams can reflect on their common challenges.
86. Please indicate away days, closed conferences or similar events for staff in 2013. What were the costs and how many staff members participated in the respective events? Where did these events take place?
Eight events took place in 2013, for a total cost of EUR 140 730. These events were organised in Belgium (5), France (1), the Netherlands (1), and Luxembourg (1). Details are provided in annex.
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Changes to Parliament’s Secretariat
87. Parliament’s establishment plan increased between 2012 and 2013 by 59 posts equivalent to a 0.88% rise. Could you clarify why additional staff was necessary? What were the overriding considerations for hiring additional staff and will these staff members also be necessary in the future?
59 new posts were created in 2013 in order to meet the five requirements summarised as follows:
Internalisation of ICT (Information and Communication 30 posts Technologies) services: Implementation of building projects, particularly construction of 15 posts the KAD Building and other current projects: Additional staff for DG COMM (Resources Directorate and 5 posts Cyprus Information Office): Additional staff for the REGI Committee secretariat: 5 posts Additional staff for DG PRES to follow-up the application of the 3 posts new code of conduct: Temporary post for the non-attached Members’ secretariat: 1 post In line with the policy of bringing particular strategic sectors in-house, with a view to more efficient management and lessening Parliament's dependence on external service providers in key areas, the Bureau decided on 2 July 2012 to create 60 permanent posts over two years (2013 and 2014) so as to internalise particular ICT services. Internalisation will be budget- neutral, since, in tandem with this, appropriations against the relevant service heading will be reduced accordingly.
The Bureau decision of 10 January 2012 foresees a number of measures in order to strengthen Parliament’s management capacities through DG INLO, Legal Service and DG FINS as regards dealing more efficiently with the risks of building projects. With this regard, 5 AD permanent posts were created to reinforce the project team of DG INLO, 6 AD and 3 AST permanent posts were created to establish a specialised unit for property matters in the Legal Service, and 1 AD permanent post was created in DG FINS to provide a better supervision of the management of the project and with a control function including coordination of the work schedules and monitoring of costs.
The other creations concern: − DG COMM: 2 AD and 2 AST permanent posts in DG COMM were needed to gather the necessary financial management capacities resulting from the new activities of the DG in line with the updated action plan for the period 2011-2014, adopted by the Bureau in its meeting of 23 March 2011; furthermore, a temporary AD post was created to deal with public relation matters in the Information Office in Cyprus. − The Committee on Regional Development (REGI), responsible for the structural and cohesion policies which represent 36 % of the EU's overall budget. The committee
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works closely with the Union Presidency, the Council, the European Commission, as well as with EU's advisory bodies such as the Committee of the Regions the Economic and Social Committee and many other regional and local organisations. The reinforcement of the REGI committee with 3 AD and 2 AST permanent posts is justified by the increasing role this committee has to play in the control of the implementation of EU cohesion funds and in ensuring that the Union and its Member States conduct economic policy which ‘promote economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity among Member States’. This decision follows the analysis of the low utilisation rate of Cohesion fund means even during the financial crisis. − DG PRES: the new Code of Conduct for Members of the EP with respect to financial interests and conflicts of interest was adopted on 1 December 2011 by the Plenary. At its meeting of 12 December 2011, the Bureau approved to set up a special service to support the Advisory Committee (2 AD and 1 AST permanent posts). − Political groups: in order to respect the distribution key of posts among the Political Groups and the NI, one AST temporary agent post for the NI secretariat was created.
88. At the end of 2013 the DG for European Parliamentary Research Services (DG EPRS) and the DG for Security and Safety (DG SAFE) were created. 16 new units in the secretariats of EXPO, EPRS, COMM, INLO, ITEC and SAFE were created in 2013 which corresponds to an increase in number of units of 6% in comparison to 2012.[1] Was this accompanied by the creation of 16 new head of unit posts and what was their occupational rate at the end of 2013?
The posts of Heads of these 16 new Units did not correspond to the creation of new posts.
89. Could you please explain the additional benefit of the above mentioned reorganisation measures apart from the establishment of DG Security which was already laid down in your Follow-up report to the 2012 discharge?
CREAT ION OF DG EPRS
The Bureau-BUDG working group created in 201221 took over a number of conclusions set out in a comparative analysis of the operating methods used by and the resources made available to various assemblies, including the German Bundestag and the US Congress, and their members, and the corresponding arrangements in the European Parliament. On the basis of this analysis, agreement was reached on a number of priorities for strengthening the role of Parliament and its Members, and in particular to:
1)Strengthen the provision of independent scientific advice The comparison with the German Bundestag and the US Congress highlighted the relative lack of resources which Parliament has at its disposal when it comes to providing independent advice to its Members. Parliament's library services, which have a key role in this area, had fewer than 100 staff in 2013. By way of comparison, the Congressional Research Service had 650 staff.
[1] See page 10 - 13 of the Social Report 2013 21 The joint Working Group of the EP Bureau and the Committee on Budgets was created on the basis of paragraph 9 of the European Parliament Resolution of 29 March 2012 on the Parliament’s estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2013.
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This mismatch is all the more striking because Parliament's legislative work is highly detailed and calls for enormous technical knowledge, given that MEPs’ role is to carry out a critical review of and amend Commission proposals. They cannot therefore rely only on the advice provided by the executive, as is largely the case in the Member States. It is essential, therefore, to continue the reform of the Library in order to develop it into an effective research service for Members.
2) Strengthen the capacity to exercise democratic scrutiny As a result of the financial crisis, the European Union – far more than the Member States – is being called upon to take more and more decisions which have a major social and economic impact on the daily lives of EU citizens. Parliament must therefore give itself the wherewithal to exercise strong and effective democratic scrutiny.
Furthermore, there is a need to make sure that the European laws adopted are properly implemented and have the desired effect. Although there are obvious differences between the political systems in which the two institutions work, it is striking that, while the US Congress has its own agency – the Government Accounting Office – and 3300 staff to monitor the implementation of legislation and the Congressional Budget Office (240 staff) to carry out the ex ante assessment of budget proposals, Parliament had practically no capacities at all in this area in 2013.
Following these findings, the Bureau has decided on 20 May 2013 the creation of DG EPRS as of November 2013. This decision has implied the moving to the new DG of four units of the former DG PRES Directorate for the Library to the newly-created Directorate for the Members' Research Service (MRS), whose central task is to provide all Members with independent, objective and authoritative analysis of and research on EU-related policy issues, in order to assist them in their parliamentary work. This was to carry out the decision of the Bureau which had identified the creation of this service as one of the strategic steps required to assist Parliament in fully realising its ambition to underpin its legislative, budgetary and scrutiny powers with a research capability able to match the highest standards in other parliaments. The unit structure within the MRS formed part of the Bureau decision, built on the structure already designed for the Library, and reflected an alignment of unit structure with the five clusters of committees used in other parts of the House (the committees themselves, policy departments, lawyer-linguists, Legal Service, etc).
The idea behind this reorganisation, and, in particular, the creation of the MRS, was precisely to develop greater expertise and specialisation of staff in all policy areas. One expected benefit is the delivery, in a more timely manner, of products and services that better correspond to the needs of Members and the institution as a whole. Another expected benefit is the realisation of savings by internalising research work, so reducing reliance on often- costly outsourced research.
REORGANISATION WITHIN DG INLO
Concerning the reorganisation measures in DG INLO, they follow the collapse of the hemicycle in Strasbourg and the subsequent Bureau decision at its meeting on 8 October 2008, to ask the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) to perform a study on the procedures and processes in force at the European Parliament concerning buildings maintenance and upkeep. This study was delivered on 22 December 2008 and highlighted
Page 87 of 123 several improvement possibilities, including the creation of structures dedicated to maintenance activities and the allocation of human resources.
In accordance with the Bureau’s decision of 18 March 2009, DG INLO has gradually undergone reorganisation, with the creation, in particular within the Directorate for Infrastructure, of:
− units dealing with property management and maintenance of buildings in the three places of work; − units for the management of current and future property projects in Brussels and Luxembourg (a Directorate for property projects and a project unit in Strasbourg have been created in 2012); − a coordination unit for implementing new maintenance methods and horizontal policies such as the environment, accessibility for people with disabilities, the medium-term property policy, etc.
The main expected benefits for the Institution of this enhanced maintenance policy are: − guaranteed traceability of services provided and works performed; − traceability of interventions foreseen or already made; − "Full guaranty" contracts with no possible price deviation; − compliance with environmental commitments; − enhanced monitoring of contracting parties and greater accountability.
REORGANISATION WITHIN DG ITEC
In 2013, DG ITEC reorganised one unit in the former IT directorate: ITIM (IT Infrastructure Management). The main benefit of this reorganisation was to improve the financial management and reduce the financial risk of this unit which was concentrating half of the IT Directorate budget. ITIM unit was split into two new units (EQUILOG and INFRAMGMT) having, each, a reasonable size and budget. This resulted in a better mastered financial management and a better control on the split activities. Moreover, we took the opportunity to rename all the DIT units in order to make the field of their activities clearer for the clients.
