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Consent procedure

Amending the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, annexed to Council Decision 76/787/ECSC, EEC, Euratom of 20 September 1976

Parliament is asked to approve the decision. It can accept or reject the text as a whole but cannot amend it.

Where it stands: Parliament gave its consent on 29 April 2026. The Council can now conclude the act.

  1. ✓ Referred to committee 27 April 2026
  2. ✓ Committee work Report adopted 27 April 2026
  3. ✓ Tabled for plenary 27 April 2026
  4. ✓ Plenary vote Adopted 29 April 2026
  5. 5 Adopted by the Council
How a file moves through Parliament

A file is referred to one lead committee (others may give an opinion). Its rapporteur writes a draft report, committee members table amendments, and the committee votes to adopt the report. The report is then tabled for all MEPs; political groups can table further amendments, which are voted on before the final vote in plenary. The Council takes the final decision, and the act is published in the Official Journal.

Who is working on it

Lead committee
AFCO — Constitutional Affairs
Rapporteur
Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR S&D
Shadow rapporteurs
Ana Miguel PEDRO PPEMarieke EHLERS PfETobiasz BOCHEŃSKI ECRSandro GOZI RenewDaniel FREUND Verts/ALENikolas FARANTOURIS The LeftStanisław TYSZKA ESN

The rapporteur drafts and negotiates the text for the lead committee; each other political group names a shadow rapporteur to follow the file.

The text, version by version

Adopted by Parliament · latest Adopted text TA10-0124/2026 29 April 2026 ✦ Parliament gives its consent to the draft Council decision amending the European Electoral Act to allow Members to vote by proxy during pregnancy and after giving birth.⇄ what changed Adopted by Parliament Adopted text TA10-0257/2025 13 November 2025 ✦ Parliament proposes amending the European Electoral Act to allow Members to vote by proxy in plenary during pregnancy and after giving birth, for up to three months before the estimated birth date and six months after.⇄ what changed Tabled for plenary Report A10-0123/2026 27 April 2026 ✦ Parliament gives its consent to the draft Council decision amending the European Electoral Act to allow proxy voting for MEPs who are pregnant or have recently given birth.⇄ what changed Committee draft Draft report (AFCO) 25 March 2026 ✦ This draft report recommends that Parliament give its consent to the Council decision amending the European Electoral Act to allow proxy voting for MEPs who are pregnant or have recently given birth.

Committee draft → Tabled for plenary: No change of substance: the two versions differ only in presentation — cover page, numbering or the parts a report carries that the adopted text does not. see the changes →

Newest version first. Open a version to read it in full. “What changed” shows the differences paragraph by paragraph; ✦ lines are AI-written from the texts themselves.

Timeline

  1. Plenary stage
  2. 29 April 2026 Plenary vote
    Sitting of 29 April 2026 📄 Adopted text TA10-0124/2026📄 Report A10-0123/2026
    Adopted Adopted by an overwhelming majority
    For 616 Against 24 Abstained 8

    Final vote on the draft Council decision at 13:14 · 95% of votes cast in favour · every MEP’s position →

  3. 27 April 2026 Report tabled for plenary

    This is the text all MEPs vote on. Political groups can still table amendments to it.

    📄 Report A10-0123/2026
  4. Committee stage
  5. 27 April 2026 Committee vote: report adopted

    AFCO (Constitutional Affairs) voted on the amendments and adopted the report that goes to plenary.

  6. 27 April 2026 Referred to the AFCO (Constitutional Affairs) committee

    The lead committee prepares Parliament’s report.

  7. 25 March 2026 Draft report published

    The rapporteur’s first text in AFCO (Constitutional Affairs). Members can table amendments before the committee votes.

    📄 Draft report (AFCO)