PE-7/QUAEST/PV/2010-06 EUROPEAN PARLIAMT PV 06/2010 THE QUAESTORS MINUTES of the meeting held on Wednesday 16 June 2010 at 15.00 Room S 3.4 of the LOW Building STRASBOURG CONTTS 1. Adoption of draft agenda...3 2. Adoption of the minutes of the meeting of 19 May 2010...3 3. Announcements by the Chair-in-Office...3 4. Information seminar on the reimbursement of medical expenses for MEPs and the members of their families...4 5. Exchange of views in the presence of Ms WALLIS, Vice-President, on the interinstitutional negotiations on a common register for lobbyists...4 6. Rules on smoking on European Parliament premises...5 7. Access to Estonian television channels...6 8. Installing Skype on Members' computers...7 9. In camera - any other business and individual requests/letters from Members...7 10. Urgent matters and any other business...7 10.1 Printing of the parliamentary calendar for 2011...7 Page
10.2 Request from a Member concerning the opening of a parliamentary office outside the Member State of election...8 10.3 Preventative measures against the A(H1N1) influenza virus...8 10.4 Competition for young artists to design greeting cards...8 11. Items for information...9 12. Date and place of next meeting...9 ANNEX: Record of attendance 2/10
Ms LULLING, Chair-in-Office, opened the meeting at 15.05 on Wednesday 16 June 2010. * * * 1. Adoption of draft agenda - noted the draft agenda (PE 438.899/QUAEST) and adopted it in the form recorded in these minutes. 2. Adoption of the minutes of the meeting of 19 May 2010 - took note of the following document: the minutes of the meeting of 19 May 2010 (PE 438.894/QUAEST); - took note of amendments to those minutes, submitted by Mr HIGGINS, Quaestor, and approved them as amended: 3. Announcements by the Chair-in-Office 3.1 Availability of service bicycles in Strasbourg - heard the Chair-in-Office invite DG INLO to furnish further information on the possibility of providing service bicycles in Strasbourg, in addition to those made available by the City of Strasbourg. 3/10
4. Information seminar on the reimbursement of medical expenses for MEPs and the members of their families - took note of the following documents: a note from DG FINS of 3 June 2010 (PE 438.901/QUAEST) - took note of the proposal submitted by DG FINS that a seminar be organised for Members in order to provide them with information on the application of the rules governing reimbursement of medical expenses for Members and their family members; - held an exchange of views on the matter, with the participation of Ms GERINGER de OEDBERG, Quaestor responsible, Mr NEWTON DUNN, Mr MAŠTÁLKA and the Chair-in-Office, as well as Mr VANHAER, Director-General of DG FINS; - approved the proposal, while emphasising that information should also be provided on the additional or top-up cover available to Members from the two private insurance companies which had been selected to offer such services following a call for applications to this end; - invited the services to organise two information seminars, as follows: in Brussels, on Thursday 1 July 2010, from 10.00-12.00 hours; in Strasbourg, on Tuesday 6 July 2010, from 14.30-16.00 hours. 5. Exchange of views in the presence of Ms WALLIS, Vice-President, on the interinstitutional negotiations on a common register for lobbyists - took note of the following documents: a letter from Ms WALLIS, Vice-President, to the President dated 4 May 2009 (PE 421.967/QUAEST and annexes); - heard the Chair-in-Office, who: informed the meeting that Ms WALLIS had indicated earlier in the week that due to unforeseen circumstances she would be unable to attend the Quaestors' meeting in June as originally scheduled, and would wish to attend in July instead, in order to brief the Quaestors on the progress of the negotiations in the 4/10
