MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

CM Documents

CM(2018)42

9 March 2018[1]

1312^th meeting, 4 April 2018

11 Programme, Budget et Administration

11.1 Implications of the cessation of Turkey’s major contributor status

Proposed sustainable measures and adjustments to the Programme and Budget 2018-2019

Item to be considered by the GR-PBA at its meeting on 20 March 2018

Background

1. At the 1304 meeting (17 January 2018),^{^[2]} the Deputies took note of the implications of the discontinuation of Turkey’s major contributor status and decided to reduce Turkey’s contributions to the Programme and Budget 2018-2019 with effect from 1 January 2018, resulting in a decrease of Turkey’s contributions of a total of €19.6M across all budgets concerned (cf. Appendix 1).

2. A detailed discussion on the implications of the Deputies’ decision was held at the GR-PBA meeting on 6 February 2018 on the basis of options contained in document GR-PBA(2018)1 and draft guidelines prepared by the Chair of the GR-PBA (DD(2018)89) and was continued at the Deputies’ 1307^th meeting (14 February 2018).

3. The Deputies concluded by recalling the agreement on parameters of the Programme and Budget for the biennium 2018-2019 and by inviting the Secretary General to present in March 2018 draft proposals for sustainable measures and adjustments to the Programme and Budget 2018-2019, taking as well into account the orientations contained in document DD(2018)89 and the comments made by delegations.

4. This document sets out the Secretary General’s proposals for sustainable measures and adjustments to the Programme and Budget 2018-2019.

5. These proposals will replace the precautionary measures set out in document GR-PBA(2018)1 which were put into place at the beginning of 2018 pending agreement on sustainable measures.

General budget

Ordinary budget

6. Turkey’s contribution to the Ordinary budget has been reduced by €14.8M.

7. This amount excludes reduced pension contributions to the Pension Reserve Fund (PRF) of €1.2M paid through the Ordinary budget (bringing the total reduction in Turkey’s contribution to the Ordinary budget to €16.0M). The overall question of member States’ contributions to the PRF is dealt with in paragraphs 31-32 below.

8. The required reductions and efficiency measures in the Ordinary budget amount to 6.2% of the total Ordinary budget.

Overall approach: reviewing activities and accelerating the reform

9. The Secretary General’s starting point has been the priorities which were agreed by the Committee of Ministers in November as the basis for the Programme and Budget 2018-2019 (cf. CM(2018)1, pages 7-9).

10. The approach taken has been, on the one hand, to identify activities which can be reduced in scope or be suspended or proposed for additional financing through alternative sources. And on the other, accelerating and deepening the reform process to implement a series of longer term actions to put the Council of Europe on a firmer footing for the years to come.

Figure 1: Overall approach (in €M)

11. Reductions and efficiency measures have been sought in all sectors (€10.7 M in 2019) and should be sustainable over time.

12. However, some transitional measures are still needed to give the Secretary General the necessary flexibility to implement reform measures, which by nature is a longer term process, in a drive for cost reduction and value for money.

13. These transitional measures (€3.2 M in 2019) consist of blocking higher level posts and posts falling vacant upon retirement, pending the review of structures and working methods. It is clear that these measures will require supplementary efforts on the part of staff and managers until such time as the in-depth review of structures has been completed and implemented. The Secretary General will also continue to limit external recruitment and fill internal vacancies by redeployment as far as possible.

14. The budgetary envelopes of the Parliamentary Assembly and Congress have also been reduced by an amount corresponding to the cost of interpretation into Turkish (with the exception of the January 2018 Part Session) (€0.9 M in 2019).[3]

Activities

15. Concerning activities, reductions have been identified which present a balance with regard to the priorities agreed by the Committee of Ministers in November last year. This means that some areas are required to contribute more than others, whilst upholding the overall range of issues dealt with by the Council of Europe. The emphasis is put on quality, value added and impact of activities in their contribution to the overall aim of democratic security in Europe.

16. Expenditure in priority areas has been reviewed with an eye to preserving the core capacity of the sectors concerned.

17. Reductions are proposed that do not impair the Court’s capacity to pursue its reforms and do not negatively impact the judicial process, the supervision of the execution of its judgments and the core functioning of the key monitoring mechanisms.

18. Whilst the purpose is to respect as far as possible the Programme and Budget which was adopted by the Committee of Ministers, it is no longer possible to fund all programme activities through the Ordinary budget. Individual activities or projects in the various sectors are reduced in number. Alternative sources of financing will be required for those activities to be carried out.

Reform

19. With regard to reform, measures to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of organisational capabilities are included in Appendix III of the Programme and Budget 2018-2019. A roadmap for accelerating and deepening this reform is set out in Appendix 2. It focuses on essentially on secretariat structures and working methods, and will also look at in due course the arrangements concerning major contributor status.

20. In this connection, it is recalled that when adopting the Programme and Budget 2018-2019, the Committee of Ministers agreed to finance a provision for indemnities loss of job for an amount of €0.823M each year. In view of the new budgetary situation, and in order to facilitate staff departures, it is proposed that the Committee of Ministers authorise expenditure in advance in the special account “early termination of service” for a total of €4.938M, to be reimbursed over a six year period in equal instalments of 0.823M, with the first instalment in 2018.

