Progress: Procedure completed
| Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | AFCO |
CORBETT Richard ( S&D)
|
WIELAND Rainer ( PPE),
UJAZDOWSKI Kazimierz Michał ( ECR),
GOERENS Charles ( ALDE),
ANDERSSON Max ( Verts/ALE),
ADINOLFI Isabella ( EFDD),
ANNEMANS Gerolf ( ENF)
|
| Committee Opinion | BUDG |
ARTHUIS Jean ( ALDE)
|
Indrek TARAND ( Verts/ALE)
|
| Committee Opinion | CONT |
GRÄSSLE Ingeborg ( PPE)
|
|
| Committee Opinion | ENVI |
LA VIA Giovanni ( PPE)
|
|
| Committee Opinion | JURI |
SVOBODA Pavel ( PPE)
|
Max ANDERSSON ( Verts/ALE),
Marie-Christine BOUTONNET ( ENF),
Sylvia-Yvonne KAUFMANN ( S&D)
|
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 237-p1
Legal Basis:
RoP 237-p1Events
The European Parliament adopted by 548 votes to 145 with 13 abstentions a decision on the general revision of Parliament's Rules of Procedure.
The amendments made to the Rules of Procedure have taken due account of the provisions of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016.
The revised Rules set out the following provisions:
Interinstitutional negotiations by Parliament:
Ahead of Parliament's first reading : where a committee has adopted a legislative report, it may decide, by a majority of its Members, to enter into negotiations on the basis of that report:
decisions to enter into negotiations shall be announced at the beginning of the part-session following their adoption in committee. Political groups or individual Members who together constitute at least one tenth of the Members of Parliament may request in writing that a committee decision to enter into negotiations be put to the vote. Parliament shall vote on such requests during the same part-session; if Parliament rejects the committee’s decision to enter into negotiations, the draft legislative act and the report of the committee responsible shall be placed on the agenda of the following part-session , with a deadline for amendments.
Ahead of Council's first reading: the position adopted by Parliament at first reading will constitute the mandate for any negotiations with other institutions. The committee responsible may decide, by a majority of its Members, to enter into negotiations at any time thereafter.
Ahead of Parliament's second reading : in order to prepare for negotiations, a committee may adopt guidelines for the negotiating team where the Council position contains elements not covered by the draft legislative act or by the Parliament's position at first reading.
Trilogues : after each meeting with the Council and Commission (‘trilogue’), the Chair of the negotiating team and the Rapporteur, on behalf of the negotiating team, shall report back to the next meeting of the committee responsible. If negotiations lead to a provisional agreement, the committee responsible shall be informed without delay. Documents reflecting the outcome of the concluding trilogue shall be made available to the committee and shall be published.
Members' financial interests and standards of conduct : the amendments cover the following points:
Members should adopt the systematic practice of only meeting interest representatives that have registered in the Transparency Register (Rule 11); they shall not resort to defamatory, racist or xenophobic language or behaviour in parliamentary debates, nor in that context shall they unfurl banners (Rule 11); penalties may, where appropriate, be imposed upon the Member concerned where a person employed by a Member, or another person for whom the Member has arranged access to Parliament's premises or equipment, fails to comply with the rules (Article 11); Members shall not solicit, accept or receive any direct or indirect benefit or other reward, whether in cash or in kind, in exchange for specific behaviour in the scope of Members’ parliamentary work (Annex I, Article 2); Members shall not engage in paid professional lobbying directly linked to the Union decision-making process (Annexe I, Article 2); there is a more detailed breakdown for Members’ declaration of financial interests (Annex I, Article 4); if the President believes that the declaration of financial interests of a Member is substantially incorrect, he may consult the advisory committee and where appropriate, shall request the Member to correct the declaration within 10 days; rapporteurs may voluntarily list in the explanatory statement to their report outside interests who have been consulted on matters pertaining to the subject of the report (Annex I, Article 4); former Members of the European Parliament who engage in professional lobbying shall inform the European Parliament thereof (Annex I, Article 6).
