Rules of Procedure for Statutory Meetings of JEF November 2003
I. Rules of Procedure for JEF
These rules of procedure are supplementary and subordinate to the statutes of the Young European Federalists and regulate the implementation of the statutes.
1. Quorum
a) Unless otherwise determined by the statutes, at all meetings of the statutory bodies of JEF-Europe, more than half of the delegates present or represented shall constitute the quorum.
b) By 'delegate' shall be meant delegate to the Congress as well as member of Federal Committee and of the Executive Bureau.
2. Voting
a) Unless otherwise determined by the statutes and the rules of procedure, voting is by simple majority.
b) By simple majority shall be understood more than half of the votes cast, abstentions not counted.
c) By absolute majority shall be understood more than half of the votes cast, abstentions counted.
d) Each delegate shall have one vote and in addition, the right to exercise the proxy vote of one other delegate who has given his/ her authorisation in writing.
The chair of session shall announce the proxies at the start of the meeting.
e) By ' Chair' shall be meant the Presidium of the Congress, the Presidium of the Federal Committee, the President of JEF or any other duly appointed person presiding over a statutory body of JEF.
f) Voting shall be by showing of the delegates cards or (in the absence of these) by show of hands. The result shall be announced by the chair. When a delegate entitled to vote requests it, there shall be a formal count of the votes.
g) For all elections as well as whenever a delegate requests it, there shall be a secret ballot.
h) The person(s) who sit in the chair at meetings shall not have a casting vote.
3. Minutes
a) Minutes of all meetings shall record resolutions, decisions, motions and votes with all necessary explanatory information. Draft minutes of all statutory meetings shall be circulated to all delegates and member organisations. The Congress shall be tape recorded. Decisions of the Congress and draft minutes of Federal Committee meetings shall be made available to all delegates and member organisations not later than six weeks after the meeting. Final minutes of Executive Bureau meetings shall be made available to all Federal Committee members and member organisations at least four times a year.
4. Notice on Resolutions
a) Resolutions must be submitted to the European Secretariat at least three weeks before the start of the Congress and Federal Committee so that they can be sent to all Congress delegates or members of the FC in advance.
b) Resolutions submitted to the Congress and FC after the three week deadline must be endorsed by a recognised commission or working group of the Congress and FC, unless the provisions of point c) below are valid.
c) The three week deadline can be waived if two thirds of the Congress and FC agree, according to the procedure in point 9.a.
5. JEF Policy
a) A JEF Policy shall be held in the JEF Policy File
b) JEF Policies will lapse exactly two year and six months after they are adopted unless re-approved by a Federal Committee or Congress during the last six months prior to that deadline;
c) The European Secretariat will ensure that all policies due to lapse are put before the relevant commission, working group or plenary session of the Federal Committee or Congress for consideration.
6. Policy-making
a) JEF Policy is made by its members through their elected representatives at meetings of the Congress or Federal Committee.
b) The Executive Bureau and Secretariat implement these policies.
c) The Executive Bureau and officers of JEF are empowered to make policy in the name of JEF on urgent matters for which a response cannot be delayed and where there is no JEF policy or where JEF policy is no longer appropriate in changing circumstances, and on matters which related to the implementation of policy.
7. Application of Substantive Motions and Amendments, Procedural Motions and Points of Order and Points of Information
a) The following rules apply to the Congress and the Federal Committee. The Executive Bureau, Auditors Board and Arbitration Board may use them also if they chose to do so.
