Page 117 - SEVEN STEPS for COMPREHENDING the EUROPEAN UNION

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Each political group of the European Parliament is managed
through a well-organized administrative secretariat. The secretariats
ensure the efficient participation of the political groups in the law-
making processes of the Parliament. Detailed information about
European political groups, as well as their secretariats and staff contact
information, is available on the European Parliament’s website at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu.

How the European Parliament Adopts its Decisions?

Like in any national parliament, in the European Parliament, too, any
issue is initially discussed and approved by a relevant parliamentary
committee before it goes to the plenary for the final adoption. For
example, the topics related to non-EU member states, including
Georgia, fall within the foreign relations sphere and, therefore, they are
deliberated within the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee (another
relevant committee could also be invited to the hearing).

Any European political group, through internal discussions, forms
joint positions on various topics, presents them at committee hearings
and votes accordingly. Once a topic finds the support of a committee, it
moves to the plenary for the final voting.

A few details concerning the committee and plenary proceedings:
voting can take place at a plenary session if one-third of the members
of the Parliament are present. For a committee session, this number
goes down to one-fourth. Both a plenary session and a committee
meeting, in most cases, may take decisions by a simple majority; that
83
is, 50%+1 vote.
As has already been said, the candidatures of European
commissioners also need the European Parliament’s approval. Initially,
candidates are invited to committee hearings in order to receive their
consent before a plenary voting on the whole College of Commissioners
takes place. In 2019, the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee

83 Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:12012E/TXT:en:PDF