The estimates of revenue and expenditure of the European Parliament for 2007, submitted by Louis Grech, has been approved unanimously by the Committee on Budgets of the European Parliament.

In the last weeks, MEP Louis Grech, as rapporteur of the European Parliamentary Committee on Budgets (COBU) had numerous meetings with the different main actors of the European Parliament including : the Bureau (composed of the vice presidents of all political groups), the secretary general of the European Parliament Julian Pristley, the questors (Members of Parliament in charge of the internal functioning of the institution), the different shadows and coordinators of the main political groups, and the Conference of Presidents (composed of all the presidents of each political group).

After hearing and taking into account what was said during these meetings and analysing all the different information that was given to him, MEP Louis Grech presented his report on “the estimates of revenue and expenditure of the European Parliament for the financial year 2007” to the Committee on Budget where an exchange of views on the subject took place. In his capacity as rapporteur, Louis Grech recommended to the Budgetary Committee the approval or otherwise of the various budgetary lines covering Parliament’s estimates for 2007.

Louis Grech’s report was adopted unanimously in the Committee of Budgets held on 15 May.

The report is an analysis of the actual budget estimates for 2007 and is a continuation of the Grech Report on the guidelines for the 2007 budgetary procedure which was adopted with a 94 per cent majority in the plenary session of the European Parliament held on 16 March.

Louis Grech highlighted that this was the first report to come out under the new Interinstitutional Agreement (2007-2013) which has just been adopted. He said that “2007 should be a year of spending consolidation with no major new projects” and that “the 2007 budget should reflect actual budgetary needs and be in line with the principle of budgetary rigour and responsible use of citizen’s money”.

Mr Grech stressed that, “in a framework of budgetary constraints, it is necessary to implement budgetary rigour in all ongoing activities thereby ensuring value for the taxpayer’s money and improving the perception of the European citizen towards the European Parliament”.

He emphasised the need to avoid duplication of functions and to focus on core operations. He invited all the institutions to make better use of their resources and to embark on more inter-institutional cooperation in order to achieve greater efficiency and more savings.

Mr Grech once again criticised the unnecessary exorbitant costs as a result of the dispersion and duplication of work in three different workplaces.

Referring, in particular, to the Strasbourg issue, Mr Grech decided to put in reserve the E50 million which were intended for the purchase of the Strasbourg buildings, until a more clearer and transparent picture of the situation is available.

In his report, Louis Grech stressed the importance of applying the principle of sound financial management and underlined the importance of implementing activity-based budgeting to achieve a more effective, transparent and rational budget.

With this aim in view, Mr Grech instructed the European Parliament’s administration to carry out a stocktaking exercise and a mid-term review to enable members to have a more clearer and actual picture of the situation.

This second Grech Report will be presented for adoption by the members at the plenary session of the European Parliament to be held in Brussels on 1 June.