21. In line with the Committee of Ministers’ decision,[4] measures to further develop effective evaluation will be taken. The approach is elaborated in §5 of document GR-PBA(2018)5 on the work programme of the Directorate of Internal Oversight.

22. In parallel, and as foreseen in the Secretary General’s reform measures, further reflection will be made aimed at consolidating and rationalising activities (over and above the adjustments made to respond to the current budgetary situation) within the intergovernmental sector and at closer coordination of the monitoring mechanisms, with a view to the 2020-2021 biennium.

23. This measure will be implemented in conjunction with the review of structures and working methods. Particular attention will be given to areas of activity which are dealt with by several sectors or instruments in order to increase synergies, avoid duplication and enhance effectiveness. As an example, it is proposed to examine the working methods, monitoring modalities and secretarial structures of the European Social Charter, the Governmental Committee and the Social Cohesion Platform in order to 1) ensure increased coordination of their activities with international organisations (in particular EU, ILO, UN) and with national actors in the field of social and economic rights; 2) achieve enhanced and timely impact on policies; 3) identify innovative good practices to safeguard social rights and preserve social cohesion.

Proposed measures: impact on programme lines and pillars

24. Figure 2 sets out the impact of the various measures on each programme line.

Figure 2: Impact on programme lines in 2019 (in €M)

ü All activity areas contribute to an immediate solution to the current budgetary situation.

ü The proposed reductions do not impair the core functioning of priority areas, including the Court, execution of judgments, the Commissioner for Human Rights and key monitoring mechanisms.

ü The freezing of posts is a transitional transversal measure pending specific action to be taken in particular in the framework of the review of secretariat structures and is without prejudice to the future structure of underlying entities concerned. The amounts equating to the frozen posts are included in the reductions in Figure 2 in above.

ü The Court’s proposed reductions in 2018 represents 2.7% of its budget and mainly take the form of one-off deductions on operational expenditure so as not to affect the Court’s core business of processing cases. This is a short term contribution to the budgetary situation and in 2019 is reduced to 2.2% of the Court’s budget (or 1.2% excluding the transversal measure of freezing high level posts and posts falling vacant upon retirement). The frozen posts correspond to less than 1% of the total number of posts of the Court.

ü Proposed reductions in individual activities, seminars, meetings…

ü Investment: reduction of the grant to the Capital Master Plan by €2.5 million (to €4.4 million) and review of the plan so as to maintain responsible management of facilities in the long term within the new budgetary framework. The CMP implementation will have to be extended from 15 to 20 years. Investments in IT are maintained at their foreseen level (€3.8 million), as an essential tool to drive efficiency and support the reform process.

ü The proposed measures respect the balance across the operational pillars (cf. Figure 3 below).

25. The detailed budgetary tables presenting the adjustments proposed appear in Appendix 3. The adaptations in individual programme lines are listed in Appendix 4.

26. The proposed measures respect the agreement on parameters of the Programme and Budget for the biennium 2018-2019 and the general balance across the different pillars (cf. figure 3 below).

Figure 3: Impact on the pillars (in €M)

ü The proportion of each pillar will remain roughly the same except for “Human rights” (from 38% to 39%) and “Support, investments and other” (from 32% to 31%). This can be explained by protecting the core functioning of the Human Rights Convention system which is compensated by a steeper reduction in the support pillar.

Zero nominal growth (2019 negative line)

27. The Programme and Budget 2018-2019 adopted last November contained a negative live representing savings to be found of €4.5M during the biennium, following the continuation of the policy of zero nominal growth. The negative line for 2018 – €1.3M – was covered by a reduction in consultancy and travel costs. This was presented together with the precautionary measures put in place at the beginning of the year in face of the shortfall generated by the change of contributor status of Turkey (cf. GR-PBA(2018)1-addcorr).

28. The negative line for 2019 has been adjusted to take into account the reduction in expenditure. It is based on a working hypothesis of a salary adjustment of 1.7% for 2019. It will be updated in September 2018 when the adjusted budget for 2019 is presented, in the light of the CCR recommendation for the 2019 salary adjustment.

29. On the basis of a salary adjustment of 1.7%, this would mean that further reductions in the Ordinary budget of €2.7 M will have to be found for 2019.

30. The Secretary General stresses that beyond the significant reform effort that will be undertaken during this biennium the continuation of zero nominal growth will no longer be viable as it will erode the capacity of the Organisation to fulfil its mandate.

Pension Reserve Fund

31. The total contributions to the Pension Reserve Fund is reduced by in all €3.1M, of which €1.9M in the form of direct contributions by Turkey and €1.2M in reduced payments through the Ordinary budget, as a consequence of the reduction in Turkey’s contribution to the Ordinary budget.

32. Further study is needed of the possible long-term effects for the Pension Reserve Fund after the Turkish withdrawal from major contributor status and the reduction in the number of staff contributing to the pension schemes. Further technical studies will be presented in this respect in due course.^{^[5]}

Extraordinary budget

33. The grant to the investments special account will be reduced by €343.5K for the Capital Master Plan (CMP), which will be reviewed so as to maintain responsible management of facilities in the long term within the new budgetary framework. The CMP implementation will have to be extended from 15 to 20 years, and a revised implementation plan will be presented to the Ad hoc committee on buildings (CAHB) in the autumn.

