Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

▸4 unchanged paragraphs

Rule 207 – paragraph -1 (new)

Amendment: -1. Members or a political group or groups reaching at least the high threshold may, at any time, request the Conference of Presidents to propose to Parliament the setting up of a special committee.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Rule 207 – paragraph -1 a (new)

Change 58

ChangedAmendment: -1a. Before taking a decision on such a request, the Conference of Presidents shallmay seek thea opinionrecommendation ofby the Conference of Committee Chairs.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Rule 207 a (new)

Change 59

ChangedAmendment: Rule 207a / Ad-hoc temporary committees withTemporary legislative competencescommittees / 1. When it results from the procedure in Rule 48 or Rule 54 that a matter falls within the competence of more than three committees, without the competence of any committee prevailing, the Conference of Presidents may,may as a last resort, on the basis of a recommendation by the Conference of Committee Chairs, propose to Parliament the setting up of an ad-hoca temporary committee with legislative competencescommittee to deal with a specific proposal for a legally binding act or a pre-legislative strategic document. The recommendation by the Conference of Committee Chairs shall indicate the committees responsible for scrutiny of the implementation of the legislation. / 2. The numerical strength of an ad-hoca temporary committee with legislative competencescommittee shall be decided by Parliament, based on a proposal by the Conference of Presidents. Its term of office shall run from the date of its constitutive meeting until the adoption of the legally binding act, without prejudice to the need for scrutiny activities. In the case of a pre-legislative strategic document, its term of office shall run from the date of its constitutive meeting until the adoption of the report in plenary. / Members of an ad-hoca temporary committee with legislative competencescommittee shall be appointed by the political groups and the non-attached Members, in principle drawing from the members of the committees involved. The Conference of Presidents shall decide whether one or more rapporteurs are to …be appointed at the same time that the proposal is made to…

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Change 60

AddedRule 208 – paragraph 10

AddedAmendment: 10. Requests for documents and for witnesses to provide testimony, in accordance with Decision 95/167/EC, Euratom, ECSC shall be formally made by the President at the request of the committee of inquiry. Rule 123a shall apply in case of a refusal of a request for documents or for a witness to provide testimony without sufficient justification. / Committees of inquiry may, in accordance with Decision 95/167/EC Euratom, ECSC and with these Rules of Procedure: / – organise fact-finding missions to Member States; / – request documents and expert reports; / – invite witnesses; / – hear officials and other servants of the Union or of Member States; / – request national authorities for assistance in the course of its investigations; / – request the parliaments of the Member State concerned to cooperate in the investigation. / The President may invite the witnesses to testify under oath. No one shall be obliged to testify under oath, but formal note shall be taken where a witness declines to testify under oath.

AddedParliament's Rules of Procedure

Rule 211

Change 61

ChangedAmendment: deleted / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted) / (Amendment applies throughout: delete references to Rule 211 and make resulting changes throughout the Rules of Procedure) / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted)

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Rule 222 – paragraph 1 – point a

Change 62

ChangedAmendment: (a) shall task the committee responsible for the subject-matter according to Annex VI with organising the public hearing provided for in Article 14(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/788; the committee responsible for petitions shall be automatically involved;involved in accordance with the principle of good and sincere cooperation as referred to in Rule 56;

Change 63

RemovedParliament's Rules of Procedure

RemovedRule 223 – paragraph 3

RemovedAmendment: 3. The bureaux of the delegations shall be constituted in accordance with the procedure laid down for the committee bureaux in Rule 213. Any Chair of a delegation shall be a member of the committee responsible for foreign affairs, of the committee responsible for development, or of the committee responsible for international trade.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Change 64

ChangedAnnex VII – Article -1 (new): Article -1 / Structure and organisation of portfolios of the Commission / Pursuant to Rule 125, before the confirmation hearings, the President shall invite the President-elect of the Commission to inform the Conference of Presidents about the following: / – the planned structure of the new Commission, including the proposed titles of individual portfolios and their possible grouping; / – the allocation of responsibilities (portfolios) in the proposed College of Commissioners in accordance with the political guidelines of the President-elect; and / – other horizontal questions, in particularincluding gender balance in that College.

