Rule 174 : Order of voting on amendments (1)

1.   Amendments shall have priority over the text to which they relate and shall be put to the vote before that text.

2.   If two or more mutually exclusive amendments have been tabled to the same part of a text, the amendment that departs furthest from the original text shall have priority and shall be put to the vote first. If it is adopted, the other amendments shall be deemed to have been rejected; if it is rejected, the amendment next in priority shall be put to the vote, and this procedure shall be repeated for each of the remaining amendments. Where there is a doubt as to priority, the President shall decide. If all amendments are rejected, the original text shall be deemed to have been adopted unless a separate vote has been requested within the deadline specified.

3.   However, where the President considers that this will facilitate the vote, he or she may put the original text to the vote first, or put an amendment that is closer to the original text to the vote before the amendment that departs furthest from the original text.

If either of these secures a majority, all other amendments tabled to the same part of the text shall fall.

4.   Where compromise amendments are put to the vote, they shall be given priority in voting.

5.   A split vote shall not be admissible in the case of a vote on a compromise amendment.

6.   Where the committee responsible has tabled a set of amendments to the text with which the report is concerned, the President shall put them to the vote collectively, unless on particular points a political group or Members reaching at least the low threshold have requested separate or split votes or unless other competing amendments have been tabled.

7.   The President may put other amendments to the vote collectively where they are complementary, unless a political group or Members reaching at least the low threshold have requested separate or split votes. Authors of amendments may also propose collective votes on their amendments.

8.   The President may decide, following the adoption or rejection of a particular amendment, that several other amendments of similar content or with similar objectives shall be put to the vote collectively. The President may seek the agreement of Parliament before doing so.

Such a set of amendments may relate to different parts of the original text.

9.   Where two or more identical amendments are tabled by different authors, they shall be put to the vote as one.

10.   Amendments in respect of which a roll-call vote has been requested shall be put to the vote separately from other amendments.