Parliament's rules of procedure provide for three Vice-Presidents to be permanent members of its delegation to the conciliation committee. The three Vice-Presidents appointed agree between themselves who chairs the delegation for each specific conciliation procedure.

On 10 September 2009 the Conference of Presidents decided that the Vice-Presidents with responsibility for conciliation in the 1st half of this legislature are Gianni PITTELLA, Rodi KRATSA-TSAGAROPOULOU and Alejo VIDAL-QUADRAS .

On 10 September 2009 the Conference of Presidents decided that the 27 seats in Parliament's delegation to the Conciliation Committee are distributed as follows:

EPP: 11 Members
S&D: 7 Members
ALDE: 3 Members
Greens: 2 Members
ECR: 2 Members
GUE/NGL: 1 Member
EFD: 1 Member

The Activity Report 2004-2009 gives an overview of the developments in the codecision procedure during the 6th legislature compared to previous terms. It begins with a quantitative overview of codecision (number of files, stage of conclusion, length of procedures) before presenting in quantitative and qualitative terms the activities of the delegations of Parliament to the Conciliation Committee. It continues with the important developments regarding codecision which took place during the last legislature. The final chapter takes a look at the ramifications of the Lisbon Treaty.

The report can be accessed at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/code/about/activity_reports_en.htm

An updated version of the 'Guide on Conciliations and Codecision' (July 2009) has been prepared by the CODE Unit. The purpose of the Guide is to provide practical information and useful background material on the codecision procedure and particularly on its conciliation stage. The updated Guide takes account of developments in codecision and conciliation during the last parliamentary term and seeks to give an overview of future implications after a possible successful ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

The Guide can be accessed at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/code/about/background_en.htm

Following the 2nd reading vote of 6 May (see newsletter May 2009 ) conciliation is now becoming necessary since the Council informally indicated that it is not in a position to accept all the amendments in the Trautmann report. The constituent meeting of the EP delegation is likely to take place on 28 September.

The Vice-President chairing the EP delegation is M. VIDAL-QUADRAS.

In April 2009 the EP plenary was not able to obtain the absolute majority necessary to confirm the agreement reached in second reading between Parliament and the Council on the statistics on plant protection products (report Staes) (see newsletter May 2009 ). After some informal contacts the Council agreed to go to a 'technical' conciliation with a view to giving a further chance to the adoption of this well balanced agreement that is supported by the rapporteur and the overwhelming majority of the political groups.

The agreement is likely to be confirmed as an A point (without discussion) at the first meeting of the Conciliation Committee on Telecoms. The Vice-President chairing this EP delegation is Ms KRATSA-TSAGAROPOULOU.