▸7 unchanged paragraphs

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 1 – paragraph 3: 3. Parliament may seek any information relevant to its reaching a decision on the aptitude of the Commissioners-designate. Parliament expects Commissioners-designate to make full disclosure of information relating to their financial interests. The declarations of interest of the Commissioners-designate shall be sent for scrutiny to the committee responsible for legal affairs.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 2 – title: Examination of declaration of interests

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 2 – paragraph 3 – introductory part: 3. The following guidelines shall be applied when the declarations of interests are scrutinised by the committee responsible for legal affairs:

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Change 65

ChangedAnnex VII – Article 2 – paragraph 3 – point a: (a) if, when scrutinising a declaration of interests, the committee responsible for legal affairs considers, on the basis of the documents presented, that the declaration is accurate,accurate and complete and contains nothing indicating an actual or potential conflict of interests in connection with the portfolio of the Commissioner-designate, its Chair shall send a letter confirming this finding to the committees responsible for the confirmation hearing or to the committees involved in the event of a procedure taking place during a Commissioner's term of office; if the committee responsible for legal affairs finds in the declaration of interests of the Commissioner-designate elements, other than those related to financial interests, which should be considered in the overall evaluation of the Commissioner-designate, it shall immediately inform all the committees involved in the confirmation hearing;

▸7 unchanged paragraphs

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 2 – paragraph 3 – point b: (b) if the committee responsible for legal affairs considers that the declaration of interests of a Commissioner-designate contains information related to financial interests, which is incomplete or contradictory, or that there is a need for further information regarding financial interests, it shall, pursuant to the Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the European Commission, request the Commissioner-designate to provide supplementary information without undue delay and shall consider and properly analyse it before making its decision; the committee responsible for legal affairs may decide, where appropriate, to invite the Commissioner-designate to a discussion;

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 2 – paragraph 3 – point c: (c) if the committee responsible for legal affairs identifies a conflict of interests related to financial interests based on the declaration of interests or the supplementary information supplied by the Commissioner-designate, it shall draw up recommendations that aim to resolve the conflict of interests; the recommendations may include renouncing the financial interests in question or changes to the portfolio of the Commissioner-designate by the President of the Commission; in more serious cases, if no solution is found to the conflict of interests related to financial interests, and as a last resort, the committee responsible for legal affairs may conclude that the Commissioner-designate is unable to exercise his or her functions in accordance with the Treaties and the Code of Conduct; the President of Parliament shall then ask the President of the Commission what further steps the latter intends to take.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 3 – paragraph 2: 2. The confirmation hearings shall be organised by the Conference of Presidents based on a recommendation of the Conference of Committee Chairs, which shall specify the proposed allocation of responsibilities among committees as well as the proposed length of each individual confirmation hearing. The Chair and coordinators of each committee shall be responsible for the detailed arrangements.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Change 66

ChangedAnnex VII – Article 3 – paragraph 3: 3. Appropriate arrangements shall be made to allocate the responsibilities for a confirmation hearing to committees. There are two options: / (a) if the portfolio of the Commissioner-designate falls within the responsibility of a single committee or of several committees but with the competence of one committee prevailing, the Commissioner-designate shall be heard by that committee alone (the committee responsible); other committees may be invited to participate in the confirmation hearing if the portfolio falls to a substantial extent within their remit;responsibility; / (b) if significant parts of the portfolio of the Commissioner-designate fall within the responsibility of two or more committees without the competence of any of them prevailing, the Commissioner-designate shall be heard jointly by those committees (joint committees);committees; other committees may be invited to participate in the confirmation hearing if the portfolio falls to a substantial extent within their remit.responsibility. / (deleted)

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Change 67

ChangedAnnex VII – Article 3 – paragraph 5: 5. The committees shall submit written questions to the Commissioners-designate in good time before the confirmation hearings. For each Commissioner-designate there shall be two common questions drafted by the Conference of Committee Chairs, the first of which shall relate to the issues of general competence, European commitment and personal independence, and the second of which shall relate to the management of the portfolio and cooperation with Parliament. The committee responsible shall submit five other questions. In the case ofthe jointCommissioner-designate is heard jointly by two or more committees, each of them shall have the right to submit three questions. Each invited committee shall have the right to submit one question. Sub-questions shall not be allowed. / The curriculum vitae of the Commissioners-designate and their response to the written questions shall be published on Parliament’s website in advance of the confirmation hearing.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Change 68

