Overview

Conciliation is the third and final stage of the ordinary legislative procedure. On Parliament's side there are three Vice-Presidents responsible for conciliation. The conciliation procedure is opened if the Council cannot accept all the amendments adopted by Parliament at second reading and consists of negotiations between the two co-legislators in the framework of the Conciliation Committee, with the objective of reaching an agreement in the form of a 'joint text'.

As soon as it becomes clear that the Council cannot accept Parliament's amendments, it informs the Parliament thereof. In Parliament, preparations for the appointment of the EP delegation to the Conciliation Committee start, in order to convene the Conciliation Committee as soon as possible, within the time limits set out in the Treaty.

The EP delegation to the Conciliation Committee is chaired by one of the three Vice-Presidents of the Parliament responsible for conciliation. The rapporteur and the Chair of the parliamentary committee responsible are also members ex officio of the delegation. The remaining members of the delegation are appointed by each political group for each particular conciliation procedure. Most of them are from the committee responsible or from the opinion-giving or associated committees.

The Parliament delegation matches in size the Council delegation which consists of one representative per Member State. At its constituent meeting the Parliament delegation gives a mandate to its negotiating team - normally the Vice-President, responsible for conciliation, as Chair of the delegation, the Chair of the responsible committee and the rapporteur(s) - to start negotiations with the Council in 'trilogue' meetings. The Commission is present at all meetings of the Parliament delegation.

The Conciliation Committee, currently consisting of the representatives of the 27 Member States and 27 Members of Parliament, is convened by the President of the Parliament together with Council. It must be convened no later than six weeks (or eight, if an extension has been agreed) after the conclusion of the Council's second reading in order to formally open the conciliation procedure.

The Committee has then another six weeks (or eight, if an extension has been agreed) to reach an overall agreement in the form of a joint text. Parliament and Council take turns to act as host for the meetings of the Conciliation Committee.

The Vice-President chairing the EP delegation and the Minister of the Member State holding the Council Presidency co-chair the Conciliation Committee meeting. The relevant Commissioner represents the Commission.

Normally, conciliation evenings consist of several trilogue meetings and meetings of the respective delegations, before the meeting of the Conciliation Committee takes place. Sometimes the Conciliation Committee meeting itself is interrupted for negotiations in trilogue to clarify the state of play or to find compromises for issues that remain controversial.

Separate internal meetings of the Parliament and Council delegations also take place between the trilogue meetings and the official meetings of the Conciliation Committee in order to inform of the progress reached and to update the negotiating mandate. The Commission may be invited to propose compromise texts in order to facilitate agreement. If the two institutions fail to reach an agreement in the Conciliation Committee, the whole proposal falls.

According to the schedule of trilogues agreed between Parliament and Council at the beginning of conciliation on a given file, a series of trilogue meetings takes place throughout the conciliation procedure with the aim of reaching an overall agreement in the Conciliation Committee.

After each meeting, the negotiating team of each institution reports back to its corresponding delegation. The main aim of the European Parliament delegation meetings is to give feedback on the negotiations, update the mandate of the negotiating team and, if appropriate, discuss any compromise texts. Finally the delegation formally approves or rejects the agreement reached in conciliation. Approval of an agreement requires the support of an absolute majority of Members of the delegation (currently at least 14 votes in favour out of a possible 27).

An agreement reached in the Conciliation Committee has to be confirmed by both Parliament and the Council within six weeks (or eight weeks if an extension has been agreed) from the approval of a joint text. The two institutions vote separately on the joint text as it stands, without any possibility of further amending it.

At Parliament a simple majority of the votes cast in plenary is required for approval; otherwise the joint text is rejected. The joint text has also to be approved by qualified majority by the Council, which generally votes after Parliament's third reading. If either institution fails to approve the joint text, the legislative procedure comes to an end: it can only be re-started by a new proposal from the Commission.