Committee stage of European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill [HL]
11 September 2012 (updated on 11 September 2012)
The House of Commons held the committee stage of the European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill [HL] on Monday 10 September. The Bill also recieved its third reading and will be sent to the House of Lords to await Royal Assent.
Summary of the Bill
The Bill enables the UK to ratify an amendment to Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The amendment will give legal basis to the creation of a permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which will provide financial assistance to eurozone States, up to a limit of €500bn, in order to safeguard the economic stability of the eurozone.
The ESM is established in a separate treaty between the 17 Member States in the eurozone.
Keep up to date with all the proceedings and documentation on the European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decisions) Bill [HL] and find out how a Bill becomes an Act of Parliament
- Bills before Parliament 2012-13: European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decisions) Bill
- About Parliament: Passage of a Bill
NB: [HL] denotes that the Bill was introduced into the House of Lords before being considered by the House of Commons.
Committee stage proceedings
Monday 10 September
MPs considered in the following order; Clause 1, Clause 2 and amendment 1, New Clause 1 and New Clause 3,
Clause 1 relates to the approval of EU decision relating to stability mechanism and was agreed to without a division.
Clause 2 which relates to the extent, commencement and short title of the Bill and was agreed to without a division. Amendment 1 was withdrawn.
New Clause 1 was defeated on a division (Ayes 179; Noes 265).
New Clause 2 was defeated on a division (Ayes 172; Noes 265).
The Bill also received third reading without a division and will now be sent to the House of Lords to await Royal Assent.
Watch and read the debate and the views expressed by MPs on Parliament TV and in Commons Hansard. Also find parliamentary material on economic and monetory union in the Topics and News sections.
- Parliament TV: Committee stage of European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill
- Commons Hansard: Committee stage of European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill
- Commons news: Second reading of the European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill
- Topics: European and monetory union
- News: European and monetory union
Committee of the whole House
When a Bill passes its second reading and is considered in detail, this usually takes place in a Public Bill Committee held outside the Chamber and made up of between 16 and 20.
Occasionally a Bill will be considered by a Committee of the whole House and this discussion takes place in the Commons Chamber itself, where all MPs can take part.
Any Bill can be referred to a Committee of the whole House, but the procedure is normally reserved for finance bills and other important or controversial legislation.