90. How many of the new head of unit posts are occupied by staff who successfully participated in an official EPSO competition? How many and which posts are occupied by staff who did not successfully participate in an official EPSO competition or did not participate at all in an EPSO competition and what is the reason for this?
The procedure to fill a head of unit post starts when the Appointing Authority decides to open the vacancy to applications from established officials in grades AD 9 – AD 14 in the EP. Candidates are then selected by a panel. When a candidate who is internal to the institution is selected, there is clearly no need to organise an EPSO competition.
That was the case for the 8 new heads of unit referred to in question 88 above (it should be noted that only 8 of the 16 posts mentioned have so far been filled). Before being selected and appointed as Head of unit, all 8 were already established officials of at least grade AD 9 and
Page 88 of 123 there was therefore no need to fill the post by drawing from a reserve list of an EPSO competition.
91. 29 additional general management posts were occupied by officials or temporary staff at the end of 2013 in comparison to 2012. In total 499 general management posts were occupied in 2013, i.e. 9.8 % of all occupied posts in the Secretariat (as against 8.7% at the end of 2012, 8.2% at the end of 2011, 7.1% at the end of 2010, 6.6% at the end of 2009, 5.9% at the end of 2008 and 5.2% at the end of 2007)[2] This means that the general management posts almost doubled since 2007). The Social Report shows that there is in comparison to 2012: one more Director General, 4 more Heads of units, 31 more administrative officers [3].Could you please indicate the additional posts DG and explain the reasons for their creation?
It has to be noted, that the 2004 Staff regulation allows staff members to take up management responsibilities as of grade AD9. These staff members, contrary to before 2004, are not promoted when taking up management responsibilities. This allowed Parliament to create a sounder more efficient management structure without additional expenditure.
In 2013 16 new units were created, essentially linked to the creation of the two new DGs (DG EPRS and DG SAFE) and the accession of Croatia to the EU (new language units in DG INTE & DG TRAD). The posts of Heads of these 16 new Units did not correspond to new posts. (see reply to Q88).
The figures in the question contain a large number of staff who had administrative tasks (see Q 92) rather than real management tasks. This situation has been corrected in the meantime. As of 2014 Parliament makes a clear distinction between staff members with some administrative coordination tasks (ADM) and those who are in charge of management (MAN). This review led to a more precise identification of staff with real management responsibilities and led to a decrease in numbers of MANs. Concerning the creation of additional posts, it should be underlined that the large majority of new posts created in 2013 (58 for the General Secretariat) are not 'management' posts, but belong to other job types (see reply to Q87).
92. For the 31 additional Administration officer posts which means a total of 170 in 2013 what are their tasks and to which grades do they belong to?
The main tasks of staff occupying an 'administrative manager/officer' job in 2013 were related to: − devising, drawing up, implementing and following up administrative documents, studies, objectives and action plans in the framework laid down by management; − dealing with staff management, organisation of work and supervision of activities; − relaying objectives, instructions and information; − managing specific (horizontal) files; − carrying out financial tasks; − supervising small teams administratively and technically; − advising management and colleagues;
[2] See page 17 of the Social Report 2013 [3] The 36 new management posts are partially offset by a reduction of 7 heads of service
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− liaising with other services and counterparts in different bodies; − helping with the planning, organisation and coordination of the department's activities, etc.
The following table gives the grade breakdown of these 170 'administrative manager/officer:
GRADE Number AD05 27 AD06 15 AD07 25 AD08 22 AD09 19 AD10 11 AD11 15 AD12 15 AD13 15 AD14 5 AD15 1 TOTAL 170
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93. The social report 2013 (page 17) states that “at the end of 2013 there were also 39 other management posts in the Secretariat, held by the advisers of directors-general and directors". Are these posts included in the total above figure of 499? Which grades do they belong to? What are their tasks and what is the reason for these posts being declared management posts?
The 39 occupants of management posts held on 31.12.2013 (advisers of director-generals and directors) are not included in the total of 499 occupants of 'general management' posts.
The main tasks of these advisers are advising, accompanying or representing the senior management, monitoring activities, managing specific projects, conducting high level studies and opinions for the hierarchy, facilitating the information flow and (horizontal) relations between directorates/units and the senior management. This type of posts is classified under the 'management' occupational category of posts, since advisers essentially provide assistance to senior management in performing their functions, however, they do not have a managerial function in the classical sense and often not a management grade (as of AD9)
The grade distribution of these 39 posts is as follows:
GRADE NUMBER AD05 4 AD06 4 AD07 5 AD08 3 AD09 6 AD10 3 AD11 2 AD12 2 AD13 6 AD14 4 TOTAL 39
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Training courses
94. Combien de membres du personnel se sont inscrits aux cours des langues du Parlement (cours intensifs inclus) en 2013? Pouvez-vous spécifier par catégorie de personnel et indiquer les pourcentages (fonctionnaires et agents temporaires et leurs grades, agents contractuels et leurs grades et assistants parlementaires accrédités).
In 2013, 4 989 staff members enrolled in language courses. The detailed breakdown is given in the following table :
Officials & temporary agents Contractual agents APA
% of total % of total % of total Enrolments Enrolments Enrolments enrolments enrolments enrolments
AD16 0 0% IV18 15 0% AP19 11 0% AD15 0 0% IV17 12 0% AP18 10 0% AD14 29 1% IV16 19 0% AP17 7 0% AD13 99 2% IV15 42 1% AP16 16 0% AD12 57 1% IV14 63 1% AP15 17 0% AD11 45 1% IV13 59 1% AP14 31 1% AD10 51 1% III12 13 0% AP13 35 1% AD9 58 1% III11 13 0% AP12 83 2% AD8 261 6% III10 16 0% AP11 68 1% AD7 528 11% III9 41 1% AP10 91 2% AD6 210 5% III8 41 1% AP9 96 2% AD5 454 10% II7 21 0% AP8 104 2% AST11 4 0% II6 48 1% AP7 106 2% AST10 8 0% II5 66 1% AP6 57 1% AST9 37 1% II4 56 1% AP5 82 2% AST8 67 1% I3 3 0% AP4 57 1% AST7 70 2% I2 25 1% AP3 42 1% AST6 69 1% I1 34 1% AP2 54 1% AST5 98 2% AP1 68 1% AST4 136 3% AST3 364 8% AST2 149 3% AST1 236 5% Total22 3 030 65% Total 587 13% Total 1 035 22%
22 37 enrolments cannot be allocated due to the fact that the people are no longer in the database
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95. Combien d'abandons se sont produits en 2013? Pouvez-vous spécifier le nombre d'abandons par catégorie de personnel et indiquer les pourcentages (fonctionnaires, agents temporaires, contractuels et APA). Le PE peut-il indiquer les raisons principales des abandons?
The average drop-out rate is 10% (8% for officials, temporary agents and contractual agents and 32% for APAs). Participants mostly drop out because they find out that they cannot attend too many sessions for work related reasons.
In the case of language training participants are expelled for pedagogical reasons after a certain number of absences. This is why since 2014 the EP Professional Training Unit also offers e-learning courses as an alternative.
96. Of the Parliament staff enrolled in 2013 for professional training courses offered by the institutions and which relate to specific skill-sets such as IT or financial management training, what percentage of staff enrolled carry out a professional function requiring these skillsets?
It should be noted that such training courses are always followed in the interest of the service and with the managers' consent. Staff are admitted because they need the training for their current jobs or with a view to their career development and future tasks.
Pensions
97. What was the amount of the highest pension for officials of the European Parliament actually paid in 2013?
98. What was the average pension paid in 2013 for officials of the European Parliament?
99. What is the average pension paid for officials of the European Parliament who retired in 2013?
Pensions payments are not in the budget of the European Parliament, therefore, Parliament cannot give an answer to question 97.-99..
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Réclamations articles 90 et 46
100. Combien de réclamations ont été introduites par les fonctionnaires et autres agents en vertu de ces articles en 2013? Combien de ces réclamations ont obtenu des réponses favorables en 2013? Combien de réclamations ont été rejetées de manière explicite ou implicite? Pouvez-vous spécifier pour toutes les questions la catégorie de personnel et indiquer les pourcentages (fonctionnaires et agents temporaires et leurs grades, agents contractuels et leurs grades et assistants parlementaires accrédités).