8. Substantive motions and amendments
a) Unless otherwise specified in the statutes and the rules of procedure, all motions shall require a simple majority of the votes cast, in order to be passed. In case of a tie, the motion is not passed.
b) Any member of JEF shall have the right to propose motions and amendments to motions, and these shall be put to a vote unless:
a procedural motion to move to the next business is passed, or
a procedural motion to postpone to decision is passed, or
a contradictory motion or amendment has already been passed at the same meeting, or
the proposer withdraws the motion, or
in the case of an amendment, it is accepted by the proposer of the substantive motion
c) If the proposer of a motion or amendment withdraws it, this can be proposed by any other member of JEF in his/her place.
d) Where there are two or more mutually contradictory amendments to a proposal, a vote shall be taken on the amendment which differs the most from the original proposal, in the opinion of the Presidium. If this amendment is passed, the other mutually contradictory amendment will fall without a vote.
e) The decision to accept or reject an amendment must be made before the main motion which it seeks to amend is put to a vote. If the amendment is accepted by the proposer of the main motion or by the vote, it shall be incorporated into the motion.
f) Any member of JEF shall the right to speak once and once only on each motion and amendment, unless a motion to close the list of speakers has been passed.
g) A member shall have the right to reply to a personal attack on him/herself immediately.
h) The proposer of a motion shall have the right to reply to the debate.
i) All motions and amendments shall be submitted in writing to the Presidium before being put to the vote.
9. Procedural motions
a) Any member of JEF shall have the right to propose any of the following procedural motions. A procedural motion shall be adopted by consensus or put to a vote immediately with a discussion of two one-minute speeches, by one speaker in favour and one against.
A motion to change the membership of the Presidium.
A motion to overrule a decision of the Presidium.
A motion to close the list of speakers on a specific motion or amendment.
A motion to move to the next business.
A motion to restrict the time available to each speaker.
A motion to exclude from the meeting person(s) causing a disturbance.
A motion to adopt or to amend the agenda or timetable.
A motion to change the persons counting the votes.
A motion to postpone the decision.
A motion to move to an immediate vote.
A motion to waive the 3-week resolution deadline
b) No other procedural motion shall be eligible for consideration.
10. Points of order
a) A member of JEF shall have the right to raise a point of order, that is, to draw the attention of the Presidium to the fact that the procedure or discussion is not in accordance with the rules of procedure or the statutes or previously agreed procedural motions.
11. Points of Information
a) The Presidium may at their discretion allow points of information to be made. Points of information are to be brief and must relate to facts and not opinion. The Presidium may choose not to accept such points if a member or members of JEF are abusing the procedure to gain additional speaking rights or if time for debate is limited.
12. Amendments to the Rules of Procedure
a) Sections I and II of the Rules of Procedure may only be amended by the Congress.
b) Section III may be amended by the Federal Committee.
c) Other statutory bodies of JEF Europe may establish their own rules of procedure.
d) Proposed amendments to the rules of procedure require and absolute majority in the relevant statutory body and must be sent to members or delegates with the agenda of the meeting.
II. Rules of Procedure for Meetings of the Congress
1. Introduction
a) The calling notice of the Congress, together with a draft agenda, shall be sent by the Executive Bureau of JEF at least six weeks in advance to all national and regional sections. The draft agenda shall include notably:
a report of the Secretariat on the activities carried by the organisation;
finances;
elections;
proposed amendments to the statutes and the rules of procedure;
items proposed for inclusion by a previous Congress;
proposals to exclude a member of JEF according to article 30 of the statutes;
application of candidate sections for membership
b) Any section or delegate may request the inclusion of supplementary items in the agenda. Such request must reach the Secretariat at least 15 days in advance of the opening of the Congress.
2. Number of delegates
a) The Executive Bureau shall propose to the Federal Committee the total number of the delegates to the Congress and their allocation to each section at least two months before the date of the Congress, based on the average of membership dues paid to the European Secretariat by the member organisations during the two years preceding the year of the Congress.
b) Member organisations that fail to pay the membership dues to JEF Europe for both years preceding the Congress are not entitled to any delegate.
c) Member organisations that fail to pay their dues of either year or do not provide annually the lists of members as described in article 34 of the statues shall only be entitled to one delegate who will not be reimbursed for his/her travel expenses, regardless of the level of any membership fees that have been paid.
