The Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted the report by Rafał TRZASKOWSKI (EPP, PL) on the amendment of Rule 81 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure.
The report deals with the way in which Parliament gives its consent in procedures where it is required pursuant to the Treaties (formerly known as the assent procedure). It proposed amending Rule 81 as follows:
Recommendation of the committee responsible: where Parliament is asked to give its consent to a proposed act, it shall, when adopting its decision, take into account a recommendation from the committee responsible to approve or reject the act. The recommendation shall include citations but not recitals. It may include a short justification, which shall be the responsibility of the rapporteur and which shall not be put to the vote.
Amendments tabled in committee shall be admissible only if they aim to reverse the recommendation as proposed by the rapporteur.
The committee responsible may table a motion for a non-legislative resolution. Other committees may be involved in drawing up the resolution.
Vote: Parliament shall decide on the act requiring its consent by means of a single vote on consent, irrespective of whether the recommendation from the committee responsible is to approve or reject the act. No amendments may be tabled.
An act not obtaining the required majority (or the majority of the votes cast where no majority is indicated therein) shall be deemed to have been rejected.
At the committee level, the committee responsible shall deal with the request for consent without undue delay. If the committee responsible decides not to give a recommendation, or has not adopted a recommendation within six months after the request for consent
has been referred to it, the Conference of Presidents may:
Suspension clause on the consent of international agreements: where Parliament is asked to give its consent for the conclusion of an international agreement, Parliament may decide, on the basis of a recommendation from the committee responsible, to suspend the consent procedure for no longer than one year.
The Members considered that this clause is very important, in particular: (i) to allow a "cooling off" period in order to avoid the likely rejection of an international agreement; (ii) to require the third country to accomplish certain changes or obligations that Parliament deems necessary to give consent.