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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(81)816
Vol.1981/0228

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I
COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
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Commission Communication totheCouncilandtheEuropeanParliament
ontheConciliation Procédure
C0M(81)816finali

iA
Commission Communication totheCouncil andtheEuropean
Parliament onthe Conciliation Procedure
1I.Bytheir joint declaration of4March 1975 theEuropean Parliament ,
theCouncil and theCommission established aprocedure forconciliation
among thethree Institutions aimed atinvolving Parliament more
effectively intheadoption ofcex-tain important Community acts with
major financial implications .
Although theprocedure has sometimes made itpossible to "bring the
Parliament 'sandtheCouncil 'spositions closer together ,itis
generally agreed that inmost cases ithasnotoperated satisfactorily .
Intheir Report ontheEuropean institutions inOctober 1979 "the
Three V/iseMenanalysed admirably theprocedure 'sdrawbacks andmade
2anumber ofsuggestions forimproving it .
Atthemeeting inStrasbourg on17November 1981 between Foreign
Ministers ,theenlarged Bureau ofParliament andtheCommission ,the
then President oftheCouncil hadthefollowing tosayabout the
unsatisfactory natxire oftheprocedure :"itcanprove difficult to
reconcile thetwoInstitutions' conflicting positions,' theprocedure
isquite lengthy andthe steps involved have notbeen defined indetail ".
More generally ,theprocedure hasnot come uptoparliamentary
expectations ,inthat it"hasnotgiven itthefeeling that itis
taking part inareal dialogue with themembers oftheCouncil ,which ,
intheeyesoftheCommission ,waswhat itwassetupfor"^.
OJNoC89,22April 1975 ,P«1
2 . _.. _p.80andAnnex 3oftheReport
"^Commission Communication onrelations between theCommunity
Institutions (C0M(8l )581final ,7October 1981 )

Lastly,thedirectlyeleotedParliamenthascalledforan
extension *oftheproceduretocoverallimportantCommunityacts,
whethertheyhavemajorfinancialimplications ornot,and
hascriticizedthepresentarrangements underwhich,inpractice,
theprocedureisinitiatedonlyif"boththetwopartiesagree
thatitisapplicable.
Thisiswhyinitsabovementioned communication of7November1^81
theCommissionproposedtotheEuropeanParliamentandtheCouncil
"thattheprocedureshouldhereviewedinordertoadaptitin
suchawayastomakeitreallyeffective".
Thedraftsecondjointdeclaration ,attached,hasheendrawnup
withthisendinview.
Itaims,firstly,atextendingtheproceduretocoverallimportant
Communityacts,asdesired "byParliament.
Secondly,itprovidesfortheproceduretoheinitiatedatthe
requestofanyoneofthethreeInstitutions .
H
Itdescribesthenormal,two-stage,procedure,towhichexceptions
canhemadeinspecialcases"bythePresidentsofthethree
Institutions ,andtowhichtheycanaddspecialprovisions.
ItisintendedthatthefirstmeetingoftheConciliation
Committeeshould "beheldafterworkhasprogressedasfaras
possible,assoonasthemembersoftheCouncilhavestudieda
Commissionproposalsufficiently tobeabletodiscussitto
somepurposewithparliamentary andCommissionrepresentatives .
EvenatthesecondandlastmeetingoftheConciliation Committee
(ifsuchameetingisneeded)thejointapproaahestablished
bytheCouncilshouldleaveroomforanumberofoptionsandthus
enablediscussiontobeprofitableandfruitful.