Number of Number of Other upheld withheld STAFF CATEGORY (withdrawal, complaints complaints premature) (positive reply) (negative reply) AD 14 1 AD 13 2 5 2 AD 12 3 1 AD 10 5 AD 9 2 AD 8 3 1 AD 7 4 7 AD 6 1 4 AD 5 3 1 AST 10 3 AST 9 1 4 AST 8 6 8 AST 7 7 9 AST 6 8 AST 5 2 9 AST 4 2 AST 3 1 11 AST 2 1 2 AST 1 4 Temporary agent Ad 9 4 1 Temporary agent Ad 6 1 1 Temporary agent Ad 5 1
Temporary agent Ast 3 1 1
Contractual agent IV 3 3
Contractual agent II 3 Contractual agent I 1 4 APA 2 11 2 Retired 1 4 Free lance 1
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External third party 2 5 1 TOTAL 35 131 10
In the sector of individual rights, the majority of complaints were related to reimbursement of undue payments, sick leave checks, and refusal to grant allowances.
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101. Dans les cas où les réclamations ont été rejetées par l'AIPN, combien ont été introduites comme recours devant le Tribunal de la Fonction Publique Européenne? Combien d'entre elles ont obtenu gain de cause? Quel a été le coût pour le Parlement des recours perdus devant le Tribunal? (spécifier les frais d'avocats et les condamnations de la Cour en espèces?
Application to the CST: STAFF CATEGORY (W)on or (L)ost cases by the Parliament or still (P)ending AD 14 1 P AD 13 AD 12 AD 10 AD 9 AD 8 1 P AD 7 AD 6 2 W AD 5 1 P AST 10 2 W + P AST 9 AST 8 AST 7 AST 6 1 W AST 5 AST 4 AST 3 1 W AST 2 AST 1 Temporary agent Ad 9 Temporary agent Ad 6 Temporary agent Ad 5
Temporary agent Ast 3
Contractual agent IV
Contractual agent II Contractual agent I APA 1 P Retired 2 W Free lance 1 W External third party 1 W TOTAL 14 9 W, 5 P, 0 L
In all cases Parliament's position was confirmed
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Assistants Parlementaires Accredités (APA)
102. After 5 years of application of the statute of accredited parliamentary assistants, when is it expected to make a full assessment of the status and make any adjustments? Will the evaluation report on the statute be prepared before the end of 2014 as indicated? Who is responsible for this study and will it be a public document?
A revision of the statute for the APAs was carried out in the light of the changes in the legal framework adopted in the context of the reform of the Staff Regulations (See the Report on the modifications introduced to the Implementing Measures for Title VII of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union by the Decision of the Bureau on 14 April 2014, which was communicated in the context of the discharge 2012 - Action to be taken on Parliament's resolution of 16 April 2014 - Q 29).
It should also be kept in mind that the Statute of the APAs was changed following the recommendations in the “Temporary Evaluation Group”, chaired by former MEP Dagmar Roth-Behrendt.
103. Le bilan social 2013 du PE a été présenté en août dernier. Seulement trois des 71 pages sont destinées aux APA. Même si les APA constituent le 29.4% de l'ensemble des effectifs du secrétariat général à 31/12/2013. Leurs données n'ont pas prises en compte dans la majorité des tableaux ou statistiques au sein desquels tous les autres travailleurs du PE sont inclus. Il serait nécessaire et pertinent de les inclure ainsi que d'y refléter les données qui leurs sont spécifiques. Cette même situation s'est produite dans les bilans précédents même depuis que les APA sont directement embauchés par le PE. Il s’agit d'un document de référence et d'un outil de travail fondamental pour l'amélioration de la gestion des ressources humaines au PE. Le Parlement compte-t-il reprendre les données des APA dans les futurs bilans sociaux et de quelle façon?
The administration is currently reflecting on the way to improve the next edition of the 'Social Report'. In this context, it is envisaged to present more detailed and in-depth information about the accredited parliamentary assistant category of staff in 'Social Report 2014'.
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104. L'administration peut-il indiquer le nombre d'APA en 2013 par groupe de fonctions et par grade?
The following table presents the situation as at 31 December 2013:
GRADE Number AP01 68 AP02 58 AP03 53 AP04 76 AP05 103 AP06 84 AP07 158 AP08 169 AP09 171 AP10 177 AP11 135 AP12 171 AP13 95 AP14 62 AP15 60 AP16 46 AP17 21 AP18 21 AP19 36 TOTAL 1 764
105. Combien d'assistants ont-ils été licenciés en 2013? Quels ont été les coûts de ces licenciements? Combien de formations ont été organisées spécifiquement pour les APA en 2013? Quel a été le taux de participation?
In 2013, 59 Accredited Parliamentary Assistants were dismissed. In these cases, there is no paid compensation as such but a period of advance notice (up to three months) depending on the seniority of the APA. The associated cost of these dismissals would then correspond to the cases where the APA does not work during the advance notice period. Unfortunately, DG PERS cannot source this information from the current databases, only the MEPs or assistants concerned would be able to reply. However, according to the Recruitment Unit, these cases are unusual.
In addition, 34 contracts were brought to an end before their end dates due to mandates of the relating MEPs ending before the conclusion of the 7th parliamentary term on 1 July 2014. The associated costs are registered as ‘Indemnités de Résiliation de Contrat’ and amounted to EUR 340 249 in 2013.
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Accredited parliamentary assistants may participate in all EP catalogue courses. There were 1 764 APAs in service on 31 December 2013; 1 204 APAs enrolled in training in 2013 (68%). In 2013, 231 APAs participated in a 'summer school' that was specifically organised for this category of personnel. The cost of this summer school was EUR 3 275.
106. Depuis que le PE a été condamné par le Tribunal de la Fonction Publique pour non-assistance en cas de harcèlement et de licenciements irréguliers, arrêt F- 129/12, le PE a-t-il adopté et mis en œuvre des mesures pour éviter que ces situations ne se reproduisent?
In the context of the assessment that was made of the experience under the first full parliamentary term in which the Implementing Measures for accredited parliamentary assistants applied (i.e. the 7th parliamentary term, 2009-2014), and following the judgement against the European Parliament by the Civil Service Tribunal on 12 December 2013, new Implementing Measures were adopted by the Bureau on 14 April 2014.
Those Implementing Measures include the following provisions: − Any request for dismissal submitted by a MEP should be supported by justifying documents; − Before any dismissal, the accredited parliamentary assistant is invited for an interview by the Authority empowered to conclude contracts of employment (AECE); − After this interview, a conciliation procedure between the MEP and the APA is proposed by a Quaestor.
All those procedures are described in Articles 20 to 26 of the Implementing Measures.
In addition, internal rules for the advisory Committee dealing with harassment complaints between accredited parliamentary assistants and Members of the European Parliament and its prevention at the workplace were adopted by the Bureau in 14 April 2014.
107. Combien de cas de harcèlement ou de licenciements irréguliers ont-ils été traités en 2013? Combien depuis la mise en oeuvre de ces mesures? Combien d'interviews de pré-licenciement ont eu lieu, combien ont débouché sur des procédures de conciliation et quel a été leur aboutissement?
In 2013, and in relation to the 7th parliamentary term, 8 interviews prior to dismissal took place. Of these 8 cases, 6 resulted in a dismissal. No conciliation procedure took place during the 7th parliamentary term. In this context, it must be noted that the obligation to provide for a conciliation procedure stems from Article 139(3a) of the CEOS which was introduced in the context of the reform of the Staff Regulations (entered into force on 1st January 2014). Furthermore the Bureau has adopted on 14 April 2014, a new Chapter of the Implementing Measures setting out the details of the conciliation procedure. These provisions have entered into force in May 2014, when the break period for the elections has started, reason why they were was no opportunity to apply them before the end of the term.
As regards irregular dismissals, the Court of Justice identified 1 case (case F-129/12, cf. Q105).
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108. Combien de cas de plaintes pour harcèlement ont été présentés et combien de fois l'Advisory Committee a-t-il dû intervenir? Quel a été l'aboutissement? Dans combien de cas, des mesures de prévention, information ou formation ont été mises en marche?
APA Harassment Committee has heard three APAs. In these three cases, the Quaestors decided that there was no reason to go any further. NB: The APA Harassment Committee refers directly to the Quaestors, and not to the administration.
109. De nouveaux cas ont-ils été transmis au Tribunal de la Fonction Publique? Y a-t-il eu de nouveaux arrêts? Quel a été le résultat et les coûts pour le PE?
Three new cases have been tabled before the Civil Service Tribunal (CST) for the following reasons: harassment, occupational activity conflicting with the interests of the institution, control over the mailbox of a trade-union. Two were won by the Parliament (no costs), one is still pending.
110. D'après la réponse 76 du S-G, le « Harassement Advisory Committee » est composé de 3 questeurs, un représentant des APA et un représentant de l'administration. Pourquoi le Comité n'est-il pas paritaire comme il se devrait? Pourquoi un représentant du Comité du Personnel n'a-t-il pas été inclus?
