Consent Procedure - Lisbon Treaty

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).

Its applications include:

• horizontal flexibility clause (art. 352 TFEU),
• combating discrimination (Article 19(1) TFEU),
• membership of the Union (Article 49 TEU),
• arrangements for withdrawal from the Union (Article 50 TEU)
• association agreements,
• accession of the Union to the ECHR,
• agreements establishing a specific institutional framework,
• agreements with important budgetary implications,
• agreements in areas where the ordinary legislative procedure applies.

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 forecast it.