European Youth Foundation

34. The envelope available for providing support to European youth activities will be reduced by €220.9K, resulting in a decrease in the number of grants awarded each year.

Partial agreements

35. Turkey’s contributions to the partial/enlarged agreements have been reduced by €1.1M (cf. Appendix 1) and the reductions required for each budget concerned are set out in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4 Impact on the partial/enlarged agreements (in €M)

ü No change between 2018 and 2019.

ü All partial agreement budgets have been reduced by the amount of the reduction in Turkey’s contribution.

ü The Statutory Committee of GRECO adopted a revised Programme and Budget 2018-2019 for GRECO at its 23^rd meeting (13 February 2018).

36. The detailed budgetary tables presenting the adjustments proposed appear in Appendix 5. The adaptations in each partial/enlarged agreement are listed in Appendix 6.

Appendix 1: Effect of the cessation of Turkey’s major contributor status from the end of 2017

Appendix 2: Roadmap for accelerating and deepening reform

1. In November 2017, the Secretary General presented the reform measures planned for the 2018-2019 biennium in document SG/Inf(2017)28-rev. These measures build on the reforms already accomplished between 2009 and 2017 (cf. document SG/Inf(2017)14). Given the change in the budgetary context, the implementation of these measures will now be speeded-up and intensified, without, however, confusing speed with undue haste. It also has to be borne in mind that the design and implementation of reform measures, which may be wide-ranging, will have to be accomplished within existing human and budgetary resources which are simultaneously being rapidly reduced due to the shrinking budget.

2. The reform measures focus on three main areas, namely secretariat structures, working methods and the arrangements linked to major contributor status. They put emphasis on quality rather than quantity and seek to generate efficiency and savings.

3. The Secretary General has asked the Director General of Administration to head a steering group comprising members of the Senior Management Group. Its task is to steer the reform, support the changes and ensure staff and stakeholder buy-in. A consultation process involving all the staff is underway in order to gather proposals and build up staff participation in the measures under consideration. The outcomes of this collective process will feed into the steering group’s work. The representatives of the member States and the other stakeholders will also be closely-involved to facilitate a shared understanding and vision and to benefit also from exchange of experience.

4. The group’s work will be based on analysis of the value chain and of hidden costs, and it will also incorporate a risk-management approach. Indicators will be identified and a reporting system put in place to monitor the impact of the measures over time. The potential and impact of new technologies will form part and parcel of the reform effort. In this connection, the IT strategic plan is ready and will be presented to the GR-PBA along with the first progress report on the reform in due course.

Secretariat structures

5. The aim of the review of secretariat structures is to recast the organisation chart to reflect tighter grouping of activities by theme and to ensure critical mass, a flatter hierarchy and more flexible team organisation, in particular by making internal decision-making processes less complex and giving staff members at all levels greater responsibility.

6. To achieve the room for manoeuvre needed for this review, the freezing of senior posts (A4, A5, A6 and A7) and the non-replacement of retirees have already been initiated. A departure scheme will be drawn up, and redeployments managed centrally by the Directorate of Human Resources.

7. The planned timetable here is as follows:

- February 2018: task force set up

- March 2018: collection and analysis of proposals for this area

- March to July 2018: work of the steering group and associated task force

- July 2018: establishment of the basic principles and the target organisation chart

- September 2018: strategic workforce planning roadmap supporting this initiative

- December 2018: implementation of departure scheme

- January to December 2019: structural changes and redeployments.

Working methods

8. While working methods change constantly, the current context demands an even more determined approach to streamlining, consolidating and harmonising. All of the organisation’s activities are concerned, and initial efforts to identify the most relevant areas are already in progress. In particular, the criteria will be the potential for simplification and savings (analysis of hidden costs), feasibility and the symbolic impact of any changes.

9. Examples here include:

- the holding of meetings, their format and the related travel and per diem expenses

- human resources policy

- administrative management procedures (for financial and human resources), in particular the balance between central management and decentralisation

- interpretation and translation costs

- print document production

- buildings management (access, use, energy costs)

10. The planned timetable is as follows:

- February 2018: task force set up

- March 2018: collection and analysis of proposals for this area

- March to July 2018: work of the steering group and associated task force

- April 2018: selection of all relevant areas (some are already known)

- June 2018: first set of measures

- September 2018: identification of measures and implementation schedule

Arrangements linked to major contributor status

11. Consideration must also be given to the arrangements for becoming a major contributor or withdrawing from that status. This third area of reform was not planned in November 2017; developments in the situation and the various events since then now call for much more in-depth consideration.

12. The planned timetable is as follows:

- Autumn 2018: discussion in the GR-PBA

Appendix 3: adjusted budget 2018 (Table 1) - Ordinary budget

Appendix 3: adjusted budget 2019 (Table 1) - Ordinary budget

Appendix 4: Detailed information on proposed measures - Ordinary budget

This appendix details, for each programme line, the measures taken for 2018 (targeted measures and frozen posts). In most of the cases these measures continue in 2019 and therefore are not repeated in the text. Nevertheless, some of these are transitional and are replaced by other measures in 2019. Those variations are presented in the 2019 table where relevant.