European Parliament and European Commission High Level Working Group on the establishment of a common register of interest representatives; noted her concerns that Parliament's delegation to this Working Group, the composition and mandate of which had been decided by the Conference of Presidents, did not include a Quaestor, despite the fact that pursuant to the Rules of Procedure the Quaestors had an oversight role over Parliament's register of lobbyists; proposed that she write to the President on behalf of the Quaestors to request that Mr NEWTON DUNN, as Quaestor responsible, be invited to join the Working Party concerned. - held an exchange of views on the matter, with the participation of Mr NEWTON DUNN, Quaestor responsible, Ms GERINGER de OEDBERG and the Chair-in- Office; - endorsed the Chair-in Office's proposal and agreed to return to the item at the following meeting for an exchange of views with Ms WALLIS. 6. Rules on smoking on European Parliament premises - took note of the following documents: a note from DG INLO of 4 June 2010 (PE 438.910/QUAEST); an extract of the Quaestors' minutes (PE 438.876/QUAEST); photographs of smoking booths; Bureau minutes of 12 February 2007 (PE 383.371/QUAEST) a note from Mr SCHOO of 19 January 2010 transmitting the legal opinion SJ- 636/09 (PE 438.076 and 438.077QUAEST); - heard Mr DE BACKER, representative of DG INLO, on the installation of smoking booths, Mr THOMANN, Director of the Security Service, on sanctions, and Mr CHIOCHETTI, from the Private Office of the Secretary-General; - held an extensive exchange of views on the matter, with the participation of Ms LULLING, Chair-in-Office, Mr NEWTON-DUNN, Quaestor responsible, and Mr MAŠTÁLKA and Ms GERINGER DE OEDBERG, Quaestors; - took note that smoking booths had been installed in the Members' bar in Brussels and that two more would be installed in the Members' bar in Strasbourg in September; 5/10
- noted that various Members had complained that the booths took up considerable space in the Members' bar in Brussels and so requested that one of the booths be moved to the corridor in front of the bar; invited DG INLO to install one of the smoking booths intended for the Members' bar in Strasbourg next to that bar, with the other to be installed at another location, to be chosen by the services; - expressed the view that other smoking booths could be installed, for example by the bar next to the Members' restaurant in Brussels or next to the "Flower Bar" in Strasbourg; noted that the operation of the smoking booths already installed should be monitored - particularly bearing in mind the remarks made by various Members - before any final decision on the installation of other booths was taken; - noted that various of the smoking areas - such as the space next to the Hemicycle bar in Brussels - were very dirty, as the cleaning staff were only able to enter them at the beginning and the end of the day; invited the services to post notices reminding smokers of the need to return their cups and plates to the bar staff; - recalled that, from a legal point of view, it would be preferable for a clear set of rules to feature in the Compendium of Rules; - invited therefore the relevant services to submit, under the guidance of the Quaestor responsible, Mr NEWTON DUNN, a proposal to that effect at a subsequent meeting, which would include sanctions for non-compliance, bearing in mind that it would not be possible to apply to Members and other permanent users of the building the sanction laid down in the previous set of rules, whereby the Security Service had been empowered to remove from Parliament's premises any individual who refused to comply with the rules. 7. Access to Estonian television channels - took note of the following documents: a note from DG ITEC dated 4 June 2010, on the above subject (PE 438.902/QUAEST); a letter of 12 May 2010 from Mr TARAND, Member (PE 438.888/QUAEST). - took note of the request from an Estonian Member that Estonian television channels be added to the internal parliamentary cable TV network provided within Parliament; - heard Mr PARIDANS, Head of Unit in DG ITEC, who noted that: two channels have already been allocated for the broadcasting of Estonian television channels in Parliament, and are currently unused; 6/10
