Table I

List of the new or altered EU decision-making procedures according to the Draft Treaty of Amsterdam (CONF/4001, 4004/97)

Article		Competence	MS Right to pro- pose	Majority in COUNCIL		Involvement of EP			Consultation		Changes
CONF/ 4004/97	CONF/ 4001/97			qual.	unan.	Cons.	Cod.	Ass.	ESC	RegC
EU-Treaty
7 I	F.1 I	Breach of Union's principles: determination	1/3		–			+			new
7 II	F.1 II	Breach of Union's principles: Suspension of rights deriving from TEU		–							new
7 III	F.3 III	Breach of Union's principles: Alteration or revoking of measures		–							new
34 II a & b & d.1	K.6 II a & b & d.1	Justice & Police: Com. positions; framework decisions (approx. of laws); conventions	1			~					new / prev. K.3/K.4; EP different
34 II c	K.6 II c	Justice & Police: all other decisions	1	10		~					prev. K.3/K.4; Council unanimity, EP different
34 II d.2	K.6 II d.2	Justice & Police: Implementing measures to conventions	1	*		~					new / prev. K.3/K.4: EP different
40 II	K.12 II	Justice & Police: Authorisation to closer cooperation	1 COM-C		AC						new / prev. K.7; see Art [2] Flexibility
40 III	K.12 III	Justice & Police: Joining of closer cooperation	J COM-O	x							new
41 III	K.13 III	J&P: Charging of operational costs not to EU budget or not accord. to GNP-scale	woCOM								procedural as K.8, but changed competence
42	K.14	Justice & Police: Transfer to TEC	1								prev. K.9; role EP new
23 I	J.13 I	CFSP: Basic decisions and other decisions than implementing measures	1		q	¢					prev. standard unanimity
23 II	J.13 II	CFSP: Implementing measures	1	10	AC						prev. unanimity
24	J.14	CFSP: Opening of negotiations; agreements with third countries or Int. Organisations	1								new
28 III	J.18 III	CFSP: Charging of operational costs not to EU budget or not acRegCd. to GNP-scale	woCOM								procedural as J.11, but changed competence
Prot. Schengen 2 I	Prot. Schengen B I	Implementation; choice of legal base for Schengen acquis; entry into force			--						new
Prot. Schengen 3	Prot. Schengen C	Participation of UK and Ireland	J		-- #						new
Prot. Schengen 5 I	Prot. Schengen E I	Agreement with Norway and Iceland			--						new
Prot. Schengen 5 II	Prot. Schengen E II	Agreement EU with N/Ice/UK/Irl									new
Prot. Schengen 6	Prot. Schengen F	Transfer of Schengen secretariat									new
EC-Treaty
11 II	5a II	Authorisation to closer cooperation TEC			AC						new
11 III	5a III	Joining closer cooperation TEC	J COM-O	e x							new
12 II	6 II	Prohibition of discrimination									prev. cooperation
13	6a	Measures against racial etc. discrimination									new
18	8a II	Facilitating exercise of right to move									prev. assent
42	51	Social security of migrant workers			a						prev. EP not involved
47 II	57 II	Activities of self-employed (co-ordination)									prev. consultation
64 II	[Pers. D] 73l II	Limited emergency measures against immigration									new
67 I	[Pers. G] 73o I	Decisions Asylum/Immigration/ control of persons except Visa	1								new, only for 5 years
67 II 1	[Pers. G] 73o II 1	Decisions Asylum/Immigration/ control of persons except Visa	COM-D								new, applicable in 5 years
67 II 2	[Pers. G] 73o II 2	Transfer of decisions to Art 189b									new, applic. in 5 years
67 III and 62 II b ii & iv	[Pers. G] 73o III and [B] 73j II b ii & iv	Uniform visa rules; uniform visa issuing procedures in member states									new, applicable in 5 years
71 I	75 I	General transport policy							x		prev. cooperation; consultation RegC new
80	84	See and air transport							x		prev. cooperation
128 II	[Employment 4] 109q II	Guidelines		a							new
128 IV	[Employment 4] 109q IV	Recommendations to member states	COM-R								new
129	[Employment 5] 109r	Incentive measures; pilot projects		a							new
130	[Employment 6] 109r	Setting-up of employment committee	woCOM	e							new
133 V	113 V	Extension of competence in CCP to services and intellectual property									new
135	[Customs] 116	Strengthening customs cooperation									new
137 II	118 II	Directives in the social field according to Art 118 I; combat social exclusion									Social Agreement Art 2; RegC new
137 III	118 III	Directives in the social field according to Art 118 III									Social Agreement Art 2; RegC new
139 II 1	118b II 1	Implementation of social partners' agreements according to Art 118 I									Social Agreement Art 4
139 II 2	118b II 2	Implementation of social partners' agreements according to Art 118 III									Social Agreement Art 4
141 III	119 III	measures to ensure equal opportunities etc.									new
148	125	Implementing decisions relating to ESF							x		prev. coop.; RegC new
150 IV	127 IV	Vocational Training							x		prev. coop.; RegC new
152 IV a&b	129 IV a&b	Standards of organs, blood etc.; veterinary medicine and phytosanitary measures									prev. Art 43, consultation; ESC, RegC new
156 III	129d III	Transeuropean networks: other measures							x	x	prev. cooperation
162	130e	Regional Fund: implementing decisions							x	x	prev. cooperation
166 I	130i I	Research framework programmes					x		x		prev. unanimity
166 II	130i II	Adapting or supplementing programmes									new
172 I	130o I	Setting-up of joint undertakings in R&T development				x			x		prev. unanimity
172 II	130o II	Research cooperation							x		prev. cooperation
175 I	130s I	Environmental policy in general							x		prev. cooperation; RegC new
175 II	130s II	Environmental policy: taxes, development plans etc.							x		RegC new
175 III	130s III	Environmental policy: action programmes									RegC new
179	130w	Development cooperation									prev. cooperation
190 IV	138 IV	Regulation of conditions governing performance of duties of MEPs						><			new (prev. Art 141 EP rules of procedure)
214 II	158 II	Nomination of Commission President			()						prev. consultation
255 II	191a II	Determination of right to access to documents									new
262 I	198b II	Rules of Procedure of Regional Committee									prev. unanimity in CL, now RegC alone
280	209a	Measures countering fraud							CA		new
285	213a	Measures for the production of statistics									new
286	213b	Setting-up of data protection supervisory body									new
299 II	227 II	Application of TEC to outermost regions									prev. unanimity, no involvement of EP
300 II 2	228 II 2	International agreements: suspension; establishment of a Union's internat. position									new
309 II	236 II	Suspension of rights deriving from TEC		–							new
309 III	236 III	Alteration or revoking of measures		–							new