The European Court of Human Rights

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓770K: transitory reduction in non-staff expenditure concerning in particular the renovation of the main deliberations room, postponing some IT expenditure for one year, printing, language courses for judges and subscriptions to legal journals in the library Staff ↓880K : grant to the special account, removal and recruitment expenditure
2018	❆ Frozen posts	1A6 1A5 (replaced by 1A4) 2B3

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non staff ↑550K: re-establishing IT expenditure and most of the interpretation/translation/printing and other sundry expenditure at their initial level Staff ↑230K: re-establishing removal and recruitment expenditure
2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	1A6 (11 months), 1A5(4 months), 1B4 (11 months), 1B4 (8 months), 1B4 (9 months), 1B3(5 months)

Biennium	i Additional information	Proposed savings represent 2.7% of Court’s budget in 2018 and mainly take the form of one-off deductions on operational expenditure so as not to affect the Court’s core business of processing cases. The programme line is reduced by 2.2% in 2019 and by 1.2 % excluding the frozen posts as a transversal measure.

Execution of judgments

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓80K : cooperation and assistance to member States Staff ↓200K : freezing of 1A, 2 B3 (young professionals)

2019	Þ Additional measures	Staff ↑81.8K : unfreezing of 1A2

Biennium	i Additional information	These reductions will have little impact on core capacity. They might generate a slower increase than anticipated in early assessment of Action Plans and, in 2018, a slightly reduced capacity to provide advice on execution issues (17 bilateral meetings instead of 19).

Effectiveness of the ECHR system at national and European level

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓95K: cooperation expenditure and postponement of one CDDH working group meeting Staff ↓83.4K: redeployment of 1 B2 to Common standards and policies, freezing of 1 B2 (11 months)

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non staff ↓50K: suppression of one plenary and one working group meeting Staff ↓52.8K: freezing of 1 A, reintegration of 1 B2 (8 months)
2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	B2 (6 Months)

Biennium	i Additional information	In principle, the proposed measures should not lead to delays in the reform of the ECHR System. However they will imply lower capacity to offer legal advice and will slow down work on social rights, freedom of expression in culturally diverse societies, alternatives to detention for asylum seekers.

European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓60K: suppression of one visit

Staff ↓81.8K: freezing of 1 A2

Biennium

Additional information

19 visits will be performed each year instead of 20.

Commissioner for Human Rights

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓50K: reduction of awareness raising expenditure by stopping paper publications, non-official language translations and workshops with national human rights structures and other meetings of national experts

Biennium

Additional information

These measures will slow down human rights awareness-raising and reduce the flow of information on the Commissioner's work.

Equality and human dignity - GREVIO

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓195.9K: suspension of the CAHDPH (Committee of experts on the rights of persons with disabilities), suspension of the working group on the implementation of the Council of Europe Disability Strategy 2017-2023. Staff ↓43.5K: freezing of 1 B2, redeployment of 1A from Equality to GREVIO
2018	❆ Frozen posts	0.7 A5 (6 months)

2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	Full year effect 0.7 A5

Biennium	i Additional information	It is proposed to further mainstream the work in the area of Rights of Persons with Disability across the Organisation which, through intergovernmental work and co-operation activities, can continue to provide support to member States in their efforts to comply with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that are within the remit of the Council of Europe and, by doing this, implement the Council of Europe Disability Strategy 2017-2023. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities are already mainstreamed in Council of Europe strategies (such as Children’s Rights 2016-2021; Internet Governance Strategy 2016-2019; Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017) and in the work of several institutional bodies and Partial Agreements (such as the Assembly; Congress; Commissioner of Human Rights; Conference of INGOs; Advisory Council on Youth; CEB; EPAS; EUR-OPA). It is also proposed that the mainstreaming of work in this area be explicitly added to the terms of references of all relevant intergovernmental committees.

Antidiscrimination - National Minorities, Regional or Minority Languages

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓26K: reduction of the number of follow-up activities and awareness raising (seminars and round tables)

Biennium

Additional information

This will imply a reduced capacity to provide advice to facilitate follow-up to recommendations of anti-discrimination monitoring bodies (ECRI, FCNM, ECRML) in member States (follow-up activities reduced by 1 for each mechanism).

Social inclusion and respect for human rights: Migrants, Roma

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 310K: reduction in cooperation activities (Roma), discontinuation the mentoring scheme on the setting up of diversity-inclusive online media (Intercultural Cities)
2018	❆ Frozen posts	1A5

Biennium	i Additional information	The related cooperation activities (Roma) are now covered by a joint programme. The Intercultural Cities target in relation to media and the number of anti-stereotype platforms will be reduced from 20 to 12 and thereby decrease the impact of the work on building inclusive societies.

Children’s rights

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓ 25K: reduction in awareness raising events in member States and specially designed products and tools in preparation of the 2018 European Day against sexual exploitation and abuse

Biennium

Additional information

It will not be possible to develop and disseminate new tools, and visibility for the launching of a new CM recommendation will be reduced. Existing tools will continue to be promoted and made available to member States.

