EP Rules of Procedure, Rule 47: enhanced cooperation between committees

The Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted the report drafted by Mr. Richard CORBETT (PES, RU) on amendment of Rule 47 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure ‘Enhanced Cooperation between Committees’.

The purpose of the proposed modification is to make this article more flexible, without changing it radically. Technically speaking, it is proposed to strengthen cooperation between parliamentary committees where a question falls almost equally between the competences of two or more of them.  Members are laying down more precise rules as to how ‘associated’ committees should work and how this can be achieved.

In particular, the report provides for greater transparency between the draftsman of the opinion and the main rapporteur. The latter shall keep each other informed and shall endeavour to agree on the texts they propose to their committees. This change mainly seeks to strengthen the dialogue between the rapporteurs and, in particular, between the draftsmen of opinions.

Members also want the committees concerned to be able to decide jointly regarding those parts of the text that relate to their exclusive or joint competence and to reach agreement on specifically how they will work together.

Lastly, the Committee proposes that the title of the article should be changed in order to avoid any confusion in terminology with the Title VII of the TEU which is entitled ‘Provisions on enhanced cooperation’. This is why it proposes to give this article the title ‘Procedure with associated committees’.