- Assent procedure
The assent procedure is one of the legislative procedures of the
European Community , the first of the threePillars of the European Union .It was introduced by the
Single European Act . Under this procedure, theCouncil of the European Union must obtain Parliament's assent before certain decisions can be made. Acceptance ("assent") requires anabsolute majority ofvote scast .The right of the European Parliament to reject or indefinitely delay the proposal is absolute. There is no formal provision for amendments by the European parliament, but in fact the Parliament can produce an interim report making recommendations for modifications, and a conciliaion has also been introduced. [cite book |last=Craig |first=Paul |coauthors=Grainne De Burca , P. P. Craig |title=EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials |edition = 4th ed. |year = 2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location = Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-927389-8 |pages=p 117 ]
The areas included under the assent procedure are:
* specific tasks of theEuropean Central Bank (ECB);
* amendments of statutes of theEuropean System of Central Banks (ESCB) / European Central Bank;
*Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds ;
* the uniform electoral procedure for the European Parliament;
* certain international agreements;
* theaccession of new member states;
* approval of the President and the other members of the CommissionFollowing the adoption of the
Treaty of Amsterdam , sanctions imposed on an EUMember State for a serious and persistent breach offundamental right s requires Parliament's assent under Article 7 of the EU Treaty.In its opinion on the 2000
Intergovernmental Conference , theEuropean Commission argued in favor of extending this procedure to apply to the conclusions of agreements having global economic and commercial implications.References
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