EUROPEAN UNION: CO-DECISION PROCEDURE SEEN AS A SUCCESS.

Out of a total of 46 dossiers concluded under the co-decision procedure between 1 May 1999 and 31 May 2000:- in 8 cases, agreement was reached at first reading, a new development prprovided for under the Treaty of Amsterdam.- 25 other legislative proposals were adopted after two readings. CoCompared with the "Maastricht period" and despite a major extension of the scope of the co-decision procedure, the number of referrals to the Conciliation Committee dropped by over 10%.- in 5 of the other 13 cases, all of which were extremely sensitive frfrom a political point of view, the Commission managed to obtain agreement on a common text as an A item, thanks to prior inter-institutional negotiations.- 8 cases were handled in depth by the Conciliation Committee.AtAt a qualitative level, the Commission is pleased that the three institutions are developing a proactive approach with regard to early identification of sensitive dossiers or items, which makes it far easier to reconcile points of view at a second reading or, where...