Brussels, 09/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Union's current financial, economic and social situation is forcing the institutions into tougher management procedures, in order to make every penny (or cent) go further. The European Parliament (EP) is no exception and, on Wednesday 9 March, it pledged to show “budgetary self-restraint” in its operating costs in 2012 “by staying around the inflation rate”. With the adoption of the report by José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal) on the guidelines for the 2012 budget procedure (the budget for the institutions other than the European Commission), it accepts that enlargement-related needs are to be met either by an amending letter or amending budget. The same goes for the needs for the 18 new MEPs, after the Lisbon Treaty came into effect.
Tele-working. The EP states that it is important for the European Parliament and the other institutions to adopt an ambitious and far-reaching digital strategy with regard to the Web 2.0 tools and social networks in particular, to “strengthen the link between Europe and its citizens”. It further considers that the Parliament and the other institutions should develop an electronic governance strategy and calls for tele-working to be used “where appropriate”. The EP calls on the Bureau to consider the introduction of a cloud computing system to reduce the operating costs of the computer system, improve its performance and bring greater mobility to Parliament's work.
The EP intends to pursue its buildings policy, which strives to rationalise the allocation of its existing space and to realise cost savings and economies of scale. An example of the approach adopted by the Parliament is the renovation and extension of the Konrad Adenauer Building which will be occupied by Parliament staff in Luxembourg, thereby ending the use of other buildings.
House of European History. The EP stresses that there is a need for further information on the House of European History. In particular, it calls for a detailed business plan to be submitted to the budgets committee and requests further information regarding the architectural design competition which has been ongoing since 2009. (L.C./transl.rt)