There is no legal reason making it compulsory that the Committee should be composed equally of Quaestors and APAs. A representative of the APAs is a member of the Committee. Since the APAs have a representative body of their own, a representation of the Staff Committee is not relevant.
111. Concernant le paragraphe 28 de la résolution pour décharge du PE 2012, quels sont les mesures que le PE a mis ou est en train de mettre en place?
On the basis of the lessons learned from the first years of implementation, the Implementing Measures for assistants were amended in April 2014 to include some practical arrangements - rules on extension of contracts -, to correct some weaknesses in the framework control (reduced termination allowance in case of new recruitment of the same assistant) and to include the results of the latest decisions of the Court of Justice regarding the dismissal procedure. The awareness campaign related to the end-of-term operations was also an opportunity to enhance the follow-up of annual leaves for accredited assistants. The IT tools have been redesigned to integrate new data and improve the interfaces.
Furthermore following the 2012 audit on accredited assistants all outstanding actions but one were closed by the Internal Auditor.
112. Quels ont été les moyens mis à disposition par l'administration du PE pour faciliter le travail du Comité des APAS? Pourquoi certains de moyens ou mesures n'ont jamais été mis en oeuvre?
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The APA staff committee has access to electronic means of communication which enable it to communicate with the APAs. Furthermore meeting rooms are put at disposal if needed.
113. Comment sont évaluées et contrôlées les conditions de travail dans les bureaux des assistants à Bruxelles et à Strasbourg? Est-ce que ces conditions de travail sont adaptées aux normes de santé et sécurité dans le lieu de travail? Quel est le plan de travail du PE à ce sujet et quand sera-t-il terminé?
The Prevention and Protection at Work Service (SPPT) carries out checks and assessments when it receives a complaint or is made aware of a problem. The SPPT has received numerous complaints in this area.
In the framework of the medium term building strategy, 450 additional office modules have been made available to MEPs since July 2014 in order to improve working conditions of their parliamentary assistants. At the same time, recruitment of parliamentary assistants has been made conditional to sufficient availability of office space complying with legal standards in force in Belgium and France.
Regulation (PE422.599/BUR 06/06/2011) concerning supply of furniture is enforced. Ergonomics and layout of the furniture are considered important aspects of the working conditions of the parliamentary assistants, especially when they have to share an office. A study on furniture is currently on-going.
The SG will submit a proposal for further improvement of the working conditions of the members and their assistants in Brussels and Strasbourg.
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DG INFRASTRUCTURE AND LOGISTICS (DG INLO)
114. Quelle a été l´évolution en 2013 et quels sont les perspectives pour d’évolution du budget global du projet d'extension du bâtiment Konrad Adenaeur (KAD) à Luxembourg?
L'année 2013 était l'année de relance du projet relatif au bâtiment Konrad Adenauer avec la prise en main du projet par la nouvelle maîtrise d'œuvre (maitrise d'œuvre d'exécution), ainsi que du début effectif des travaux de construction sur le chantier (septembre 2013).
Définition de l’objectif de coût
Il était important de fixer un objectif de coût clair envers la nouvelle maîtrise d'œuvre. Partant dans le respect des décisions antérieures du Bureau, qui faisaient référence à un budget exprimé en valeur d’avril 2005, il a été décidé de fixer à la nouvelle maîtrise d'œuvre ce même objectif de coût actualisé à la valeur d'octobre 2012, et de figer ce montant pour pouvoir effectuer le suivi budgétaire du projet sans être perturbé par les effets de l'inflation.
Le tableau récapitulatif ci-dessous indique l’objectif de coût ainsi que le budget alloué par le Bureau (objectif de coût + marge pour aléas et imprévus) pour le projet du bâtiment Konrad Adenauer:
Konrad Valeur Décision Libellé Adenauer 1+2 Indice Millions EUR Objectif de Coût 340.6 Décision Bureau du PE de février Marge pour imprévus et Avril 2005 2009 aléas 6.5% Budget PE 363.0 608.08
Objectif de Coût 406.2 Actualisation du budget / Marge pour imprévus et Oct. 2012 coût d'objectif défini envers la aléas 6.5% maîtrise d'œuvre d'exécution (2013) Budget PE 433.0 725.05
Suivi du coût estimé du projet
Dès juillet 2013, il a été demandé à la nouvelle maîtrise d'œuvre de fiabiliser les estimations des coûts des différents lots de construction pour assurer le Parlement européen quant à la faisabilité du projet dans le respect de l'objectif précité. Cette mission a abouti à l'adoption de mesures d'économies d'un montant de EUR 20 Millions, jugées nécessaires pour garantir le respect de l’objectif de coût.
Parallèlement, le Parlement européen a demandé à la nouvelle maîtrise d'œuvre de mettre en place des outils de suivi des coûts, tant pour la phase études que pour la phase exécution. Ces outils sont essentiels pour pouvoir suivre - pratiquement en temps réel - l'évolution du coût
Page 102 of 123 estimé du projet, tout en intégrant l'impact financier des modifications de plans (phase étude) ou des aléas et imprévus du chantier (phase exécution).
Évolution du coût projeté/estimé du projet
En 2014 et 2015, l'évolution du coût estimé dépendra principalement des nouvelles mesures d'économies adoptées par la maîtrise d'œuvre mais surtout du résultat des appels d'offres n°4 et n°5 (qui couvrent le second œuvre et les techniques spéciales en partie). Après l'attribution des marchés correspondants, prévue à partir du début 2015, environ 85% des des coûts seront connus avec précision. Par la suite, l'évolution du coût estimé dépendra du résultat des appels d'offres n°6 (aménagement extérieur, signalétique et équipement de conférence) et n°7 (chantier ouest - rénovation du bâtiment Konrad Adenauer existant : gros œuvre, démolition et désamiantage) ainsi que de l'exécution des travaux sur le chantier Montant des travaux déjà payés
Valeur Octobre 2012 - 725.05 Millions EUR Objectif de Coût as agreed with 406.2 BUDG Année 2013 3.9 Année 2014 (arrêtée au 30.11.2014) 27.8 Total payé 31.7 Solde 374.5
Catering services
115. Requests that the main features of the contract with the catering service provider are presented in a simple readable table namely its price distribution structure. Request the contract to be made available to CONT members.
The catering contracts currently in force at the three places of work are so-called "open book" contracts. These contracts imply inter alia that the Institution assumes the financial risks connected to the catering operations. Therefore any modification is submitted to prior approval of the responsible Head of the Unit: sales price, offer (new products, new menus), staff, etc. The catering service providers purchase their food and beverages according to the quality criteria set out in the tendering procedure and confirmed by the contract.
The catering service providers receive a management fee after all other costs have been deduced, for carrying out the catering activities. This fee is calculated as a percentage of the purchase price of food and beverages. In 2013 the following management fees were paid: Brussels EUR 119 438.72, Luxembourg EUR 20 773.04, and Strasbourg EUR 7 058.60. In 2013 the operational deficit in Brussels was EUR 2.8 Million, in Strasbourg EUR 0.2 Million and in Luxembourg EUR 0.4 Million, all in total amounting to EUR 3.5 Million in comparison of EUR 5.4 Million in 2012. This constitutes a reduction of the operational deficit by EUR 1.6 Million in 2013 ( -34%) which is due to the reform of the catering policy and a rigorous management of the contracts.
Members who wish to consult the different contracts for the three places of work can contact the secretariat of the Committee on budgetary control.
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116. La révision des prix de restauration permettra-t-elle au Parlement d’être en situation d’équilibre budgétaire d’ici la fin de la législature au niveau de la politique de restauration? Est-ce que l'augmentation des prix a permis une amélioration du service et des conditions de travail des travailleurs? Prévoit-on des mécanismes pour éviter des augmentations trop fortes et brusques comme ce fût les cas la dernière fois?
In comparison to the real prices, as well as labour and material cost development on the market, the price increase implemented at the beginning of 2013 was moderate. The revision of prices has been and will be only one of many measures which are taken in order to achieve a budgetary equilibrium in this specific area of activity. Other measures include, for example, efficiency and productivity improvements or organisational adaptations. Altogether these measures have contributed to the reduction of the operation deficit in 2013 by 34% compared to 2012 (see question 115).
A partial and moderate second revision of prices as well as the principle of annual indexation were approved by the Bureau on 10 June 2013 as part of the adoption of the catering strategy for 2014-2019. These measures did not influence working conditions, and allowed to improve the quality level of service as well as to maintain a good level of employment.
Service cars
117. How many official cars with drivers does the EP provide for personal use only and what were the costs in 2013 for each of these official cars including the driver?
No official cars are for personal use. The use of official cars is governed by the Rules governing transport arrangements for Members (Bureau Decision of 30 November 2011)23. The assignment of an official car is laid down in Article 2 of the Rules. Official cars shall be reserved in priority for Members in connection with the exercise of their parliamentary mandate or assigned for official activities and missions (see also question 118.).
