RAPPORTEUR GROUP

Programme, Budget and Administration

GR-PBA(2023)13-rev

12 June 2023[1]

Revised annotated agenda Meeting of 16 June 2023

1.         Budget Committee –

a. Exchange of views with the Chair (9.30 a.m.)

1.1       The Group is invited to hold an exchange of views with Mr Alistair Vosper, the Chair of the Budget Committee, accompanied by Ms Heidi Malene, the Vice-Chair, who will join the meeting online to provide some feedback from the Budget Committee’s meeting on 7-9 June 2023, including on its examination of the documents under item 2 below.

b. Meeting report – June 2023 session

CM(2023)110

1.2       The Budget Committee’s meeting report will be presented in document CM(2023)110 after its June session (7-9 June). The Group is invited to examine this item with a view to recommending the following draft decision to the Deputies for adoption at their 1470^th meeting on 28 June 2023, without further debate:

Draft decision:

The Deputies took note of the meeting report of the June 2023 session of the Budget Committee, as it appears in document CM(2023)110.

2.         2022 Salary adjustment – Administrative Tribunal decision

2.1       The Administrative Tribunal of the Council of Europe has delivered its judgment in the appeals (677-711/2022, 713-718/2022 and 724-727/2022) concerning the application of the affordability clause in the framework of 2022 salary adjustment. The Tribunal ruled in favour of the appellants. Information will be provided orally on what this means in practice and looking forward.

3.         Draft Programme and Budget 2024-2027 –

a. Framework document

CM(2023)88, DD(2023)194

3.1       At their 1448^th meeting on 16 November 2022, the Deputies agreed that a new four-year Programme would be prepared as from 2024.[2] It is recalled that the GR-PBA examined at its meeting on 21 February 2023 the Secretary General’s proposal for the preparation of the Programme and Budget 2024-2027 (cf. CM(2023)27), which was followed by the orientation discussion with the Secretary General in the Committee of Ministers on 22 February 2023.

3.2       Document CM(2023)88 presents the proposed framework for the preparation of the Programme and Budget 2024-2027. It sets out how the Reykjavik Summit outcomes could be incorporated into the Programme, the overall budgetary framework and scenarios, and the main thrusts of the continued reform agenda.

3.3   The Group is invited to hold a discussion in the framework of the preparations of the next Programme and Budget. The Chair intends to organise an informal meeting on 20 June 2023 on the preparation of the draft Programme and Budget 2024-2027.

b. Intergovernmental structure

CM(2023)131-prov

3.4   The Secretary General’s proposal for the intergovernmental structure – namely the structure of committees with a mandate of the Committee of Ministers on the basis of Article 17 of the Statute and in accordance with Resolution CM/Res(2021)3 on intergovernmental committees and subordinate bodies, their terms of reference and working methods – for the quadrennium 2024-2027, is presented in document CM(2023)131-prov.

3.5   The draft terms of reference of the proposed committees will be distributed in August 2023, together with the draft Programme and Budget 2024-2027, and will be examined in the thematic rapporteur groups in September/October 2023. Their discussions will feed into the deliberations of the GR-PBA on the Programme and Budget 2024-2027 as a whole, with a view to their adoption at the Deputies’ 1481^st (Budget) meeting on 21-23 November 2023.

3.6   The Group is invited to hold a preliminary discussion on the Secretary General’s proposal for the structure as presented in document CM(2023)131-prov.

4.         European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM) –

Long-term investment strategy review

4.1       It is recalled that the Deputies, at their 1410^th meeting on 8 September 2021,[3] approved, in principle, the long-term investment strategy of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM), including the proposed use of the EDQM’s reserve to ensure the long-term sustainability of its activities, as it appeared in document CM(2021)92. Subsequently, the Deputies approved the transfer of an amount of €32M to a ring-fenced special account to cover funding for EDQM contingency provisions in case of crisis and of €31.2M to the EDQM investments special account pending a decision on the creation of a new building and the extension of the current building within the long-term investment strategy.[4]

4.2       Following the examination of the External Auditor’s report (CM(2022)100-add) and upon adoption of the adjusted budget for 2023,[5] the Deputies invited the Secretary General to revise and to report back on the contingency provisions for the EDQM by June 2023 in the framework of the review of its long-term investment strategy, and instructed the GR-PBA to examine the results in light of the Budget Committee’s opinion.

4.3       The Secretariat will present an oral update of the situation at the present meeting, also in light of the External Auditor’s performance audit distributed in document ExtAud(2023)1.

