23.9.2015

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 315/40

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RULES OF PROCEDURE

of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly standing committees adopted by the Euronest PA on 3 May 2011 and amended on 29 May 2013 in Brussels and on 18 March 2015 in Yerevan

(2015/C 315/08)

Pursuant to Article 25(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and taking into account the proposal from the Bureau, the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly hereby adopts the Rules of Procedure of the standing committees.

Article 1

Field of Application

1.   The Rules of Procedure of the standing committees lay down the common working mechanisms for all four standing committees of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (hereafter: committees):

—	Committee on Political Affairs, Human Rights and Democracy,

—	Committee on Economic Integration, Legal Approximation and Convergence with EU Policies,

—	Committee on Energy Security,

—	Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society.

2.   The Rules of Procedure of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly shall apply mutatis mutandis to committee meetings without prejudice to the Rules of Procedure of the standing committees.

Article 2

Composition

1.   A committee shall have a maximum of 30 members, and shall be comprised of:

—	15 members of the European Parliament,

—	15 members from the participating Parliaments of the Eastern European Partners (1).

It shall reflect the composition of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

2.   Each member of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly shall have the right to be a member of one of the standing committees. In exceptional cases, a member may belong to two standings committees.

3.   Members are appointed in accordance with the procedures to be established by each Parliament in such a way as to reflect as far as possible the distribution of the various political groups and delegations represented, respectively, in the European Parliament and in the Eastern European Partner component.

4.   The size and composition of the committees shall be approved by the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly on a proposal from the Bureau.

Article 3

Chairmanship and Bureau

1.   Each committee shall elect a Bureau from among its members consisting of two Co-Chairs of equal status (one from each component) and four Vice-Chairs (two from each component), in respect of whom the electoral procedures and terms of office shall be decided by each component separately.

2.   The Co-Chairs shall jointly decide which of them is to preside the meeting of the committee.

Article 4

Substitutes

1.   Any full member who is unable to attend a committee meeting may be replaced by a substitute member from the same component of the Assembly, subject to the agreement among those two members. The Chair must be informed of any substitutions before the start of the meeting.

2.   Within the committee, the substitute member shall have the same rights and be subject to the same obligations as the full member.

Article 5

Meetings

1.   Committees shall meet when convened by their Co-Chairs and for a maximum of two meetings per year, one of which is to be held during the session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

2.   On a proposal from the Bureau of the committee, the Co-Chairs shall draw up and submit the draft agenda of each committee meeting.

3.   Meetings of the committees shall be held in the working languages of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. Unless a committee decides otherwise, all meetings shall be public.

4.   The Chair shall direct the proceedings, ensure that the Rules of Procedure are observed, maintain order, give speakers the floor, declare discussions closed, put issues to the vote and announce the outcome of votes.

5.   No member may speak unless called upon to do so by the Chair. A speaker may not be interrupted except for points of order. If a speaker departs from the subject, the Chair shall call him to order and may, on the second occasion, forbid him to speak for the remainder of the debate on the same subject.

6.   The Chair shall call to order any committee member who creates a disturbance during the proceedings. Should the offence be repeated, the Chair may exclude the offender from the room for the remainder of the meeting.

7.   Two or more committees may, upon the agreement among their Bureaus, hold joint meetings on subjects of common interest to them.

Article 6

Reports and urgent topics

1.   The committees may appoint rapporteurs to examine specific questions within their competence and prepare reports to be submitted to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, subject to authorisation from the Bureau. The number of such reports shall be limited, in principle, to one report per committee per session. The Bureau may decide, on request by the Committees’ Co-Chairs, how many reports will be voted per session depending on the progress of work for their preparation.

2.   On exceptional basis, a committee may propose urgent topics to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. The number of urgent topics is limited according to Article 9, paragraph 2(b) of the Rules of Procedure of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

3.   In addition, the committees may discuss other items in their agenda without a report and may inform the Bureau of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly in writing that the items in question have been discussed.

4.   The committees shall report to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly on their activities.

Article 7

Quorum and voting

1.   The quorum of a committee shall be attained when at least one third of the members of each component are present.

2.   All votes shall be valid whatever the number of voters. However, any member of the committee may request for the quorum to be established before a vote is taken. If after such request the quorum is not established, the vote shall be postponed.

3.   The committee takes its decisions by a two-thirds majority of the members who took part in the vote. Any member may table amendments for consideration in committee. The committee shall vote by show of hands with each member having a single, personal and non-transferable vote.

4.   Counting of votes shall be made by the Counting Commission, which shall consist of two equal parts of representatives of the secretariats of each component of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. The Counting Commission shall be appointed by the Bureau (or by the Committee Co-Chairs) before the beginning of the relevant meeting and shall report the result of the counting of votes directly to the Co-Chairs.

5.   Any member may table amendments for consideration in committee, within the deadline announced by the Co-Chairs. Amendments shall relate to the text they seek to alter and shall be submitted in writing. Oral amendments may only be taken if they aim at correcting factual or language mistakes. No other oral amendments should be taken.

6.   If a request for a vote by separate components has been submitted before the beginning of the vote by a minimum of three members of the committee belonging to at least two political groups in the European Parliament or to at least two delegations from the Eastern European Partner component of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, a vote shall be taken in which the representatives of the Eastern European Partner component and the representatives of the European Parliament component shall vote separately, although simultaneously. The text in question shall be adopted if it secures a two-thirds majority of the votes cast separately in both components.

7.   Where the text to be put to the vote contains two or more provisions or references to two or more points or lends itself to division into two more parts having a distinct meaning and/or normative value, a split vote may be requested by a political group of the European Parliament or a minimum of 1 member of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. The request shall be submitted in writing to the Co-Chairs by 18.00 the day before the vote, unless the Co-Chairs set a different deadline, and will be considered, in principle, accepted.

Article 8

Other arrangements

1.   The Parliament hosting a meeting of the committee shall be responsible for the practical arrangements, assistance and the costs relating to the organisation of the meeting.

2.   However, on a proposal from the Bureau, the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly may recommend that a financial contribution from other Parliaments should be provided to cover expenditure on the organisation of a meeting of a committee.

Article 9

Interpretation of the rules

The Co-Chairs, or at their request, the Bureau of a committee, have the right to rule on all questions relating to the interpretation of the Rules of Procedure of standing committees.

Article 10

Amendment of the Rules of Procedure of the standing committees

1.   Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of standing committees shall be adopted by the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly on the basis of proposals from the Bureau.

2.   Amendments shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the members who took part in the vote. If a request for a vote by separate components has been submitted before the beginning of the vote by a minimum of one tenth of the members belonging to at least two political groups in the European Parliament or to at least two delegations from the Eastern European Partner component of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, a vote shall be taken in which the representatives of the Eastern European Partner component and the representatives of the European Parliament component shall vote separately. The text in question shall be deemed to have been adopted if it secures a two-thirds majority of the votes cast separately in both components.

3.   Unless otherwise specified when the vote is taken, the amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the standing committees shall enter into force immediately after their adoption.

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(1)  Upon accession of the further Eastern European Partner (Belarus), the seats would be re-distributed among the Eastern European Partners.

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