Under the assent procedure the European Parliament may accept or reject Council drafts at the end of the legislative process. It is not allowed to propose amendments.

The Council thus cannot pass any legal act of major importance with serious financial implications unless an absolute majority of members of the European Parliament have given their assent.

At present, the assent procedure is applied in areas including:

• the specific tasks of the European Central Bank (ECB)
• amendments to the Statutes of the European System of Central Banks
• the Structural and Cohesion Funds
• some international agreements
• the accession of new Member States