118. How many of these personal official cars are allocated respectively to Members of the European Parliament and officials of the European Parliament?
Based on the Rules governing transport arrangements for Members (Bureau Decision of 30 November 2011) Article 2, eleven official cars with a driver had been assigned to:
− the President (two); − the former President (one); − the Chairs of political groups (six); − the Secretary-General (one); − the Deputy Secretary-General (one).
None of these official cars are for personal use.
23 http://www.sib.ep.parl.union.eu/SIB/download.do?file=/Documents/10_Recueil/2/2.2/2.2.1/422545- net_en.pdf
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119. Which rules are in place for the private use of these cars and purposes for which they may be used and which rules exist for the drivers if they are off duty?
No official cars are for personal use.
120. How many personally assigned drivers carried out private tasks?
Assigned drivers are seconded to other services under Article 2 (1), (2), (3) of the Rules governing transport arrangements for Members. The services to which drivers are seconded are in charge of planning and assigning the tasks to them. These services are fully informed that Parliament's drivers are not authorised to be assigned with private tasks.
121. What costs if any were incurred in 2013 for the use of lounge facilities in airports for persons related to the European Parliament?
The costs of lounge facilities in airports in 2013 amounted to a total of EUR 42 484.22. The details are as follows (all amounts in EUR):
FRANKFORT EUR 14 770.00 DUSSELDORF EUR 9 409 21 BERLIN EUR 4 936.8 MUNICH EUR 3660.00 HAMBOURG EUR 2 605.01 PARIS EUR 1 605.00 ZURICH EUR 1 120.00 BRUXELLES EUR 905.63 COLOGNE BONN EUR 824.71 CRACOVIE EUR 823.07 VIENNE EUR 704.00 HANNOVER EUR 556.89 DRESDE EUR 303.28 VARSOVIE EUR 140.62 STUTTGART EUR 120.00
The cost of renting waiting rooms reserved to Members is of EUR 9 820 per year.
122. What were the total costs including salaries of EP staff for the driver services for Members in 2013, and how does this compare to previous year?
The table shows the evolution of transport budget used between 2010 and 2013.
Ligne budgétaire 2160-01 – Transport des membres (location et exploitation)
2010 2011 2012 2013 Courant report Courant Report Courant report Courant Report 3 543 033.13 465 786,95 3 440 263,51 719 204,94 4 096 976,45 285 010,51 3 798 312,67 496 367,92 4 008 820,08 4 159 468,45 4 381 986,96 4 294 680,59
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Les dépenses de location couvrent le transport des députés à Bruxelles, service de protocole inclus, le transport des députés à Strasbourg, le coût du transport par bus à Strasbourg ainsi que la location de bus pour les députés à la demande.
Les dépenses d'exploitation couvrent également la location d'emplacements de parking.
In addition, the total staff costs (including salaries and missions) of EP staff working in the drivers service for Members amount to EUR 3 169 344 (42 staff members) in 2013 and EUR 3 202 802 in 2012 (38 staff members).
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DG TRANSLATION (TRAD) AND DG INTERPRETATION AND CONFERENCES (INTE)
123. Plusieurs points du rapport de la gestion budgétaire et financière du Parlement évoquent les réductions des coûts en matière de traduction. Pouvez-vous clarifier le chiffrage de cette réduction en 2013 ? Le Parlement entend-il toujours œuvrer dans le sens d'une réduction des coûts de traduction en réduisant le nombre de langues dans lesquelles les documents sont traduits et de ce fait, en violant les Traités?
Although the measures taken in 2013 in the area of translation were mainly a further development of measures started before, the main savings were made in the following areas: − translation of verbatim reports: the abolishing of automatic translation of verbatim reports of part-sessions (CRE) allowed for EUR 9.4 million of structural savings. − re-use of previously translated parts of texts through technology: pre-processing tool for translations called SPA provides for the re-use of parts of texts both for internal and external translations. Savings for external translations amounted to almost EUR 7 Mio (EUR 6 927 706), and 700 000 pages of internal translation (Cf. also Question 1). The Parliament is deeply committed to providing translations in all official languages within the framework of resource-efficient full multilingualism. The full linguistic coverage is always provided in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Conduct on Multilingualism as adopted by the Bureau in 2004 and modified in 2006, 2008 and 2014.
124. À quand une analyse critique pour évaluer, contrôler et améliore les coûts relatifs à l'interprétation?
Interpretation costs could easily go down if attendance of meetings was better planned and informed about. Parliament’s services have nevertheless controlled and improved the costs as one can easily see on the amounts used.
As far as a cost overview of interpretation services is concerned, further improvements will depend on the reengineering of the Financial Management System of the European Parliament and on progress made in the field of cost accounting. In this regard, a working group has been created aiming to provide the tools for full cost accounting in the interpretation field in order to support managerial decision making.
125. Avec quelles institutions le Parlement européen a-t-il des accords de coopération en matière d’interprétation et quelles seront les résultats attendus?
The Parliament supplies interpreting services, against payment, for a number of Institutions and bodies. This allows for: − Optimising the use of EP permanent interpreting staff during periods of reduced EP activity, and − Optimising the use made of human and financial resources for external interpretation (ACI's) through the common pool set up for meetings in the EP and the other institutions and bodies.
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The expected result is an improved management of interpreting costs of the EP and a more efficient and effective use of both permanent interpreters and external conference interpreting agents (ACIs).
The volume of services offered by the EP to other institutions varies depending on the institution concerned and on the nature of the agreements with those institutions. Other than cooperation agreements, relating partially to interpreting services, concluded between the EP and the Committee of Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee on 5/2/2014, and with the European Ombudsman on 15/3/2006, DG INTE also has two Service Level Agreements specifically relating to the supply of interpreting services and signed respectively with: Committee of Regions in 2012 and the Court of Auditors in 2014. In addition, negotiations were started for the signature of a Service Level Agreement with the Commission (Luxembourg – OIL) and the European Economic and Social Committee. Neither has, as yet, been finalised and signed.
For the Committee of Regions the number of ''interpreting slots" 24 supplied in 2013 totalled 3 809. In 2014 this figure is 1 820 (up to 30/11/2014). The Committee has foreseen that in 2015 they will request the supply of interpreting services for 4 out of 5 of their plenary sessions in addition to the constitutive one and for two external meetings of the Committees' Bureau in March and September. This will be an increase related to previous years' level of demand.
Parliament is sole supplier of interpreting services for the Court of Auditors. The number of ''interpreting slots'' supplied in 2013 was 587, and 571 in 2014 (up to 30/11/2014), showing a stable rate of demand.
Parliament is also sole supplier of interpreting services for the Commission in Luxembourg (OIL) since the 1970's. In 2013 the number of ''interpreting slots'' supplied to the OIL was 3 434 and 2 901 in 2014 (up to 30/11/2014). The up-coming evacuation of the JMO building, due to asbestos being found in its construction, and the lack of precise information regarding alternative meeting rooms in which they will hold their meetings, renders it extremely difficult to accurately estimate future demand. However, a sharp reduction in demand is expected.
The demand for interpreting services from the European Economic and Social Committee has remained quite low. The signature of an administrative agreement is unlikely before the finalisation of negotiations on the working conditions of EP interpreters (finalisation of these negotiations will render EP services more competitive in comparison with the interpreting services provided by the Commission). The number of ''interpreter slots'' supplied in 2013 was 500 and 79 in 2014 (up to 30/11/2014). An increase in demand is expected in 2015 if finalisation of the Service Level Agreement can be achieved during the first quarter of the year.
For the European Ombudsman and the Translation Centre the demand for services has remained low but stable. In 2014 (up to 30/11/2014) 36 ''interpreting slots'' were supplied to the European Ombudsman compared to 60 in 2013. 104 were supplied to the Translation Centre in 2014 compared to 72 in 2013.
24 Definition: Interpreting slot = time slot, in principle of 3.5 hours, during which an interpreter may provide services to 1 or more meetings.
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In addition to these regular services supplied, other demands are met in accordance with the decision of the Secretary General of 25/3/2013. According to this decision, institutions who wish to organise meetings in the buildings of the EP must request interpreting services from DG INTE. Other than the two Committees these facilities are mainly used by the different DG's of the Commission in Brussels. It should also be noted that DG INTE supplies 'interpreting services to the National Parliament of the Member-State holding the Presidency of the European Union for the COSAC meetings. The total number of ''interpreting slots'' supplied for this type of demand is 390 in 2014 (up to 30/11/2014) and a similar volume is expected for 2015.