d) Any organisation that applies to join JEF between Congresses, has fulfilled its financial obligations towards JEF Europe for the coming Congress and has been provisionally accepted by Federal Committee, will be entitled ,if the application is confirmed by the Congress, one delegate.
e) The distribution of the delegates per section shall take place according to the corrected Sainte-League system as detailed in the annex to the Rules of Procedure. For this purpose, the average membership of each section, as previously defined, shall be divided by the integer odd numbers and the result of each division will be placed in the decreasing order till the number of delegate fixed by the Federal Committee is exhausted. The sections that are entitled to receive only one delegate will be counted in addition to the total number of delegates as fixed previously.
3. Credential's Committee
a) The Credential's Committee shall consist of the Treasurer, the Secretary General, and at least one member the Arbitration Board, nominated by Federal Committee.
The Committee shall verify that the distribution of the delegates has been done in conformity with the statutes and the rules of procedure of JEF. For this purpose, it will have the right to modify the decisions of the Federal Committee on the above-mentioned field.
The Committee shall report to the Congress.
4. Opening of the Congress
a) The President of JEF shall take the chair at the beginning of the Congress and announce the number of delegates present and entitled to vote, as well as the number of the proxy votes, based on the decisions of the Credential's Committee.
b) The Congress shall then elect four members of JEF who shall not be candidates for any other office subject to election at the Congress, to count the votes during the Congress.
c) The Congress then nominates five persons who are not candidates for any other office subject to election, proposed by the outgoing Federal Committee, to chair the Congress sittings. These persons shall constitute the Congress Presidium. The Presidium shall be solely responsible for the functioning of the Congress. It shall decide by simple majority on all matters arising during the Congress.
d) The Congress may then nominate a maximum of five persons, proposed by the outgoing Federal Committee to take part in the Resolutions' Committee. The task of this Committee will be to prepare, discuss upon and modify, if need be, all the resolutions proposed to the Congress.
e) The Congress shall then adopt by simple majority its agenda and timetable upon the proposal of the outgoing Executive Bureau. Any subsequent change of agenda or the timetable will require a majority of two thirds of the votes cast in favour of the change.
9. Elections
a) The election of the President and the Vice-Presidents of JEF shall take place according to the Single Transferable vote system. The delegates shall give a priority preference to all candidates. All other elections shall be held according to the list system. For this purpose, the delegates shall give a non-priority preference to a number of candidates not exceeding the first integer number above the two thirds of the seats available. This provision applies equally to the election by the Federal Committee of the members of the Executive Bureau.
b) The elections must be conducted by a Returning Officer nominated by the Executive Bureau and ratified by the Congress, who shall not be a candidate.
c) If any delegate objects to a decision of the Returning Officer, s/he may appeal to the Presidium of the Congress.
d) The returning officer shall draft other regulations governing the conduct of the elections, which shall be notified to all national and regional sections before the Congress and submitted to the Congress for approval.
e) The Congress shall then proceed successively to the elections of:
the President;
two Vice-Presidents:
the members of the Federal Committee to be directly elected by the Congress in a number equal to that of the national sections of JEF, accepted as such;
five members of the Arbitration Board;
two or three members of the Auditor's committee.
10. Quotas
a) At least 40% of the directly elected members of the Federal Committee shall be of the least represented gender, the point of reference being the number of positions to be filled.
b) The same applies to the seven members of the Executive Bureau elected either by the Congress or the Federal Committee after the Congress, i.e. not the Treasurer and the Secretary General.
c) The Congress shall aim to elect at least one of the three positions of President and the two Vice-presidents of the other relevant gender.
d) There shall always be a common list for elections.
e) Sections should aim for their delegations to Congress to be gender balanced.
