Definition of Codecision procedure

Codecision procedure
The codecision procedure (Article 251 of the EC Treaty, formerly Article 189b) was introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht. It gives the European Parliament the power to adopt instruments jointly with the Council. The procedure comprises one, two or three readings. It has the effect of increasing contacts between the Parliament and the Council, the co-legislators, and with the European Commission. In practice, it has strengthened the Parliament's legislative powers in the following fields: the free movement of workers, right of establishment, services, the internal market, education (incentive measures), health (incentive measures), consumer policy, trans-European networks (guidelines), environment (general action programme), culture (incentive measures) and research (framework programme).

The Treaty of Amsterdam has simplified the codecision procedure, making it quicker and more effective and strengthening the role of the Parliament. In addition it has been extended to new areas such as social exclusion, public health and the fight against fraud affecting the European Community's financial interests.

Increasing the democratic nature of Community action requires the Parliament to participate in exercising legislative power. Thus, any legislative instrument adopted by qualified majority is likely to fall within the scope of the codecision procedure. In most cases, therefore, codecision in the Parliament goes hand in hand with qualified majority voting in the Council. For some provisions of the Treaty, however, codecision and unanimity still coexist.

The Treaty of Nice partially puts an end to this situation. The Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) launched in February 2000 called for an extension of the scope of codecision, in parallel with and as a supplement to the extension of qualified majority voting in the Council. Seven provisions for which the IGC planned to apply qualified majority voting are thus also subject to codecision. They are: incentives to combat discrimination, judicial cooperation in civil matters, specific industrial support measures, economic and social cohesion actions (outside the Structural Funds), the statute for European political parties and measures relating to visas, asylum and immigration. On the other hand, the IGC did not extend the codecision procedure to legislative measures already subject to qualified majority voting (such as agricultural or commercial policy). There is therefore no definitive link yet between qualified majority voting and the codecision procedure for all legislative decisions.

See:

•Conciliation Committee 
•Council of the European Union 
•European Parliament 
•Qualified majority
•Treaty of Nice