126. What is the average cost of an amendment for plenary?
Regarding translation costs, a total of 16 393 amendment documents for plenary (AM document may contain one or several amendments in different languages) were submitted for translation in 2013. The average size of these documents was 3.82 pages, resulting in an average cost of EUR 222 per amendment document. This calculation takes into account the 50% re-use rate of AM documents (average number of pages X 50% X average price per page (EUR 116)25). There is no sufficient statistical data available to estimate the translation cost of one single amendment.
25 Average price per page including overheads in 2013.
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DG FINANCE (DG FINS)
127. Face à l'augmentation des reports de crédits en 2012 (EUR 244 600 384), la planification des dépenses a-t-elle été améliorée en 2013? Il y-avait-il un ramassage à la fin de l'année 2013? Dans quel but?
Authorising officers by delegation and all other staff involved in financial management continuously strive to achieve a high-level of sound financial management. The utilisation rate of appropriations carried over from the previous year was higher in 2013 than in 2012. This can indicate that the planning has actually improved. Please note that carry-over figures as well as their utilisation rate also depend on unforeseen events such as delays by contractors and on systematic weaknesses hindering effective planning, such as the facility provided to Members to submit reimbursement requests for travel costs until 31 October the following year, whereas the amount of the corresponding appropriations to be carried over has to be decided at the end of December the current year.
As mentioned at section H.3 of Parliament’s Report on budgetary and financial management for 2013, end of the year a transfer was transferring a total of EUR 54 000 000 from provisional-appropriation headings, and from other sources, so as to help fund the extension and modernisation of the Konrad Adenauer Building (KAD), which is the main construction project in Luxembourg. As for the planning aspects, please note that the execution rate of the budget was 99.2% including the mopping-up transfer26 and would have been rather high, at 96.1%, even without that transfer.
128. Quand les D-G ont-ils présenté leurs rapports annuels d’activité 2013 au SG? Suivent-ils les normes de l'article 66 du RF qui exige que les D-G de la Commission présentent leurs rapports d'activité avant le 15 juin chaque année? Quand les rapports du PE ont-ils finalement été envoyés à la Cour des Comptes Européenne?
The deadline of 15 June that is referred to in the question, as mentioned at Article 66(9) of the Financial Regulation, is only applicable to the Commission and only to the summary of their annual activity reports. Parliament’s Directorate-Generals submitted their Annual activity reports between the end of January and early February 2014. This is done according to Parliament’s Internal Rules on the implementation of the budget.
As for the further procedure within Parliament, it is the Secretary-General who forwards the reports to the Bureau and the Committee on Budgetary Control accompanied by his declaration of assurance. In this process, DG FINS conducts certain checks of the reports in order to verify accuracy and completeness before the Secretary-General adds his declaration so that it is a final version of all reports that is sent to the Bureau and the Committee on Budgetary Control.
26 This transfer was authorised by the Committes on Budgets on 27 November 2013.
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129. "Que faut-il suivre comme formation pour devenir ordonnateur au Parlement Européen? Y a-t-il une différence avec la Commission Européenne?
New authorising officers have to follow a one-day training course “General Principles – The cycle of Expenditure”. The training is provided by the Central Financial Unit of DG FINS in English and French at more than ten times a year and, additionally, on demand for new Authorizing Officers by Delegation.
Commission’s central financial services at DG BUDG also provide a one-day training “Expenditure Lifecycle”. That training covers operational expenditure and other financial management issues particular to the Commission. Parliament’s in-house training is targeted to administrative expenditure and is thus more complete and comprehensive on that subject. Evaluation shows that the course is well received. It is to be noted that financial training is not limited to this course and more specialized training is available to staff.
130. Requests that the main features of the new contract with the travel agency are presented in a simple readable table. Request the main elements of the contract to be made available to CONT members.
You can find the summary in annex.
DG INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL SUPPORT (DG ITEC)
131. Considering that the EP "stresses that in order to regain trust, such a European IT capability should be based, as much as possible, on open standards and open-source software and if possible hardware, making the whole supply chain from processor design to application layer transparent and reviewable;" Is there for the Parliament still investing in Microsoft SharePoint for legislative documents? Is that compliant with Rule 115 and the spirit of the LIBE inquiry? Also has the development of the public version of AT4AM been discontinued (see http://at4am.org/ )? If not, what's the current and future budget?
The EP does not invest in Microsoft SharePoint for legislative documents: these are managed through specific HTML based platforms (e-Committee, e-Meeting, e-Parliament, Knowledge Management Portal etc) developed by the EP, where tools such as AT4AM (XML) and Disp (Digital Signature) allow MEPs and services to author and validate the different processes.
SharePoint is used to offer an additional service to MEPs, APA, Political Groups and EP staff to benefit from the advantages of collaborative work spaces. In this context, SharePoint is the infrastructure used to deploy the new collaborative work space service needed to increase mobility and collaboration in the EP. In the light of the above, the Secretary-General does not see any actual link with Rule 115.
As regards the question related to the LIBE Committee inquiry (NSA), Parliament’s services have closely worked with the LIBE secretariat during the inquiry and after the adoption of its
Page 111 of 123 report in Plenary in March. As requested in Paragraph 101 of the above mentioned report, the services submitted to the President and the Chair of the LIBE committee on 17 December 2014 its intermediary implementation report on the actions requested by Plenary to the EP administration.
The last public version of AT4AM was released on 15 October 2013. Given the lack of third party interest, there is no future development foreseen for this version for the time being. The version used within the EP continues to be maintained and developed.
132. What was the total amount spent on different data bases in 2013, how and by whom can these data bases be consulted. How many individuals consulted directly or indirectly these data basis in 2013?
The information requested is synthetized on the following table:
Subcriptions to external databases
Expenditure Domain Name/description DG Users (EUR thousands)
- usually site licence to everyone on EP premises (MEP, APAs, staff) see EPRS website for complete - for specalised publications only Various EPRS 1.127 overview* limited access - around a 100.000 consultations of these sources Media various depending on the COMM: each Information Office for its COMM 374 monitoring Member State Member State Translation Euramis transl. Memory TRAD TRAD: all translation Units 170 Translation IATE term base TRAD TRAD: all translation Units 137 Translation various (2) TRAD TRAD: all translation Units 13 Legal Service various (12) legal databases Legal S. LS: 1 to 7 users for each 34 IT Gartner ICT knowledge base COMM COMM: 2 users 23 Studies anti-plagiarism database EXPO EXPO: max. 100 documents to check 3 *: http://www.eprs.sso.ep.parl.union.eu/eprs/auth/en/databases-external.html , see also question 38 for an overview of contracts awarded in 2013 133. Please list all patented and purchased software used in the parliament. Please list also all open source software used in the parliament.
The list of patented software purchased and used, as well as the open source software can not be published because of IT security reasons. However, the list is made available in the Committee Secretariat for consultation by Members only.
134. In 2013, what aspects of IT provision, equipment and support in were judged to require upgrading? Are resulting measures being implemented on time?
The main element of the IT infrastructure requiring upgrade in 2013 was the operating system of individual computers that was migrated to Windows 7 and the email tool that was upgraded to Outlook 2010 in the context of the Unified Communications Project. This process also
Page 112 of 123 impacted the individual equipment for MEPs, staff and group staff, where replacement of obsolescent equipment was carried out. The measures have been implemented on time and according to schedule at the beginning of the 8th legislation parliamentary term.
135. What is the reason for moving technicians and other external contractors dealing with IT support, including for MEP IT support, out of the parliament buildings and how will service quality be maintained when this happens?
There was no removing from contractors dealing with IT user support from EP premises. IT user support, including those for MEPs, continues to be provided on-site (see also reply to question 136 for other developments related to MEP support). It was the number of external IT consultants working for the EP specifically in project management functions related to software development and maintenance that could successfully be reduced during 2013, thanks to the internalisation process carried out. The tasks previously entrusted to external consultants are now carried out by staff, ensuring an effective oversight of critical IT functions and building in-house expertise.
136. Certain problems have been encountered since the last reorganisation of LSUMEP (longer time of execution of requests, different services dealing with a single problem previously resolved by one service and one person). How are these being addressed?
DG ITEC aims at delivering a high-quality IT support service to Members, customised and adapted to their needs. It was with a view to this objective and due to the increasing range of systems and devices to be supported specifically for Members that the former LSUMEP service was transformed into the new ITEC Service Desk for Members. Please note this actually took place in 2014 and there was no change during 2013.
The start of the new Parliamentary term in July 2014 has implied an extremely high workload concentrated mostly in June, July and September for IT services, as well as for other EP services for Members. During this period, in some cases, resolution time for requests from Members may have taken longer than wished by the ITEC Service Desk for Members. This temporary situation has gradually come back to normal, and will further improve in the coming months. DG ITEC is in the process of developing and implementing the necessary measures to address the issues detected and to ensure that the quality if the support services remains at a high level.