Legend:

Article:

[ ]

number of article will be changed in final version of the Treaty of Amsterdam. This Table will be updated as soon as the new numbering system is known.

Pers.

New Title „Free movement of persons, asylum and immigration"

Prot.

Protocol

Right to propose:

1

Right to propose by single member states

1/3

Right to propose of one third of the member states

J

Application of the joining member state

COM-C

Commission has no right to propose but is invited by the Council to give an opinion

woCOM

Commission has no right to propose

COM-R

not „proposal" but „recommendation" of the Commission

COM-D

Commission has to deal with demand for proposal by MS

COM-O

Commission issues opinion

Council of Ministers:

–

vote of state concerned does not count in the Council

*

majority of two thirds of High Contracting Parties to the convention

10

at least 62 votes in favour, cast by at least 10 members

e

simple majority of members

AC

'Amsterdam Compromise': veto right similar to Luxembourg Compromise

--

only participating member states may vote

#

applying member state may also vote

q

abstention qualified to the effect that MS is not bound by decision (only if max. 1/3 of all MS)

( )

not Council as organ but „Governments of the Member states" decide

European Parliament:

+

two third majority of votes cast and majority of MEPs

~

Council may lay down time limit for opinion of the EP (not less than 3 months); In the absence of an opinion within that time-limit, the Council may act

¢

Consultation by Presidency on the main aspects and basic choices

><

EP decides with simple majority after unanimous assent of the Council and after opinion of the Commission

Others:

CA

opinion of the Court of Auditors

x

not clear on the basis of the Draft Treaty because final wording of the text lacks

Table II

Proportional distribution of seats in the EP with a minimum of three seats (EU 15)

Rules:

I.

„give every country 3 seats and distribute the remaining seats (581) among all according to population"

II.

„give Luxembourg 3 seats and distribute the remaining seats (623) among the other 14 according to population"

Figure 1