§ 1 Relations with the European Parliament
§ While the allocation of powers among the institutions as laid down by the Treaties should be maintained, the development of relations between the European Parliament and the Council should be continued, particularly as regards the response to European Parliament resolutions, and keeping Parliament better informed.
§ 2 Conciliation procedure
229W§ Implementation of this procedure appeared to give rise to two major problems:
§ that of finding ways to improve the procedure's efficiency by first seeking solutions acceptable to all sides. In this connection, the need for improved preparation of the meetings of the Conciliation Committee was underlined. To this end, the Presidency-in-Office might be responsible, in collaboration with the Commission, for making informal contact with the European Parliament before formal meetings of the Conciliation Committee;
§ that of setting a time-limit for the completion of the conciliation procedure so that it does not protract the Community's decision-making process. As regards this problem, the Presidency intends to ascertain from the European Parliament whether it can agree to the detailed rules for implementing the conciliation procedure proposed by the "Wise Men" with respect to the termination of the procedure, viz,:
- '(a) when the Council's common position on a conciliable measure has been sent to the Parliament, the latter should indicate within a set period (e.g. six weeks) whether it wants to hold a conciliation meeting;
- (b) the time-limit for completion of the procedure runs from the date of the first meeting;
- (c) the procedure should stop after either three months or three meetings between the institutions, whichever is the shorter;
- (d) if, when the deadline is reached, either institution wants to go on, the Presidencies of the Council and the Parliament should try to reach agreement on a suitable extension. If the institutions cannot agree on an extension, the procedure is terminated.'