In order to measure and monitor the quality of IT support service for Members, ITEC Service Desk for Members monitors its performance to be able to identify issues and implement corrective actions, in collaboration with other DG ITEC Units. As an example for the current service level, during November 2014 ITEC Service Desk for Members closed 100% of critical incidents in less than 1 hour, 89% of high priority incidents in less than 2 hours, 95% of medium priority incidents in less than 4 hours, and 97% of low priority incidents in less than 1 day.
It is planned to have regular phone satisfaction-survey addressed to APAs to assess the perception of the service and to get feedback and suggestions for improvement, with the objective of better aligning the service with the needs and expectancies from Members.
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In this framework of continuous improvement of our service for Members, ITEC Service Desk for Members will also consolidate, update and distribute an IT service catalogue for Members.
137. Les systèmes de technologies de l'information et de la communication (TIC) du Parlement ont-ils fait l'objet d'un audit de sécurité indépendant suit à l'attaque du pirate prénommé "l'Homme du milieu" qui était parvenu à intercepter les communications entre smartphones privés et wifi public du Parlement. Combien d'argent a coûté cette attaque ?
As indicated in the reply to paragraph 90 of the 2012 discharge resolution, an independent third party will carry out the ICT security audit as requested. The results of the audit are expected by mid-2015.
Expenses incurred for investigations and security measures amount to approximately EUR 100 000 for a specific external contract in addition to 9.5 person-month of works performed by DG ITEC staff and external consultants already under contract with the Parliament.
The weaknesses detected were immediately addressed and the measures implemented are described under the reply to question 138 below.
138. Quelles sont les mesures immédiates et à moyen terme proposées par le Secrétaire général en vue du renforcement des règles de sécurité du Parlement concernant l’utilisation d’équipements mobiles ?
After the above-mentioned "man in the middle" incident, an internal investigation was carried out by DG ITEC with the support of the CERT-EU (Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU institutions) and immediate counter-measures were taken to secure both the compromised users' accounts and Parliament’s public Wi-Fi network. The incident was immediately reported to Parliaments' authorities (i.e. the President, the Conference of Presidents, the Bureau and the Vice-President responsible for ICT), which enabled the adoption of immediate additional measures by the Bureau in December 2013 to reinforce ICT security: 1) Visitors are by now allowed to connect only to the EP-external network – to be renamed EP-Visitors - with limited access to internet only; 2) Members, assistants and EP-staff have access to the EP-internal network – renamed EP- Secure -, which identifies the device as certified and belonging to a Member, an assistant or an EP official and; 3) in line with the practice followed also by the other institutions it was decided to install the Mobile Device Management (MDM) software on mobile devices used by Members, assistants and EP staff to allow access to the EP services in a secure manner. Through the Inter-institutional Committee on IT (CII) which is currently chaired by Parliament, DG ITEC advocates a reinforced co-operation on IT security amongst EU institutions. This initiative has already produced its first results, notably the adoption of an inter-institutional work program on ICT security and the institutions’ extended involvement in the CERT-EU.
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Paperless parliament
139. What is the percentage cost of paper in the parliament’s total budget? What are the savings expected with the Paperless parliament. Has an evaluation been carried out on the improvements, other results and changes in behaviour that the Paperless Parliament is expected to bring? What comparisons have been made with other institutions to allow best practice to be identified?
Parliament spent around EUR 1.1 million or 0.06% of its budget on paper in 2013. This is expected to decrease to EUR 0.9 million in 2014. The expenditure is heavily dependent on price fluctuations, but the consumption in terms of paper quantity shows a clear decrease from around 64,000 boxes of paper foreseen for individual printing in 2013 to 45,000 boxes foreseen for 2015. Parliament also collected 501 tons of used paper in 2013 to be recycled that brought in a revenue of approximately EUR 50 000.
Reducing paper consumption and the related environmental impact was one of the objectives and benefits of the Paperless Programme. While the most significant achievement is that the institution is provided with more efficient and flexible working tools, notably by making the documents available in mobility, anywhere and on any device and that this brings improvements to the workflow in the preparation of the documents and in the legislative work, it is also expected that the full implementation of the e-Committee and e- Meeting applications would save approximately EUR 648 000 (mainly staff costs plus paper consumption) and 73 tons of CO2 emissions per year.
Reduction of paper usage - recent initiatives In total 91 million pages are printed by the European Parliament's printing service every year (excluding colour pages), 33 million of these pages are printed for documents to be used in committee meetings. An analysis of the number of files distributed per Member for each committee shows that there is a considerable difference between the working practices of the committees. On average 4,7 files are distributed per MEP, with the best practice at 1,65 files per Member for the ENVI committee and the highest number of files per Member being 6,8 in the CONT committee. The number of files per MEP also includes the files for their assistants, other services and institutions as well as for interpreters. The ENVI committee has taken the lead in the reduction of paper and has decided in the summer of 2012 not to print the minutes of its meetings, but to make them available electronically only. In October 2012 the ENVI committee also decided to halve the number of copies of the files distributed by only giving printed files to the Members of the committee and a reduced number of other users, such as the interpreters. In the ITRE committee the unused copies of the paper files are collected at the end of the meeting for redistribution in the following meeting. A generalised application of these principles in all other committees will help to reduce the number of paper files used during committee meetings.
New instruments facilitating the paperless approach in the European Parliament All persons which do not receive a printed copy of the documents in committees can access the meeting documents via the e-Committee application. The e-Committee application is available since the first quarter of 2012 to all committees and aggregates, in one virtual place, all committee documents and information, making committee work easier and more efficient.
Page 115 of 123 e-Committee is a dedicated work space for Members, Assistants, committee secretariats, political group staff, EP staff and others who need to follow the work of committees. Each committee has its own site, on which all documents for the meetings can be accessed in all available languages by using the calendar of the committee meetings. With the availability of WiFi in the meeting rooms of the European Parliament in Strasbourg and Brussels, the IT infrastructure for the widespread use of the e-Committee application by all committees has been implemented.
The e-Meeting application takes the concept of e-Committee a step further. Not only will it be possible to consult the meeting documents in a user-friendly electronic format, but it will also allow easily annotating and sharing the user's electronic documents anytime, anywhere and on any mobile device, such as tablets.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking exercises were carried out during the 7th legislation term through peer visits organised by the Bureau Working Party on ICT. The most recent one took place in the Hague with the Dutch Senate demonstrating that two institutions have the same approach on the introduction of tablets and digitalisation of processes. Parliament’s administration also carried out comparative studies with the Parliaments of Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the US with the results showing the leadership of the EP in this domain. As regard other EU institutions, a benchmarking exercise is carried out regularly with the Inter-institutional Committee on IT.
Conclusion Implementing the best practices and making full use of the e-Committee and the e-Meeting application after the European elections in 2014 will generate savings of 10,75 million pages of paper amounting to €324.000 and reducing the carbon footprint by 36,5 tonnes of CO2. With the first full year of implementation in 2015, savings of 21,5 million pages of paper amounting to cost savings of €648.000 per year can be realised. It will also help to reduce the carbon footprint of the European Parliament by 73 tonnes of CO2 per year and help to achieve the ambitious EMAS objectives of the European Parliament. Further steps could be envisaged at a later stage once the e-Meeting application is fully established as the prime working tool by Members and their assistants by leaving the Members the choice to receive "their" files printed (on demand system) or in electronic format.
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DG PARLIAMENTARY RESEARCH SERVICES (EPRS)
140. The new EPRS intranet page which has replaced the previous EP library page is less user' friendly. It is difficult to find information searched. What lessons have been learned in the early stages of operation and what further improvements are envisaged generally and also particularly to the intranet pages which replaced the previous EP library pages in order to improve searchability?
The new EPRS intranet website did not exist in 2013. It was launched in May 2014, six months after DG EPRS was established. The decision to redesign and upgrade the old Library intranet as EPRS intranet was taken in order to address the following issues: − outdated technologies and metadata models used for the previous intranet site (that site was more than five years old, with limited possibilities to bundle documents or linguistic versions, no possibility to feature editorial selections, a time-consuming update process, and did not use XML language); − concerns about the user-experience (by offering more attractive visual presentation, a more logical organisation of pages and selected information, concerns which were noticed by users since 2009 on a regular basis); − changes in the way people surf and use the internet, notably with mobile devices, scrolling and push-style information; − new priorities and projects following the creation of DG EPRS (such as increased in- house production, communication with updated version of the EP Think Tank pages on Europarl and other EP platforms, such as the new interface of the Register, harmonisation of metadata with other EP departments).
Before redesigning the intranet site, several user-experience exercises were organised, where intelligence into how users search for information, how they navigate the websites and what they expect from the information-reach websites were gathered. Several focus groups with parliamentary assistants and EP officials took place, as well as 20 individual "card-sorting sessions" in order to help define the intranet site in accordance with user needs. In addition, work was conducted with an external company specialised in user-experience and web- design.
