When a sitting is opened, the minutes of the previous sitting are read out for approval.
For the purposes of determining the presence of a quorum, the President reads out the names of senators on leave of absence or on official Senate mission (who may not exceed one tenth of the members of the Senate).
A leave of absence must be requested in writing to the President. The President shall then inform the Senate of the communications that concern it and shall announce the bills introduced in the Senate or referred to the committees.
The rapporteur, a senator appointed by his or her committee to refer a bill back to the Senate, introduces the general debate by submitting a written - or, in urgent cases, oral - report. A general discussion takes place on the bill, after which the rapporteur and the government take the floor.
After this, the bill is debated article by article, amendments are introduced and put to the vote and then the bill is ultimately adopted or rejected.
After all individual articles have been examined, the bill is voted upon in its entirety. In case of approval, the bill is signed by the President of the Senate and sent to the Chamber of Deputies. If the bill has already been passed by the other House and the Senate has not amended it, it is signed by the President of the Senate and sent to President of the Republic for promulgation, whereby the bill is enacted as law and published in the Official Gazette.
Therefore, in order to become a law of the Republic, a bill must be approved by both Houses of Parliament in the same wording. If one House amends a bill approved by the other, the Bill must be sent back again to the house that scrutinised and approved it first.