Bioethics

2019

Additional measures

Non staff ↓ 8.7K: one plenary meeting of the DH-BIO reduced by one day

Biennium

Additional information

Although work will be advanced as far as possible through electronic means, this may generate some delay in the finalisation of Oviedo Convention implementation tools.

European Social Charter

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 70K: reduction of the duration of ESCR meetings to 4 days; less cooperation activities
2018	❆ Frozen posts	1A4 1A2 (3 months)

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non staff ↓ 50K: suppression of the plenary of the PECS
2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	Full year effect 1A2, 1A2 (9 months)

Biennium	i Additional information	There may be some delays in the consideration of collective complaints and reports. The Secretariat is taking all possible measures to minimise any such delays. The European Platform of Social cohesion will continue mainly using IT tools to exchange information and adopt decisions during 2019. During the biennium, working methods, monitoring modalities and secretarial structures of the ECSR, the Governmental Committee and the Social Cohesion Platform will be examined in order to 1) ensure increased coordination of their activities with International organisations (in particular EU, ILO, UN) and with national actors in the field of social and economic rights; 2) achieve enhanced and timely impact on policies 3) identify innovative good practices to safeguard social rights and preserve social cohesion.

Independence and efficiency of Justice

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓ 30K: reduction in cooperation activities

Biennium

Additional information

This will imply a reduced capacity to provide advice (5 CEPEJ cooperation programmes developed instead of 6).

Prisons and Police

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Staff ↓ 5K: redeployment of 0.1B3 to Terrorism, corruption and organised crime

2019	❆ Frozen posts	0.2A5 (6 months)

Biennium	i Additional information	Proposed measures on this programme line are limited in order to maintain capacity to support member States in implementing CPT’s recommendations.

Common standards and policies

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 50K: slowing down of work on organised crime Staff ↓ 49.1K: redeployment of 1 B2 from Effectiveness of the ECHR system at national and European level, redeployment of 0.4B3 to Terrorism, corruption and organised crime, freezing of 0.6 A2 (9 months) and of 0.6 B2
2018	❆ Frozen posts	1 B4

2019	Þ Additional measures	Staff ↓ 15.5K: Full year effect of 0.6 A2
2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	Full year effect 1 B4, 0.3 A5 (6 months)

Biennium	i Additional information	This will delay the implementation of the Action Plan on Transnational Organised Crime and possibly the date of availability of the revised Recommendation on protection of collaborators of justice and witnesses.

Information society and Internet Governance

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 50K: reduction of cooperation activities on freedom of expression

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non Staff ↓ 10K: reduction of cooperation activities
2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	1A2 (2 months)

Biennium	i Additional information	This will imply a reduced capacity to promote implementation of Council of Europe’s standards, particularly with respect to freedom of expression (6 activities instead of 8).

Terrorism, corruption and organised crime - MONEYVAL – GRETA

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 190K: transitory suppression of one plenary meeting of Moneyval, awareness raising activities in the medicrime area, cooperation activities to address problem areas identified by GRETA Staff ↓ 151K: redeployment of 0.5 B3 from Common standards and policies and Prisons and Police, freezing of 1 B2,1A , 0.4 A2 (9 months) and 0.4 B2
2018	❆ Frozen posts	0.3A5 (6 months)

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non staff ↑ 100K: re-establishing initial number of MONEYVAL’s plenaries. Staff ↓ 10.4K: Full year effect of freezing 1A2
2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	Full year effect 0.3A5, 0.5 A5 (6 months)

Biennium	i Additional information	Moneyval: fewer action plans and priority measures adopted (8 instead of 10); reduced number of 5^th round reports (7 instead of 8). The promotion of new conventions will be put on hold which may lead to less ratifications than foreseen. The capacity to provide support to implement GRETA’s recommendations will be reduced (3 instead of 4).

Sport integrity and values

2018

Targeted measures

Staff ↓ 81.8K: freezing of 1 A

Biennium

Additional information

The number of States Parties receiving targeted recommendations after a monitoring visit will be reduced from 6 to 3 (baseline 4) and standard setting work will be delayed (process of the revision of the Anti-Doping Convention and the work on the development of the new standard on human rights of athletes in the context of the access to justice). The coordination role of the Council of Europe concerning WADA will also be affected (number of positions adopted by CAHAMA reduced from 6 to 3 (baseline 3)).

Parliamentary Assembly

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓418.5 K: printing and other expenditure such as reduction of the number of committee meetings held outside part-session weeks, fact-finding visits by committee rapporteurs funded from the Assembly budget will in principle be limited to one for each report Staff ↓ 123.5K : temporary savings on staff expenditure following delays in filling vacancies
	❆ Frozen posts	1A7 1A4
	X	Non staff ↓ 630K: interpretation and translation into Turkish

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non staff ↑70 K: re-establishing some operational costs at their initial level Staff ↑123.5K : the temporary savings on staff expenditure made in 2018 are replaced by additional freezing of posts upon retirement
	❆ Add. frozen posts	1 A4 (8 months)
	X	Non staff ↓ 70K: interpretation and translation into Turkish

Biennium	i Additional information	Excluding the impact of the reduction linked to the interpretation and translation into Turkish, the programme line is reduced by 4.3% in 2019. The measures will imply that less committee meetings and less seminars than initially foreseen will be organised. Interpretation in working languages will be provided “on demand” and not automatically. Paper files will no longer be provided for certain committee meetings. Less secretariat service will be provided to the Assembly.

