Article 5

The Bank shall send the relevant documents and proposals to the members of the Committee and their alternates, as well as to the General Secretariat of the Council and to the EEAS at least 21 calendar days before the date fixed for the meetings.

The Chairperson may in exceptional cases waive the above time limit at the duly justified request of the Bank. Should a member of the Committee, however, inform the Secretariat that the waiving of the time limit is not acceptable, the respective agenda item will be removed.

Members of the Committee shall notify the Bank in writing of any comments or requests for further information they may have on the documents circulated pursuant to paragraph 1, within the following respective time limits:

The right of Members of the Committee to receive oral answers from the Bank regarding questions raised during the meeting on the documents circulated pursuant to paragraph 1 shall not be impaired.

Acting on a proposal from its Chairperson, the Committee shall adopt the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. Each member of the Committee may request that items be added to the agenda, but for discussion only. Information supplied in this connection may be given orally.

An absent Member State representative shall be deemed to have approved or delivered a favourable opinion on the documents submitted, except where he/she has given the Chairperson of the Committee written notice of his/her intention not to approve or deliver a favourable opinion, or where, as an exceptional measure, he/she has given a proxy to another Member State representative. Where proxies to vote have been given or a replacement has been designated, the Chairperson of the Committee shall be duly informed in advance.

A Member State representative may receive a proxy from one other Member State representative only.