Application of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making : the revision of the Rules incorporates the amendments needed for the application of the agreement, and the following, in particular, should be noted:
the President may negotiate an agreement on annual interinstitutional programming on the Commission Work Programme with the Commission and Council; before negotiations, the President shall hold an exchange of views with the Conference of Presidents and the Conference of Committee Chairs regarding Parliament's broad objectives and priorities (Rule 37 1a); the committee responsible may accelerate the legislative procedures regarding specific proposals, selected in particular from among those identified as priorities in the annual interinstitutional programming (Rule 47a); the Commission shall be invited to discuss the withdrawal of a proposal with the competent committee of the European Parliament, and may be requested to make a statement in plenary (Rule 37 (4)); the Commission shall be regularly monitored on whether it is complying with its obligation to reply to requests for submission of proposals within three months by adopting a specific communication stating the intended follow-up actions to be taken (Rule 46 6a); interinstitutional discussions shall take place where a modification of the legal basis of a proposal is envisaged, which would result in the ordinary legislative procedure no longer applying to that proposal (Rule 63).
Organisation of the plenary and measures to improve efficiency : the amendments relate to the following:
establishment of clearer rules on the order of voting ; amendments to Question Time (Rule 129) allowing Members to ask Commissioners one question and one supplementary question; the President shall ensure that Members holding different political views and from different Member States are given the opportunity to put a question in turn; organisation of one or two debates on a topical matter for not less than one hour each on an issue of major interest to European Union policy (Rule 153 a); each Member may submit a maximum of twenty written questions over a rolling period of three months (Rule 130); each Member may table no more than one motion for a resolution per month (Rule 133); each political group may table no more than one hundred requests for roll call votes per part-session (Rule 180); written declarations are abolished.
Thresholds (Rule 168a): the revised Rules contain three thresholds:
low threshold: one-twentieth of Parliament’s component Members or a political group; medium threshold: one-tenth of Parliament’s component Members, made up of one or more political groups or individual Members, or a combination of the two; high threshold: one-fifth of Parliament’s component Members made up of one or more political groups or individual Members, or a combination of the two.
Penalties (Rule 166):
penalties for Members resorting to defamatory, racist or xenophobic language or behaviour in parliamentary debates, are strengthened; penalties for serious misbehaviour have been increased up to 30 days daily allowance, (doubled in case of repetition), and includes prohibition of the Member from representing the Parliament on an inter-parliamentary delegation, inter-parliamentary conference or any inter-institutional forum, for up to one year; once the penalty is final, it shall be published prominently on Parliament's website for the remainder of the parliamentary term .
Distribution of committee seats among political groups (Rule 199):
Members will no longer be elected to committee seats by the Plenary. Instead, political groups will appoint Members, the number depending on the seats to which they are entitled; seats in committees to which a Member is appointed would stay with the group concerned if the Member leaves the group.
Parliament’s request : Members indicated that the amendments to the Rules shall enter into force on the first day of the part-session following that of their adoption, with the exception of: (a) the amendments to Rule 212(1) and (2) on the composition of interparliamentary delegations; (b) amendments to Rule 199 on the composition of committees ; (c) the deletion of Rule 200 on substitutes, which shall enter into force at the opening of the first part-session following the next elections to the European Parliament due to be held in 2019.
Parliament also asked for:
the deletion of Rule 106(4) from the Rules of Procedure as soon as the regulatory procedure with scrutiny has been removed from any existing legislation; the review, by the Conference of Presidents, of the Code of Conduct for negotiating in the context of the ordinary legislative procedure in order to bring it in line with Rules adopted as a result of the Decision; the review of Rule 168a concerning the new definitions of thresholds , as well as the review, one year after the entry into force of that Rule, of the application of such thresholds to specific Rules.
Lastly, Members shall adapt their declaration of financial interests to reflect changes to Article 4 of Annex I to the Rules (Declaration of Members) at the latest six months after the date of entry into force of those changes.
The Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted the report by Richard CORBETT (S&D, UK) on the general revision of Parliament's Rules of Procedure.
The proposed amendments have taken due account of the provisions of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making .
The committee proposed that the European Parliament shall decide to amend its Rules of Procedure as shown below.
First reading agreements (new Section 3 - Rule 73 a (new)) : these agreements shall be maintained but with safeguards and greater transparency . A committee can decide to start negotiations with the other institutions (though only once it has adopted its report) by an absolute majority, but such a decision must be announced in plenary and:
if there is an objection by Groups or Members representing 1/10th of Parliament, then plenary must vote to confirm this; if there is no majority to confirm, the report will be put on the next plenary session with a deadline for amendments.