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓175 K: Suppression and postponement of events (the summit of mayors on radicalisation, Conference on corruption), reduction of the number of election Observations and of monitoring visits, reduction of duration of meetings
	❆ Frozen posts	1A5 1A4
	X	Non staff ↓ 200K: interpretation and translation into Turkish

2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	1 A6 (1 month)

Biennium	i Additional information	The programme line is reduced by 6.8% in 2019 excluding the impact of the reduction linked to the interpretation and translation into Turkish and by 2.5% excluding the frozen posts as a transversal measure. The Congress Bureau has set up a political strategic committee in order to prepare a reform to ensure the sustainable functioning of the Congress.

Democratic governance

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non Staff ↓ 352.1K: reduction of confidence building measures, of capacity building activities in the field of Public administration (from 12 to 10), in awareness raising and assistance activities in the INGOs field and in satellite events of the World Forum for Democracy (WFD) during year (from 8 to 4), discontinuation of democracy incubators and reduction in reimbursement of participants (-120). Staff ↓ 20.5K: freezing of 1 A2 (3 months)

2019	Þ Additional measures	Staff ↓ 61.4K: full year effect 1 A2

Biennium	i Additional information	The discontinuation of the democracy incubators, the reduction of satellite events and the possible reduction of participants to the WFD will decrease the scope and the impact of the Forum.

Education for Democracy

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓125 K: reduction of activities relating to History Teaching and Holocaust remembrance except marking key commemorations and suppression of appropriations for the annual Exchange on the Religious Dimension of Inter-Cultural Dialogue
2018	❆ Frozen posts	1 A2 (7 months)

2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	Full year effect of 1 A2 , 2A2 (10 months)

Biennium	i Additional information	The Education Programme’s long-standing and well-established activities around teaching of religious and non-religious beliefs (eg. Signposts) will continue under the activities related to the setting up of an on-line repository of learning resources developed over the last 10 years. Alternative funding will be required to continue organising the Exchange. A limited number of activities on History Teaching will be supported by drawing on available extrabudgetary funds. History Teaching will be mainstreamed into the implementation of the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC) as an illustrative example of the type of issue or subject to which the CDC model can be effectively applied. The Council of Europe’s support to Holocaust Remembrance will be re-focused but continue to take a number of forms: in education, Holocaust Remembrance will in future feature in the implementation of the CDC framework; it is proposed to add to the work programme of the CDPPE the continued development of a recommendation on Holocaust Remembrance and to explore the feasibility of the creation of a network of sites of Holocaust remembrance through the partial agreement Cultural Routes.

Youth for Democracy

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non Staff ↓ 153K: Pause activities under the Roma Youth Action Plan as a wider rationalisation of Youth Roma activities; reduce reimbursement of the number of young people participating in the WFD (-62)


Biennium	i Additional information	“Bookmarks” and “We can” manuals will not be translated into non-official languages as was foreseen. Participation of young people in the WFD will be encouraged through on-line tools and the Youth Programme’s networks (including through the Advisory Council of Youth) but the overall contribution of youth to the Forum may be negatively affected.

Culture, Nature and Heritage

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non Staff ↓ 369.4K: suspension of the work on Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy and the Platform of Actors on Digitisation and Culture ; reduction in the number of Bern Convention Statutory bodies meetings and in activities to promote conservation of natural habitats, reduction in awareness raising events concerning the European Landscape Convention, fewer technical meetings under HEREIN and reductions in efforts to promote Strategy 21 Staff ↓96.5K: freezing of 1B4 (8 months), 2B2 (8 months)

2019	Þ Additional measures	Staff ↓48.2K: Full year effect of freezing of posts

Biennium	i Additional information	In the area of Culture, priority will be given to promoting the Recommendations adopted in the last two years by the Committee of Ministers, but not to elaborate new policy guidelines. For the Bern, Landscape and Faro conventions, priority will be given to monitoring activities under the conventions, planned cooperation and other support activities will be maintained but reduced in number. It is proposed that a wider reflection on this programme line is initiated in anticipation for the 2020-2021 biennium.

European Youth Centres – Buildings

2018

Targeted measures

Non Staff ↓ 15.5K: re-scheduling maintenance and equipment up-grade of both European Youth Centres

General Management Expenditure (GME)

2018

❆

Frozen posts

1A6 1A6 (10 months) 1B4 (9 months)

2019

❆

Add. frozen posts

Full year effect 1A6, full year effect 1B4

Committee of Ministers

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓70K: reduction of overheads

Biennium

Additional information

Less documents will be printed and the size of documents will be reduced.

Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General and Private Office

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓ 60K: reduction in official journeys

❆

Frozen posts

1A5 (replaced by 1A4)

Protocol

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓ 40K: reduction of official hospitality expenditure

2019

Additional measures

Non staff ↑ 20K: increase towards the 70th anniversary of the Organisation

Biennium

Additional information

Less receptions and events will be organised.

