On Monday 23 March, the Council of the European Union adopted an emergency decision procedure to enable it to continue its activities smoothly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. As for the European Parliament, it is fine-tuning the details of its distance voting procedure.
These provisions should make it possible to validate the European Commission’s proposals to meet the exceptional challenges facing the Union (see EUROPE 12446/1, 12446/2).
The EU Council decision is aimed at facilitating the use of the written procedure by the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper). This derogation from its Rules of Procedure allows the EU Council to temporarily circumvent the current requirement of unanimity of the Member States, which is necessary to validate the use of this written procedure.
Instead, the decision to use the written procedure will be subject to the same voting rule as the legislative dossier submitted to the States (see EUROPE 12448/15). The decision will apply for 1 month and may be renewed if the current exceptional circumstances continue.
The idea of substituting the physical presence of members for a presence by videoconference, which had been circulating last week, was ultimately rejected, as the related security issues were too complex to resolve in the short term (see EUROPE 12249/6).
The Presidency of the Council will continue to organise informal video conferences of Ministers, says a press release, as these have proved useful in facilitating the response of Member States in times of crisis and for discussion, at political level, prior to the formal adoption of decisions.
See Council Decision: https://bit.ly/2xjfCcp
The modalities of the extraordinary plenary session of the European Parliament are specified as follows
The arrangements for the extraordinary plenary session of the European Parliament, convened on Thursday 26 March, are being clarified, in particular its distance voting procedure, following the Parliament Bureau meeting on 20 March and the informal meeting of group chairs the day before (see EUROPE 12450/10).
Thus, all votes will be taken by roll call and the entire session will be broadcast online. The first voting session on the emergency aid measures tabled by the European Commission would take place under the urgency procedure pursuant to Rule 163 of the Rules of Procedure and would be open from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Each MEP will print out a ballot paper, indicating their name and the nature of their vote (for, against or abstention) on the three legislative dossiers submitted to them. Then, the form must be scanned or photographed and sent by e-mail to the European Parliament’s services.
MEPs physically present in the Chamber will receive copies of printed ballot papers and must follow the same procedure as absent MEPs by placing their ballot papers in the ballot box in the Chamber.
At 12:30 pm, the European Parliament President will announce the results of the votes on the urgency procedure. If the texts are not adopted without amendment, the deadline for tabling amendments will run until 2:00 p.m. and the deadline for separate votes until 4:00 p.m.
This will be followed by the second voting session on the amendments, which will be open from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The voting procedure that will apply will be the same as for the first sitting. At 8:00 p.m., the President will announce the results of the votes on the amendments, thus opening the final votes.
The third voting session (on the final votes) will be open from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. Here too, the same procedure will apply. Counting of the votes will follow. The final results should be known by 10:30 p.m. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel and Pascal Hansens)