Brussels, 20/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's Constitutional Committee has adopted the second draft report of British Labour MEP, Richard Corbett, on the amendment of a Parliamentary regulation that will make the rules more simple and coherent. After a six hour vote, it was passed by 21-6 votes. Minority groups had already announced that they would introduce amendments during the plenary debate in February.
Proposals adopted in committee on the rules for forming political groups are as follows: to form a political group, 16 MEPs must belong to it from at least 5 different Member States - current rules stipulate the number of members at 23 MEPs if they come from two different Member States (two countries is the minimum for forming a group); 18 MEPs if they come from three Member States; 14 if they come from four or more.