External Presence

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 146K: External presence overheads covered by extrabudgetary support financing (PAGODA). Staff ↓ 74.8K : temporarily delay recruitment in the field
2018	❆ Frozen posts	1B4

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non staff ↑ 46K: Reflecting foreseen decrease in PAGODA recovery. Staff ↑ 74.8K : suppression of the temporary measures to postpone recruitment in the field

Biennium	i Additional information	These measures should not impact the level of indicators set for the programme line.

Communication

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 133.4K: reduction of visibility items, printed publications and audiovisual services expenditures, and reduction of journalists requests for financial assistance Staff ↓ 205.6K : freezing of 1 A2 (9months) and 2B3, reduction of temporary expenditure of the audiovisual sector

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non staff ↑ 33.4K: reestablishing the level of some overhead costs Staff ↓33.4K: Full year effect of the freezing of 1A2.

Biennium	i Additional information	The above measures will have an impact on audiovisual outsourced services offered by the Directorate of Communications during events in Strasbourg such as PACE and Congress sessions.

Political Affairs, External relations, Policy Planning and Programme and Budget

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 37.9K: reduction in overheads in particular in respect of the Democratic Security debates and the Secretary General’s annual report Staff ↓ 125.7K: freezing of 1 A2, 1 B3 (9 months) and temporary freezing of 1A2 (1 month)
2018	❆ Frozen posts	1A5 (5 months)

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non staff ↑12.4K: reestablishing some overhead costs at their initial level Staff ↓ 5.6K : full year effect 1 B3, suppression of the temporary savings on staff expenditure made in 2018
2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	Full year effect 1 A5, 1B3 (5 months)

Biennium	i Additional information	Documents produced and management data analytics may experience some delay.

Legal Advice

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Staff ↓ 67.7K : freezing of 1 A2 (11 months) working on procurement

2019	Þ Additional measures	Staff ↓ 6.2K: Full year effect 1A2

Biennium	i Additional information	Synergies will be sought with the procurement unit of DGA in order to maintain the same service level.

Internal Oversight

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 15K: reduction in consultants expenditure Staff ↑ 57.7K : redeployment of 1 B4
2018	❆ Frozen posts	1A5

Biennium	i Additional information	The additional B4 is for administrative support for the investigation and evaluation functions and communication.

Logistics

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 392K: cuts in certain non-essential services and reductions in services like accessibility to buildings, distribution of documents and supplies, daily maintenance of buildings Staff ↓ 578.7K: no recruitment or delayed recruitment, reduction of temporary reinforcements contracts
2018	❆ Frozen posts	B3 (1 month)

2019	Þ Additional measures	Staff ↑96.1K: no recruitment or delayed recruitment, reduction of temporary reinforcements contracts
2019	❆ Add. frozen posts	Full year effect 1B3

Biennium	i Additional information	In general, services will include a higher risk of delays or deficiencies.

Information Technologies

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 192K: freezing of 5.3% in 2018 will be passed on to all entities, notably through cuts in certain non-essential services and reductions in other services Staff ↓3.9 K: reduction of temporary reinforcements contracts
2018	❆ Frozen posts	2A4

Biennium	i Additional information	In general, services will include a higher risk of delays or deficiencies. Nevertheless, IT investment will be maintained at the foreseen level (cf. Investments below).

Human resources and other common services

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 292K: reductions ranging from reduction in recruitment, seconded staff, training budgets, well-being measures, organisation of events, on-line and direct support services Staff ↓ 373K: no recruitment or delayed recruitment, reduction of temporary reinforcements contracts
2018	❆ Frozen posts	A5 (replaced by A2)

Biennium	i Additional information	In general, services will include a higher risk of delays or deficiencies.

Investments

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓ 2 500K: grant to the Capital Master Plan (CMP)

Biennium

Additional information

The CMP will be reviewed so as to maintain responsible management of facilities in the long term within the new budgetary framework. Some priority projects have been deferred mainly the renovation of the hemicycle. The CMP implementation will have to be extended from 15 to 20 years

Investments in IT, on the other hand, will be maintained at their foreseen level, as an essential tool to drive efficiency and support the reform process.

Common Provisions and other

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Non staff ↓ 766.9K: reduction of grants to Action Plans and to Joint Programmes, of the field mission reserve and of the administrative tribunal budgetary envelope Staff ↓ 150K: reduction of the provision for seconded officials

2019	Þ Additional measures	Non staff ↓ 595.2K: suppression of the provision for price increase on operational expenditure and further reduction of grants to Action Plans and joint Programme Staff ↓118.3K : decrease in the provision for salary adjustment as a consequence of the reduction in the salary mass
2019	❆ Frozen posts	Staff ↑ 717.1K: creation of a reserve for obligatory adjustment concerning staff and in particular budgetary adjustments for salary steps, as a precautionary measure.

Biennium	i Additional information	The 2019 provisional budget did not include any provision in this respect as it was foreseen that the difference in costs between young new staff members and staff leaving for retirement would generate enough savings to cover salary steps. As all the posts becoming vacant following retirements will be kept frozen, the savings are already used to cover the shortfall in receipts.

