Brussels, 18/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - The parliamentary committee on budgetary control (Cocobu) calls for the president of the European Parliament to be granted budgetary discharge for 2003. The report by Ona Jukneviciene (ALDE, Lithuania) welcomes the very high level of budget implementation achieved. Cocobu notes that this result was reached mainly thanks to the real estate policy conducted by the EP, which has bought rather than rented premises. It is pleased to note that the EP has been one of the few “small” Community institutions to implement the Community's new financial regulation in good time. MEPs, however, wonder whether the complex nature of the control mechanism set in place is disproportionate, given that the EP budget is essentially administrative.
Cocobu also considers that the EP has the right to decide on its own seat, which, in the reasoning of cost rationalisation, should be located in Brussels: “The vast majority of parliamentary activity already takes place in Brussels, where the other main EU institutions are based (…) the most logical location for a single seat therefore would be Brussels”, the report reads.
As far as Members' pay and expenses are concerned, the report supports the initiative of the Luxembourg EU Council presidency with a view to reaching agreement on the Members' Statute introducing a single remuneration for MEPS (mainly because of the discrepancy between MEPs' salaries since enlargement). Nonetheless, Cocobu considers that, even in the absence of a common statute, it should be possible to devise a system that is clear, transparent and fair. Furthermore, MEPs believe that, once the Statute of MEPs is adopted, a new identical pension scheme for all MEPs should be set in place and that, from that date on, any contribution from the Parliament's budget to a voluntary pension scheme should cease.
The report formulates a series of grievances that it puts to the EP Bureau. MEPs deplore the lack of clarity regarding social security obligations of parliamentary assistants and consider it unacceptable that smoking is allowed in Parliament's offices. On this last point, Cocobu demands urgent action to reduce the level of smoke on its premises and urges the College of Quaestors to “designate a clearly defined and well-ventilated smoking area”.