5.         Unpaid contributions and interest on late payments
a. Prior years – update of situation as at 30 April 2023

CM(2023)83

b. Contributions 2023: situation as at 28 February 2023

CM(2023)84

5.1       This is a regular agenda item. Document CM(2023)83 sets out information on the situation as at 30 April 2023 with respect to prior years, including additional contributions from 2022 for which interest on late payment was suspended until 30 April 2023.[6] Information as to those member States which have not paid at least one third of their 2023 contributions in the course of the first two months of the year, in accordance with Article 10 of the Financial Regulations, is presented in document CM(2023)84.

5.2       The Group is invited to examine this item with a view to recommending the following draft decisions to the Deputies for adoption at their 1470^th meeting (28 June 2023), without further debate.

           

Draft decisions:

The Deputies

1.         took note of the situation as at 30 April 2023 concerning prior years’ unpaid contributions to the various budgets and funds of the Council of Europe, as set out in document CM(2023)83;

2.         took note of the situation as at 28 February 2023 concerning payment by member States of their 2023 contributions, as set out in document CM(2023)84;

3.         noted that the Secretary General is monitoring the situation closely and is communicating with the competent authorities of the member States and non-members of the Council of Europe with a view to ensuring that the necessary measures would be taken for their financial obligations to be met, in line with the Statute and the Financial Regulations.

6.         Co-ordinating Committee on Remuneration (CCR)

a. 2022 activity report

CM(2023)80

6.1       The CCR was established with the role of making recommendations on remuneration, allowances and pensions to the Councils of the Co-ordinated Organisations. The Co-ordinated Organisations are: the Council of Europe, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Space Agency (ESA), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Each member State of one of these organisations may nominate a representative to the CCR. The report by the Chairman, which summarises activities carried out in the framework of the CCR in 2022, is set out in document CM(2023)80.

6.2       The Group is invited to examine this item with a view to recommending the following draft decision to the Deputies for adoption at their 1470^th meeting on 28 June 2023, without further debate:

Draft decision

The Deputies took note of the CCR activity report for 2022, as it appears in document CM(2023)80.

b. Special adjustments at 1 February 2023 for Hungary – 324^th report

CM(2023)81

c. Special adjustments at 1 February 2023 for Poland – 325^th report

CM(2023)82

d. Special adjustments at 1 March 2023 for Lithuania – 326^th report

CM(2023)102

e. Special adjustments at 1 March 2023 for Türkiye – 327^th report

CM(2023)103

6.3       In application of the adjustment methods,[7] the CCR has submitted recommendations for a special adjustment of remuneration and allowances of +7% in Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and Türkiye following an increase in the consumer price index. These special adjustments are foreseen in the aforementioned methods, adopted by the Committee of Ministers, in cases of high increases in inflation in a country, with the threshold for triggering the special adjustment set at 7% over three consecutive months. This is the case for Hungary and Poland where inflation exceeded the threshold in January-March 2023 and for Lithuania and Türkiye for February-April 2023. The resulting special adjustment equals the amount of the threshold, i.e. 7%, from 1 February 2023 for Hungary and Poland and from 1 March 2023 for Lithuania and Türkiye.

6.4       60 staff members are currently paid on the Hungarian and Turkish salary scales and none on the Polish or Lithuanian scales. The budgetary impact for 2023 would be €97K, of which €43K on the Ordinary Budget. The remaining amount would be paid on extra-budgetary resources.

6.5       The Group is invited to examine this item with a view to recommending the following draft decisions to the Deputies for adoption at their 1470^th meeting (28 June 2023), without further debate.

Draft decisions

The Deputies

1.       took note of the 324^th to and 3257^th reports of the Co-ordinating Committee on Remuneration (CCR), as they appear in documents CM(2023)81, CM(2023)82, CM(2023)102 and CM(2023)103 respectively;

2.       decided that, as a special adjustment, the remuneration and the monthly amounts for the allowances/supplements expressed in absolute value, as adjusted at 1 January 2023, as well as the ceilings of the installation allowance, at 1 January 2023, be increased by 7% for Hungary and Poland with effect from 1 February 2023 and be increased by 7% for Lithuania and Türkiye with effect from 1 March 2023;

4.       noted that, in accordance with the interpretation given to paragraph 3 of the 34^th report by the CCG (CCG(65)5), the remuneration of auxiliary staff serving in the Co-ordinated Organisations will be adjusted in accordance with the provisions of this report.

           

7.         Any other business

7.1       None at present.

8.         Date of the next meeting

8.1       The next meeting of the Group will take place on 4 July 2023 at 9.30 a.m. and 3.00 p.m.