11 B. CPT membership 25. There were no changes in the Committee's membership during 1994, although both Mr Tonio Borg (Malta) and Mr Günther Kaiser (Germany) were re-elected for a second term of office. However, a number of new CPT members have already been elected in the course of 1995: Mr Mario Benedettini (in respect of San Marino), Mrs Christina Doctare (Sweden)5, Mr Vitaliano Esposito (Italy)6, Mr John Olden (Ireland), Mrs Jagoda Poloncová (Slovakia) and Mr Florin St_nescu (Romania). It might also be noted that Mrs Pirkko Lahti (Finland) has recently been re-elected for a second term of office, and that Mr Borg resigned from the Committee in June 1995, following his appointment to a post in the Maltese Government. As a result, the CPT presently has 24 members, the seats in respect of Bulgaria, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovenia being vacant (see Appendix 2 A for the full list of members). 26. In its 4th General Report, the CPT once again drew attention to the importance of increasing the number of members who possess specialist practical knowledge of penitentiary systems or are medical doctors with relevant experience, and at the same time indicated that the number of women among the CPT's membership remained rather low (cf. CPT/Inf (94) 10, paragraph 16). The elections to date in 1995 would suggest that this message has been heard. In the light of recent experience, the CPT must also underline the importance of electing members who are both in a position, and ready, to serve the Committee effectively (cf. Article 4, paragraph 4, of the Convention). C. Budgetary questions 27. The CPT's budgetary requests for 1995 in respect of visits and meetings were accepted by the Secretary General and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Nevertheless, mid year estimates indicated that there might be a shortfall in funds by the end of the year, principally as a result of a greater need for linguistic services (both interpretation and translation) than was originally foreseen. The Committee is most grateful to the Committee of Ministers for subsequently having authorised the Secretary General to effect, if the need arises, Vote to Vote transfers in order to deal with this difficulty. 5 6 Mrs Doctare shall replace Mr Love Kellberg, who has resigned with effect from 20 September 1995. Mr Esposito replaces Mr Nicolò Amato, who resigned from the CPT in January 1995.