-3-
AfterthelastmeetingParliamentwillhaveacertain
timeinwhichtodeliveranewopinion,afterwhichthe
Councilwill"beentitledtotakedefinitiveaction.
TheCommissionconsidersthattheseimprovements should
enabletheParliament'sinstitutional roleto"bestrengthened ,
withoutthismakingtheprocessofCommunitydecision-taking
morecumbersome .
III.AsstatedbythePresidentoftheCommissionandtheMember
oftheCommissionwithresponsibility forRelationswith
theEuropeanParliamentatthemeetinginStrasbourgon
17November,theCommissionfeelsthataspecialprocedure
shouldbexisedforconsideringitsdraftnewjointdeclaration.
ThethreeInstitutions couldagreetonominatehigh-level
representatives toconsidertheCommissiondraft,totryto
reachagreementonproposedamendmentsandtoreportbackto
them.Haturally,thecreationofthisadhocworkingparty
holdsnoimplications forfuturedecisions,eachInstitution
remainingfreetodefineitspositiononthebasisofthe
workingparty1sreport.
TheCommissionthinksthatthissuggestedprocedureshould
permitsatisfactory agreementtobereachedrapidlyonthe
improvements that,intheviewofthreeInstitutions ,
]
needtobemadetotheconciliation procedure.

Dvaft
SECOND JOINT DECLARATION
oftheEuropean Parliament ,theCouncil andthe
Commission onthe Conciliation Procedure
THEEUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ,THE ,COUNCIL ANDTHECOMMISSION ,
1Whereas bytheir joint declaration of4March 1975 "thethree
Institutions established aconcliation procedure toensure
that theEur6pean Parliament waseffectively involved inthe
preparation andadoption ofdecisions giving rise tomajor
expenditure outoforrevenue accruing tothebudget ofthe
European Communities ;
Whereas following thedirect election ofMembers ofthe
European Parliament thepart played bythat Institution in
theCommunity' slegislative process should beheightened ;
whereas tothis end theconciliation procedure should be
extended tocover further important decisions other than
those forwhich itwasoriginally intended ;
Whereas advantage should betaken ofpast experience toimprove
thewayinwhich theprocedure operates .
OJNoC89,22April 1975 »P.1

-2-
HAVEAGREEDASFOLLOWS:
1.Theconciliation procedureshall "beusedforCommunitylegislative
actswhichareofgeneralapplication andofconsiderable importance
fortheCommunityandwhoseadoptionisnotrequired "byactsalready
existing.
2.Theprocedureshall"beinitiatedattherequestoftheEuropean
Parliament ,theCouncilortheCommission.
3.Thepurposeoftheprocedureshall,betoseekagreementbetweenthe
EuropeanParliament andtheCouncil.
4.Conciliation shallbeeffectedwithinaConciliation Committee
composedofrepresentatives oftheEuropeanParliament,theCouncil
andtheCommission,
5.UnlessthePresidentsofthethreeInstitutions concerneddecide
otherwise,layingdownschedulesandspecialarrangements forthe
conciliation procedureinparticularcases,theconciliation
procedureshallbeasfollows.
(a)AfirstmeetingoftheConciliation Committeemaybeheldas
soonas,afterreceivinganopinionfromtheEuropeanParliament,
theCouncilhasdeterminedwhatthemainproblemsposedbya
Commissionproposalareandhowtheymightbesettled;
(b)OnthebasisoftheworkoftheConciliation Committee,the
Councilmayeithertakedefinitiveactiononormayestablish
ajointapproach,possiblyincludingvariousoptions,tothe
proposalunderdiscussion ;
(c)ThisjointapproachshallbesubmittedtotheConciliation Committee;
(d)TheEuropeanParliamentshall,withinamaximumperiodofthree
monthsfollowingthesecondmeetingoftheConciliation Committee,
deliveranewopinionontheCommissionproposal;
(e)Onexpiryofthisperiodorassoonasithasreceivedanew
opinionfromParliament ,theCouncilshallbeentitledto
actdefinitively .

t-3-
6.Duringthecourseoftheconciliation procedurethe
Presidents ofthethreeInstitutions concernedshalltake
allrequisitestepstofacilitateproceedings andtoenable
ittofulfilthepurposespecifiedinparagraph 3.They
may,inparticular,conveneadditionalmeetingsofthe
Conciliation Committee.
7.Thisjointdeclarationreplacesthejointdeclaration of
4March1975«
Doneat
FortheEuropeanParliament FortheCouncilFortheCommission
I.