Rule 154  : Urgent procedure

1.    A request that a debate on a proposal on which Parliament has been consulted pursuant to Rule 47(1) be treated as urgent may be made to Parliament by the President, a committee, a political group, at least 40 Members, the Commission or the Council. This request shall be made in writing and supported by reasons.

2.    As soon as the President has received a request for urgent debate this shall be announced to Parliament. The vote on the request shall be taken at the beginning of the sitting following that during which the announcement was made, provided that the proposal to which the request relates has been distributed in the official languages. Where there are several requests for urgent debate on the same subject, the approval or rejection of the request for urgent debate shall apply to all the requests on the same subject.

3.    Before the vote, only the mover, one speaker in favour, one speaker against, and the Chair and/or rapporteur of the committee responsible may be heard, in each case for no more than three minutes.

4.    Questions to be dealt with by urgent procedure shall be given priority over other items on the agenda. The President shall determine the time of the debate and vote.

5.    An urgent debate may be held without a report or, exceptionally, on the basis of an oral report by the committee responsible.