Single European Act The assent procedure was introduced by the
Single European Act. Under this procedure, the
Council of the European Union must obtain
Parliament's assent before certain decisions can be made. Acceptance ("assent") requires an
absolute majority of
votes. The European Parliament can accept or reject the proposal but not amend it. However, the Parliament can produce an interim report making recommendations for modifications, and a conciliation has also been introduced. The areas included under the assent procedure were: • specific tasks of the
European Central Bank (ECB); • amendments of statutes of the
European System of Central Banks (ESCB) / European Central Bank; •
Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds; • the uniform electoral procedure for the European Parliament; • certain international agreements; • the
accession of new member states; • approval of the President and the other members of the Commission
Treaty of Amsterdam Following the adoption of the
Treaty of Amsterdam,
sanctions imposed on an EU
Member State for a serious and persistent breach of
fundamental rights requires Parliament's assent under Article 7 of the
EU Treaty. In its opinion on the 2000
Intergovernmental Conference, the
European Commission argued in favor of extending this procedure to apply to the conclusions of agreements having global economic and commercial implications.
Lisbon Treaty With entry into force of the
Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the assent procedure was renamed
consent procedure, and it was defined as part of the
special legislative procedures, as opposed to
ordinary legislative procedure (formerly
codecision). Under the consent procedure, the Parliament express its approval on a Council draft act by an absolute majority vote, without possibility to amend it. Informally, the Parliament is involved by the Commission since the beginning of the procedure, in order to guarantee its consent, although the Treaties do not formally prescribe it. ==References==