Savings to be identified

2019

Additional measures

Non staff ↑ 445.5K: reduction of the negative line as a consequence of the suppression of the provision for price increase on operational expenditure

Staff ↑118.3K : reduction of the negative line as a consequence of the decrease in the provision for salary adjustment

Biennium

Additional information

The negative line for 2019 has been adjusted to take into account the reduction in expenditure. It is based on a working hypothesis of a salary adjustment of 1.7% for 2019. It will be updated in September 2018 when the adjusted budget for 2019 is presented, in the light of the CCR recommendation for the 2019 salary adjustment.

On the basis of a salary adjustment of 1.7%, this would mean that further reductions in the ordinary budget will have to be found for 2019 of €2.7 M.

Contribution to the Pension Reserve Fund

2018	Þ Targeted measures	Pensions ↓ 1 232.2K: reduction of contributions to the PRF through the Ordinary budget, as a consequence of the reduction in Turkey’s contribution to the Ordinary budget.

2019	Þ Additional measures	Pensions: Direct contributions to the PRF to be paid from the Ordinary budget will be recalculated in the adjusted Budget 2019 to be presented after the summer break.

Biennium	i Additional information	Further study is needed of the possible long-term effects for the Pension Reserve Fund after the Turkish withdrawal from major contributor status and the reduction in the number of staff contributing to the pension schemes. Further technical studies will be presented in this respect.

Appendix 5: adjusted budget 2018 (Table 1) - Other budgets

Appendix 5: adjusted budget 2019 (Table 1) - Other budgets

Appendix 6: detailed information on proposed measures - other Budgets

Secretariat of the Council of Europe Development Bank

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓34.9 K: reduction of non-statutory activities

Staff ↓50K : reduction in temporary appropriation

Biennium

Additional information

The impact will be limited as reductions will be found in travel, meeting costs, translation and missions related to non-statutory events.

European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Healthcare (EDQM, Pharmacopeia)

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓ 221.2K: decrease of the reserve for future projects

Biennium

Additional information

It is not expected that for the EDQM the reduction in Turkey’s contribution will impact the activities.

European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓ 158K: decrease in meeting costs (travel and general overheads) and fixed sum contribution to the Ordinary budget due to freezing of 1 post.

Staff ↓108.2K : freezing of 1 A2, decrease in temporary appropriations

Biennium

Additional information

The above measures will have some impact on the ability of the Commission to respond to requests for opinions in a timely manner, will delay the adoption of studies of a general character and affect the participation of the Commission in international events.

GRECO

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓230.4K : elimination of one plenary meeting a year (from 4 to 3); the number of evaluation reports adopted per year reduced by one; number of Bureau meetings reduced from 4 to 2; cost of interpretation for a number of evaluation visits to be borne by the evaluated country/ies; GRECO’s meetings to be strictly paperless; a selection of reports to be issued in one language only; and cuts to GRECO’s capacity for follow-up action

Biennium

Additional information

GRECO’s Statutory Committee adopted the revised Programme and Budget at its 23^rd meeting on 13 February 2018. It also decided that voluntary additional contributions will partly fund the gap between the Programme and Budget as adopted in November 2017 and the revised Programme. It invited Delegations to inform the Secretariat by 15 May 2018 of their intention to make such contributions.

Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (Pompidou Group)

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓ 36.9K: reduction in consultants and fixed sum contribution to the Ordinary budget due to freezing of 1 post.

Staff ↓85K: freezing of 1 A2

Biennium

Additional information

The above measures will impact the number of people who receive support for participation in capacity building events (executive training, law enforcement, with an expected impact mostly on EE, SEE and South Mediterranean participation) and the number of tools produced to assist implementation of drug policy.

European Youth Foundation

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓220.9 K: reduction in number of grants awarded

Biennium

Additional information

The Programming Committee of the EYF will award fewer grants for European youth activities (-18).

Major and Technological Disasters (EUR-OPA)

2018

Targeted measures

Non staff ↓ 82.2K: reduction or cessation of activities and projects carried out by the Specialised Research Centres

Staff ↓65K : freezing of 1 replaced by 1 B5

Biennium

Additional information

Priority will be given to continuing the work of the statutory bodies to and raising awareness and effective risk management.

[1] This document has been classified restricted until examination by the Committee of Ministers.

[2] CM/Del/Dec(2018)1304/11.2

[3] Working languages in the Assembly correspond in principle to the languages of the major contributors and when the Assembly agreed to introduce Turkish as a working language, its agreement was dependent on Turkey becoming a major contributor to the Council of Europe’s budgets. On 15 December 2017, the Assembly’s Bureau asked the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs to prepare a report modifying the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure with a view to removing Turkish from the list of working languages of the Assembly (Rule 28.3). At the same time, it asked the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly to enquire with the Turkish Parliament whether it might wish to return to the previous practice of covering the cost of Turkish interpretation in the Assembly. In the meantime, the Turkish Parliament has already declared its readiness to cover the cost of the Turkish interpretation in the Assembly for 2018 and 2019. The Congress has the same working languages as the Assembly.

[4] Cf. CM/Del/Dec(2017)1300/11.1-Part1

[5] It is recalled that it was decided upon the adoption of the 2018-2019 Programme and Budget that another actuarial study is to be presented end September 2019.