Based on the results, two major shortcomings were identified and have already been addressed with the launch of the new EPRS intranet website: − clients are interested in a limited number of topics they follow. Therefore, they expect strong policy-area pages, where they can find selected information based on current developments in the EP and the wider world; − clients expect a homepage where they will find an editorial selection of the most timely and relevant products in an attractive visual presentation.
The improvements already made include, inter alia: − a Members' Hotline, to provide a clear single point of access for requests by Members and their staff for EPRS products and services; − upgraded policy-area pages, where users can find all relevant information on their policy area in a visual attractive and structured way. Policy area pages provide quick access to timely in-house and external production, automatic email alerts, and further
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browsing possibilities based on the topic, author, keywords, type of document and similar; − a new Graphics Warehouse, where users can search, browse, download visual presentations of statistical data (graphs, maps, tables); − a simpler search engine, where users can find documents, sorted by relevance; − a better and clearer external information source page, where users can via a single search engine find all databases to which EPRS hold subscriptions for the EP; − automatic synchronisation with the EP Think Tank and EP Register, based on webservices, that significantly reduced the time needed to upload new documents to different EP platforms.
141. Could the EP inform us about the costs of brochures/briefings produced by the Library in 2013? How many documents were published? The new EPRS service should have a positive impact on the possibility to internalize the studies: could the EP provide an evaluation of expected savings in long term?
Publications provided to Members comprised short and long briefings, keysources, statistical spotlights and infographics. Keysources were made available exclusively online, while the other products were also printed.
These publications were produced in-house by research analysts, now known as policy analysts, aided by information specialists, who help in finding, selecting and collecting information, checking facts and reviewing the texts. Statistical spotlights were produced by statisticians, aided by information specialists or research analysts. Marketing and social media teams promote and publish the products.
During 2013 (ten months as part of DG PRES and the last two months as part of the newly established EPRS), the Library used an average of 15 full-time equivalent research analysts and an average of 15 full-time equivalent information specialists on the writing and editing of these publications, although these individuals also undertake a wide variety of other tasks. The approximate working time involved in producing different products and the 2013 production can be seen in the table:
Workload Type of publication in 2013 Full-length briefing 110-115 hours 150 Plenary briefing 60-65 hours 107 Statistical spotlight 85-90 hours 11 InfoGraphic 105-110 hour 1 Keysource 18-20 hours 110 Navigator 41-43 hours 27 Summaries 14-15 hours 87 Total 493
The concept behind the creation of EPRS in general and its Members Research Service in particular was precisely to develop greater internal capacity, by the way of specialising staff in policy sectors. The expected advantage is to deliver in a timely manner products that better correspond to the needs of the institution. Most of the internal production by the Members Research Service (at a glance, briefings, in depth analysis) is shorter than studies commissioned from external suppliers. Equally, the different units of the Directorate for
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Impact Assessment and European Added Value are developing stronger in-house expertise and, already, the majority of their publications are produced in-house.
At this stage, it is difficult to definitively evaluate the potential savings from greater internalisation of research work but, over time, these should be significant compared to the baseline scenario of outsourcing.
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DG FOR SECURITY AND SAFETY (SAFE)
142. Is the internalisation of the EP security service completed? Savings generated for 2013 were EUR 195 000. Would however like to be informed that these saving quoted are only calculated taking into account the number of agents recruited replacing those employed by the private company.
In its decision of 11 June 2012 related to the internalisation of the security services, the Bureau agreed on an Action Plan spread over 4 years starting in 2013, therefore the process is not yet completed.
The savings of EUR 195 000 result from the difference between what would have been spent in 2013 if the security would still have been externalised and what was actually spent in 2013, including the 1st wave of the internalisation.
As regards the security services provided by an external company, the staff is employed by this external company. The Parliament is ordering number of hours and not persons. It is up to the external company to provide the staff they consider necessary to meet the required number of hours.
143. Could we receive an overview of the number of Parliaments staff now employed by DG SAFE compared with the situation before the start of the internalisation process and the total amount of their salaries? Was this sum included in the calculation of the savings made?
When DG SAFE was created on 1 December 2013, most staff came from DG PRES Security and Resources Directorates. The internalisation process meant the recruitment of 287 contract agents as foreseen in the Action Plan for 2013 and 2014 (see previous question). Their salaries were indeed included in the calculation of the savings. As of 31 December 2014, DG SAFE counts 452 staff members.
The monthly cost of their salary amounts to EUR 1 949 263 (reference: December 2014 without retroactive payments).
144. How is the service improving communication with all users of the building about security levels, opening hours of the different EP entrances as well as accreditation desks to ensure that all have the most up to date information and can react to the latest security precautions?
Since the creation of DG SAFE many actions have been launched : − a new Intranet website SAFEnet has been set up where all information including security rules are easily accessible; − a cell 'Need to know' has been set up to collect all information on events organised inside the EP's premises. It helps to better organise security services; − an InterDGs Security Management Steering Committee has been set up. Its members are the General Directors and the Secretary Generals of political groups; − an InterDGs Network Security Correspondents Group has been set up. Its members are the Resources Directors and a representative of political groups;
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− a Security Guide has been issued detailing services provided by DG SAFE, opening hours and permanence and any other relevant security and safety information. This Guide is available in all languages, in electronic form on SAFEnet and on paper format. It has been given to Members at different occasions; − a Visitors Security leaflet has been published providing security and safety information to Parliament visitors. It is available at each building's entrance; − 2 communications co-signed by the President of the EP and the 1st Vice-President responsible for Security were sent to the entire Parliament to remind security rules; − information campaign on 'wear your badge' and 'S.A.F.E' − as regard visitors accreditation, an online application (AXS2EP) is available aiming to preregister and speed up the Visitor's access process.
145. How much security staff is employed in the EP in comparison to all the people working in the EP? Could you please provide a comparison to other Parliaments’ or institutions?
On 1 December 2014, 452 agents (Officials, Temporary agents and Contract agents) were working in DG SAFE. Compared to the staff working in the EP (including Political groups), SAFE staff represents 5.1%.
Before deciding to internalise the security services, the Bureau took note of a comparative study made on different National parliaments and the American Congress. One of the major conclusions was that the security is generally entrusted either to their own staff or to National police forces. A part from this study no other study is available.
146. What is the salary grid for internalised security staff? How much does the external security staffs earn? Are there other incentives than a higher salary for the internal staff? Which security standards are linked to the recruitment and training of the security staff?
As per any European official, the staff regulation of officials and conditions of employment of other servants applies. The salary grid is published in the Official Journal. Security agents are recruited as contractual agents within group of function 1, grade 1 or 2 meaning that their basic salary varies between EUR 1 862.54 and EUR 1 901.20.
Since the beginning of the internalisation process, the EP has applied very high possible and self-defined security standards - as defined under the Global Security Concept - for both the recruitment and training of the security staff.
The selection of the EP prevention and surveillance agents was carried out through a call of expression to which 2443 candidates applied. Out of these, only 452 candidates were recruited. As far as training is concerned, prevention and surveillance agents have already received 14 000 hours of training in 2014 as part of the on-going professionalization of security staff.
147. Is DG SAFE also providing security staff to Strasbourg and Luxembourg? If so, do they go on mission from Brussels, or are they employed locally?
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The decision taken by the Bureau on 11 June 2012 on the internalisation of the security services included synergies between Brussels and Strasbourg. In that way some safety and security agents from Brussels are sent to Strasbourg in order to strengthen the staff on site during the plenary sitting. Their mission costs were included in the Action Plan submitted to the Bureau. As regards Luxembourg, internalisation is dependent on the evolution of KAD building. It is foreseen, that the East part of the building should be finalised in 2017, which allows to re- group all EP services in this building and the 2 Tours. This would be the appropriate moment to implement internalisation in Luxembourg.
148. Could the administration provide a clear table of the exact spending for the years 2012 and 2013 on the security services? Please detail the information into guards and technology (such as cameras and entrance control
Expenditure on security (in million EUR) Type of expenditure / budget item 2012 2013
Fee for external guards and firemen (2026) 33,2 29,3 Contract agent guards salary, allowances
(part of 1400) plus training and uniforms - 0,6 (part of 1612, 2380) Equipment purchase, maintenance and running costs (part of 2140) 5,1 4,7
Total 38,3 34,6
149. How do increased security measures influence the policies of the EP with regard to visitors who are not part of a visitors’ group?
In their joint communication the President of the EP and the 1st Vice-President remind the importance to respect security rules and insist on the fact that any visitor invited remains under the responsibility of its host.
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Additional questions that do not strictly relate to the implementation of the 2013 budget, and as such to the 2013 EP discharge procedure.
Questions related to the 2014 discharge procedure should be answered accordingly to agreement with 2013 discharge rapporteur in the framework of the corresponding discharge procedure when tabled for the 2014 questionnaire.
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