Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-20-Speech-2-310"
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"It is precisely now, in a time of crisis, that we must prove to the public and prove to ourselves as well, that when it comes to achieving our political goals, we will use all resources in the most effective way possible.
Most institutions create their budgets on the basis of previous years. After all, what could be easier than multiplying last year’s budget by the rate of inflation? When we repeat such a budgeting process year after year, however, it can lead to deformations, inaccuracies and the wasteful use of resources. Our aim is therefore to ensure that budgets are created on the basis of real needs. In every institution, budget requests must correspond to a real need for tasks to be performed. Every institution and every unit of every institution must make every effort to achieve savings. This may require better organisation of work, the redeployment of existing resources to focus on priorities or reduced levels of bureaucracy.
In my previous speeches to the committee, and also in plenary sessions, I have mentioned many examples of recent successes in uncovering reserves. We will uncover even more shortcomings and we will make the work of the individual units and institutions even more efficient if we go about it in a systematic way. The budget for 2010 establishes this systematic approach.
The honourable Members who were here in the last Parliament will remember that we always tried to improve cooperation between institutions. There have always been reserves here and many of them have even increased over recent years. We have a common pot of funding. If we all manage just our own corners and close ourselves off against others, we will not communicate and cooperate and it will be difficult to make effective use of our resources.
It is for this reason that we decided in the Committee on Budgets to implement a horizontal reserve of 5% across all institutions in respect of external translations. How else can we motivate institutions first to make use of their spare internal translation capacities and not to turn automatically to external providers? Our aim in all of these areas is to make the spare capacities of every institution available to other institutions.
Expenses for the purchase and rental of buildings form one of the main administrative expense items of the institutions. In 2005, the total floor space of the buildings used by institutions in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasburg exceeded 2 million m
. Buildings were not always purchased in the right place, at the right time or for the minimum cost. According to the Court of Auditors, the institutions do not cooperate in these areas and even fail to assess their own policies. If we are purchasing a new building and we do not have more than one alternative in the bag, then it is difficult for us to achieve advantageous terms. For this reason, we are expecting from the Presidency of the European Parliament by the end of the year an appropriate long-term strategy on assets and buildings which will also take account of renovation requirements and security costs.
Ladies and gentlemen, if we are to work in a responsible and efficient manner we need comprehensive information on what resources are available to us. I would therefore like to emphasise the need to create an information management system. With the help of such a system, our work will be coherent and efficient. The administration is expected to submit a presentation on this project to the Committee on Budgets in the near future. None of the draft budgets of the institutions include costs related to the Lisbon Treaty coming into effect. When the Treaty enters into effect, we will have to look very carefully at reorganising existing resources before anyone submits a request for additional resources. If staff at any of the institutions achieve financial savings through work efficiencies, the Committee on Budgets will no longer have a problem with allowing such resources to be used for the other priorities of the institution.
On the other hand, if an institution achieves savings due to unforeseen events, such savings should, as a rule, be returned to the taxpayer. I would like to thank the members of the Committee on Budgets for giving their unanimous support to the proposal. I firmly believe that the budgetary system of the EU must be developed in such a way as to give precedence to resourcefulness and innovative solutions."@en1
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