Second reading agreements (new rule 73a) : in order to prepare the negotiations, it will be possible for a committee to adopt guidelines , which deal with any issues in the Council position not covered in Parliament’s first reading position.
Applying the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law Making : it is proposed that the necessary changes to apply this agreement will be incorporated into the Rules of Procedure:
possibility for the President to negotiate the annual interinstitutional programming agreement on legislative programming with Commission and Council; possibility for a Committee to agree to accelerate a legislative procedure if it has been identified as a priority in the annual interinstitutional programming agreement; obligation for the Commission to respond to initiative requests by Parliament within three months and if it fails to do so must appear before the relevant committee; obligation for withdrawals of proposals by the Commission to be discussed with the relevant European Parliament committee and then, failing agreement, the plenary; obligation for changes to the legal base of proposals to be preceded by inter-institutional discussion.
Gender equality/mainstreaming (Rule 38 a (new) : it will be possible for the FEMM Committee to request a proposal to be referred to the FEMM Committee for an opinion, if there is a gender issue at stake.
Topical debates (Rule 153 a) : at each part session one or two 1-hour topical debates on a matter of major interest to EU policy will now take place.
Transparency and accountability : the proposed amendments to the Rules of Procedure cover in particular the following issues:
allowing rapporteurs to attach a “ legislative footprint ” to their reports; prohibiting Members from having paid lobbying jobs ; a more detailed breakdown for Members’ declarations of financial interest; verification that declarations of financial interest are kept up to date and accurate; former Members to inform the EP when they take up a new (lobbying) job; removal of badges for registered lobbyists who do not comply with rules; greater transparency on 1st reading agreements and trilogue transparency .
Various measures to improve efficiency : the proposed amendments are as follows:
the order of voting on legislation is more clearly laid down; question time (Rule 129) will be changed so that, when it is used, a ping pong style gives the chance to ask Commissioners a question followed by a 30 second follow up question; the authorisation for each Members to submit a maximum of 20 written questions over a rolling period of three months; the limitation of motions for resolution to no more than one per month per member; the limitation of roll call votes in plenary; the abolishment of written declarations .
Thresholds : the report proposed to rationalise most of them into just three:
lower threshold : one group or individual Members who together constitute one twentieth of Parliament; middle threshold : one or more groups or individual Members who together constitute one tenth of Parliament; higher threshold : one or more groups or individual Members who together constitute one fifth of Parliament.
A new requirement is proposed according to which any Member joining a Group has to sign a statement of political affinity .
Election of the Commission President by roll call vote instead of by secret ballot (Rule 117) : when the European Council proposes a candidate for President of the Commission, the President shall request the candidate to make a statement and present his or her political guidelines to Parliament.
Conduct of MEPs (Rule 165 on sanctions and Rule 166 penalties) :
Members will now be sanctioned if they use defamatory, racist or xenophobic language or undertake actions to disrupt parliamentary activity; penalties for serious misbehaviour have been increased (up to 30 days daily allowance, doubled in case of repetition) and no longer being able to represent the European Parliament externally for up to a year.
Committee seats belonging to Groups (Rule 199) :
Members would no longer be formally appointed to committees by the plenary. Instead, the groups would appoint the Members, in function of the number of seats they are entitled to; that seats in committees to which a Member is appointed would stay with the group concerned if the Member leaves the group.
The committee called for:
the deletion of Rule 106(4) from the Rules of Procedure as soon as the regulatory procedure with scrutiny has been removed from any existing legislation; the review of the Code of Conduct for negotiating in the context of the ordinary legislative procedure in order to bring it in line with Rules adopted as a result of this Decision; the review of Rule 168a concerning the new definitions of thresholds , as well as to review one year after the entry into force of that Rule the application of such thresholds to specific Rules.
Lastly, Members shall adapt their declaration of financial interests to reflect changes to Article 4 of Annex I to the Rules (Declaration of Members) at the latest six months after the date of entry into force of those changes.
