Preliminary Deliberation of Items of Business
One principle of parliamentary procedure is that before decision on an item of business is taken in the Plenary, a preliminary deliberation of the subject in hand must have taken place in a committee. This is to ensure that competent Members of the National Council can discuss substantive issues in a restricted circle. They can also call in outside experts to advise them.
The final decision rests with the Plenary of the National Council, but it rarely deviates from the result achieved by the committee. This is, among other things, due to the fact that the composition of the committees in terms of parliamentary groups reflects, on a smaller scale, that of the Plenary. With a few exceptions, deliberations in committees are not open to the public.