III. Rules of Procedure for Meetings of the Federal Committee
a) The Executive Bureau of JEF shall call for the meeting of the Federal Committee. Notice of the session and a draft agenda of the meeting shall be circulated to the members of the Federal Committee 30 days in advance.
b) The Federal Committee shall meet in extraordinary session with a notice of 20 days, not later than 60 days after the receipt of the request by one third of the members of the Federal Committee. The agenda shall be circulated ten days before the meeting and shall include only the items proposed in connection with the calling of the extraordinary meeting.
c) At the beginning of the first meeting after the election of a new Federal Committee, the President will take the chair and proceed with the opening formalities of the meeting in line with articles (d) and (e) in place of the Presidium. The Federal Committee will then elect three members to serve as its Presidium until the next full Congress.
d) At the start of each meeting the Presidium will check which members of the Federal Committee are present and entitled to vote as well as the number of proxy votes.
e) The Federal Committee will then be asked to elect two tellers to count votes.
f) The meeting of the Federal Committee are open. By simple majority, the Federal Committee may decide that part of the meeting shall be closed.
g) Co-opted members of the Federal Committee may be proposed by any member of the of the statutory organs of JEF. Before the Federal Committee decides upon the proposal, the proposed person must have given his/her written consent. Co-opted members have all the rights of full members but are non-voting.
h) Any member has the right to add a declaration of vote to the minutes before the meeting is ended.
i) The Federal Committee may, with an absolute majority of the votes of the members, and add new items to the agenda of the meeting.
IV. Rules of Procedure for Other Statutory Bodies of JEF
1. Arbitration Board
a) The office of the member of the Arbitration Board is incompatible with any other elected office in JEF-Europe.
b) An appeal to the Arbitration Board may be lodged through the Secretariat by:
any individual member of JEF,
any constituent organisation,
any organ of JEF Europe
c) The Arbitration Board may establish its own rules of procedure, nominate a chair and elect a rapporteur for each case.
d) Members of the Arbitration Board may attend the meetings of the Federal Committee.
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ANNEX TO RULES OF PROCEDURES
aimed at clarifying the existing provisions on
CONGRESS DELEGATES’ ALLOCATION ACCORDING TO THE CORRECTED SAINT-LEAGUE SYSTEM
The allocation of delegates for the JEF Europe Congress consists of two stages:
1. Pre-allocation of delegates to eligible sections:
· According to the statutes of JEF Europe, each section is entitled to a pre-allocation of two delegates if it has paid membership fees to JEF Europe for both years preceding the Congress year, and if their average membership in these years has been at least 50;
· Each section whose average membership for these two years was lower than 50, as well as sections which failed to pay for one of the two years (regardless of the average membership), are entitled only to one delegate and CANNOT take part in further allocation of delegates;
2. Allocation of additional delegates to eligible sections:
The number of additional delegates to be allocated is obtained by deducting the total number of pre-allocated delegates from the total size of the congress. The number of additional delegates thus obtained is assigned according to the corrected Saint-League method, which has four steps:
i. Calculate memberships eligible for further allocation of delegates: for each section calculate the average membership over the two relevant years and reduce it by 50, in order to avoid double-assigning of delegates. Then put them all in a column in diminishing order (placing the highest values on the top).
ii. Divide each so calculated membership by 1.4 and then continue dividing the original number by following integer odd numbers, i.e. 3, 5, 7, etc. placing the results of each division in subsequent columns. You should so obtain a table of numbers.
iii. In the entire table mark the amount of highest numbers which is equal to the number of delegates to be additionally assigned, i.e. if you need to allocate 30 delegates you should select the 30 highest numbers in the table. You should omit the columns containing membership figures before they have been divided. If the table contains more equal integer numbers you should check their decimals in order to see which number is actually greater.
iv. In each line sum up the amount of numbers that were selected (do not add together the selected numbers!). The amount of picked numbers indicates the number of additional delegates eligible to each section.
In order to check if the Saint-League method has been used correctly, sum up the number of pre-allocated delegates and the obtained additional delegates for each section. Their sum should be equal to the size of the congress in total.
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