ChangedAnnex VII – Article 3 – paragraph 6: 6. Confirmation hearings shall take place in circumstances, and under conditions, in which Commissioners-designate enjoy a fair opportunity to present themselves and their opinions. In principle, confirmation hearings shall be scheduled to last for three hours. However, in the case of Commissioners-designate with particularly large or complex portfolios involving more than one committee, the Conference of Committee Chairs may recommend that the confirmation hearing be scheduled to last for up to three and a halffour hours. The recommended length of the confirmation hearing shall take due account of the number of invited committees in order to allow each of their Chairs to put one question.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 3 – paragraph 7: 7. Commissioners-designate shall be invited to make an opening oral statement, which shall last no longer than 15 minutes. The bulk of the speaking time shall be allotted to political groups, mutatis mutandis in accordance with Rule 171. The speaking time allocated to a political group shall be treated as a block, subject to the need to maintain a single harmonised format for each individual confirmation hearing. It shall be up to the political group to distribute that time between its Members participating in the hearing. Speaking time allocated to non-attached Members shall not be treated as a block. The Commissioner-designate shall be given, on average, twice as much time for his or her reply as the time given for the question. The conduct of the confirmation hearings shall aim to develop a pluralistic political dialogue between the Commissioners-designate and the Members. Before the end of the confirmation hearing, the Commissioners-designate shall be given the opportunity to make a brief closing statement.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Change 69

RemovedAnnex VII – Article 3 – paragraph 8: 8. A live audio-visual transmission of the confirmation hearings shall be made available free of charge to the public. An indexed recording of the confirmation hearings shall be made available to the public within 24 hours.

AddedVII – Article 3 – paragraph 8

AddedAmendment: 8. A live audio-visual transmission of the confirmation hearings shall be made available free of charge to the public. An indexed recording of the confirmation hearings shall be made available to the public within 24 hours.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 4 – paragraph 1: 1. The Chair and coordinators shall meet without delay after the confirmation hearing to evaluate the individual Commissioners-designate. Those meetings shall be held in camera. The Chairs of the invited committees shall be invited to participate in the evaluation meetings. The coordinators of the committee responsible shall be invited to state whether, in their respective opinions, the Commissioners-designate are qualified both to be members of the College and to carry out the particular duties they have been assigned. The Conference of Committee Chairs shall design a pro forma template to assist the evaluation.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Change 70

ChangedAnnex VII – Article 4 – paragraph 2: 2. In the case ofa jointCommissioner designate is heard jointly by two or more committees, the Chair and the coordinators of the committees concerned shall act jointly throughout the procedure, including by holding joint evaluation meetings.

▸7 unchanged paragraphs

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 4 – paragraph 3: 3. There shall be a single evaluation letter for each Commissioner-designate. The opinions of the invited committees, adopted by coordinators representing a simple majority of committee members belonging to a political group, shall be annexed to the evaluation letter.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 4 – paragraph 4 – point c: (c) If coordinators representing a majority of at least two-thirds of the committee members belonging to a political group approve the Commissioner-designate, the Chair shall submit a letter on their behalf stating that a large majority approve the Commissioner-designate. Minority views shall be mentioned in that letter upon request.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Annex VII – Article 4 – paragraph 4 – point d: (d) If coordinators cannot reach a majority of at least two-thirds of the committee members belonging to a political group to approve the candidate, they may request: / – additional information by means of further written questions, which shall not exceed the number of written questions initially submitted to the Commissioner-designate. or/and / – a resumed confirmation hearing of one and a half hours subject to the approval of the Conference of Presidents. / For the purposes of the first subparagraph, first indent, sub-questions shall not be allowed and invited committees shall not have the right to submit additional written questions / Only one set of additional written questions and one resumed confirmation hearing may be requested as part of the evaluation of a Commissioner-designate. / Additional written questions and the Commissioner’s-designate replies shall be published on Parliament’s website.

Parliament's Rules of Procedure

Change 71

ChangedAnnex VII – Article 4 – paragraph 4 – point e: (e) If, further to the application of point (d), coordinators representing a majority of at least two-thirds of the committee members belonging to a political group approve the Commissioner-designate, the Chair shall submit a letter on their behalf stating that a large majority approve the Commissioner-designate. Minority views shall be mentioned in that letter upon request.