Documents
- Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament: T8-0484/2016
- Committee report tabled for plenary: A8-0344/2016
- Committee opinion: PE589.457
- Committee opinion: PE589.103
- Committee opinion: PE589.294
- Committee opinion: PE592.199
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE589.403
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE589.433
- Committee draft report: PE585.606
- Committee draft report: PE585.606
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE589.403
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE589.433
- Committee opinion: PE592.199
- Committee opinion: PE589.294
- Committee opinion: PE589.103
- Committee opinion: PE589.457
Activities
- Max ANDERSSON
Plenary Speeches (3)
- Alexander Graf LAMBSDORFF
Plenary Speeches (3)
- Nicola CAPUTO
Plenary Speeches (2)
- Georgios EPITIDEIOS
Plenary Speeches (2)
- Eleonora FORENZA
Plenary Speeches (2)
- Giovanni LA VIA
Plenary Speeches (2)
- Notis MARIAS
Plenary Speeches (2)
- Kazimierz Michał UJAZDOWSKI
Plenary Speeches (2)
- Marina ALBIOL GUZMÁN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Jean ARTHUIS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Jonathan ARNOTT
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Zigmantas BALČYTIS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Hugues BAYET
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Xabier BENITO ZILUAGA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- José BLANCO LÓPEZ
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Marie-Christine BOUTONNET
Plenary Speeches (1)
- Mercedes BRESSO
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- Renata BRIANO
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- Steeve BRIOIS
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- Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ
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- James CARVER
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- Jane COLLINS
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- Andi CRISTEA
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- Michel DANTIN
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- William (The Earl of) DARTMOUTH
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- Angélique DELAHAYE
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- Mireille D'ORNANO
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- Edouard FERRAND
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- Lorenzo FONTANA
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- Doru-Claudian FRUNZULICĂ
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- Enrico GASBARRA
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- Sylvie GOULARD
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- Bruno GOLLNISCH
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- Ingeborg GRÄSSLE
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- Tania GONZÁLEZ PEÑAS
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- Sergio GUTIÉRREZ PRIETO
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- Takis HADJIGEORGIOU
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- Diane JAMES
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- Miroslav POCHE
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- Julia REID
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- Liliana RODRIGUES
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- Claude ROLIN
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- Virginie ROZIÈRE
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- Fernando RUAS
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- Tokia SAÏFI
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- György SCHÖPFLIN
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- Olga SEHNALOVÁ
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- Jill SEYMOUR
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- Maria Lidia SENRA RODRÍGUEZ
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- Siôn SIMON
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- Monika SMOLKOVÁ
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- Davor ŠKRLEC
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- Beatrix von STORCH
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- Pavel SVOBODA
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- Patricija ŠULIN
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- Neoklis SYLIKIOTIS
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- Eleftherios SYNADINOS
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- Tibor SZANYI
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- Dubravka ŠUICA
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- Claudia ȚAPARDEL
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- Pavel TELIČKA
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- Ivica TOLIĆ
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- László TŐKÉS
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- Mylène TROSZCZYNSKI
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- Ramon TREMOSA i BALCELLS
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- Ángela VALLINA
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- Derek VAUGHAN
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- Marie-Christine VERGIAT
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- Miguel VIEGAS
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- Lieve WIERINCK
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- Steven WOOLFE
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- Jana ŽITŇANSKÁ
Plenary Speeches (1)
Votes
A8-0344/2016 - Richard Corbett - Am 1-2 4-5 #
NIA8-0344/2016 - Richard Corbett - Am 6 #
A8-0344/2016 - Richard Corbett - Am 314 #
A8-0344/2016 - Richard Corbett - Am 315/1 #
A8-0344/2016 - Richard Corbett - Am 13PC/2 #
A8-0344/2016 - Richard Corbett - Am 384 #
| SE | IE | CY | LT | LU | LV | ?? | EE | MT | EL | SI | DK | FI | BE | HR | AT | PT | SK | CZ | HU | NL | BG | ES | FR | RO | GB | IT | DE | PL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total |
20
|
10
|
5
|
10
|
6
|
6
|
4
|
6
|
5
|
21
|
8
|
12
|
13
|
20
|
11
|
18
|
21
|
13
|
20
|
17
|
26
|
16
|
47
|
68
|
30
|
68
|
68
|
85
|
50
|
|
 GUE/NGL |
46
|
1
|
4
|
2
|
Greece GUE/NGLFor (5)Abstain (1) |
1
|
1
|
4
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
Germany GUE/NGL |
|||||||||||||||||
| Verts/ALE |
49
|
Sweden Verts/ALEFor (4) |