Estonian channels can be received using Parliament's equipment, but they are not freeto-air and, in line with previous decisions of the Quaestors, Parliament does not assume the costs for subscription fees for non free-to-air channels; - heard Mr MAŠTÁLKA, Quaestor responsible, who informed the meeting that he had transmitted this information to the Member concerned and noted that the services would make the necessary technical arrangements to facilitate the request, on the understanding that the Estonian Member(s) will assume the responsibility for paying any relevant costs; - invited the Chair-in-Office to transmit this information to all Estonian Members. 8. Installing Skype on Members' computers - took note of the following documents: a letter from Mr MAŠTÁLKA to Mr TARAND of 21 June 2010 (PE 438.906/QUAEST); a letter from Mr TARAND of 12 May 2010 (PE 438.889/QUAEST) - took note of the information provided by Mr PARIDANS, Head of Unit in DG ITEC, concerning the possibility for Members to use Skype on their private PCs or on the laptop provided by Parliament; - decided to send a notice to all Members to inform them of this useful development. 9. In camera - any other business and individual requests/letters from Members 10. Urgent matters and any other business 10.1 Printing of the parliamentary calendar for 2011 - heard Ms GERINGER de OEDBERG, Quaestor, who drew attention to certain inconsistencies in the presentation of the parliamentary calendar for 2010, which could 7/10
give rise to confusion for Members in terms of the opening of the central register, noting, for example, that: o Thursday 1 April 2010, despite having been an official closing day of Parliament, was not indicated as such, but had been coloured turquoise, namely labelled as a date set aside for external parliamentary activity; o Monday 24 May 2010 (an official holiday falling in a turquoise week) was coloured white in the calendar, whereas Monday 1 November 2010 (also an official holiday falling in a turquoise week) was coloured turquoise; - invited the services responsible to ensure greater precision in the printing of the 2011 calendar of parliamentary activities to ensure that it tallied correctly with the relevant decisions on the periods of parliamentary activity for 2011, and the associated Quaestors' Communication to Members. 10.2 Request from a Member concerning the opening of a parliamentary office outside the Member State of election - heard Mr MAŠTÁLKA, Quaestor, raise a question concerning a request from a Member for authorisation to open an office outside their Member State of election; - invited the services to examine the matter, while noting that this issue did not fall within the competence of the Quaestors. 10.3 Preventative measures against the A(H1N1) influenza virus - heard Mr MAŠTÁLKA, Quaestor, recall that he had, at a previous meeting, requested information concerning the cost of the preventative measures, including vaccination, which had been taken by Parliament with regard to the A(H1N1) influenza virus; - invited the services to provide further information to Mr MAŠTÁLKA on the matter. 10.4 Competition for young artists to design greeting cards - heard Mr MAŠTÁLKA, Quaestor, recall the previous discussions among the Quaestors on this issue, and propose that when the services submit a proposal to the Quaestors on 8/10
this issue, the possibility of including e-cards in such a competition should also be taken into account; - endorsed this proposal. 11. Items for information 12. Date and place of next meeting The next ordinary meeting of the Quaestors will be held from 15.00 to 17.00 on Wednesday 7 July 2010 in Room S3.4 of the LOW Building in Strasbourg. * * * The meeting closed at 18.00 hours. * * * Astrid LULLING Chair-in-Office 9/10
ANNEX RECORD OF ATTDANCE Strasbourg, 16 June 2010 PREST ALSO PREST: Office of the Secretary-General Group of the S&D Group of the ADLE Legal Service DG Presidency Medical service DG Infrastructure and Logistics DG Finance DG ITEC Secretariat Assistants Quaestors personal secretariat Ms LULLING, Chair-in-Office Ms GERINGER de OEDBERG Mr MAŠTÁLKA Mr NEWTON DUNN Mr CHIOCCHETTI Mr HORNAK Mr BOUTER Ms PADOWSKA Mr THOMANN Dr DI PAOLANTONIO Mr QUINTELA Mr DE BACKER Mr VANHAER Mr GUILLÉN ZANÓN Mr ESTELA BURRIEL Mr MANNELLI Ms SNIJDERS Mr PARIDANS Mr NAEGEL Mr WILKINSON Ms SHEIL Ms RANZ Ms PLUMEREL Ms ZIELINSKA (Ms GERINGER de OEDBERG) Ms KEARNEY (Mr HIGGINS) Ms KONTÁR (Mr NEWTON DUNN) Ms REHOROVA (Mr MAŠTÁLKA) Mr HANS (Ms LULLING) 10/10