Parliament approved the Council decision on Cabo Verde's accession to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction by 659 votes to 1 , with 1 abstention — an overwhelming cross-group consensus spanning EPP, S&D, Renew, PfE, ECR, Greens/EFA, The Left, ESN and NI. There were no opposing coalitions of note. The vote concerned a consultation-procedure decision authorising EU Member States to accept Cabo Verde's accession to the Convention in the interest of the Union. The Convention establishes international mechanisms for the prompt return of children wrongfully removed or retained across borders and provides for rights of access. Approval in this form is part of a standard EU process: because the Convention falls within an area of EU competence, Member States require Council authorisation before individually accepting a third country's accession. As a non-legislative resolution under the consultation procedure, this act does not itself constitute binding EU law but constitutes Parliament's formal political endorsement, feeding into the Council's decision-making process. The near-unanimity of the result signals that all political families supported extending the Convention's child-protection framework to cover relations with Cabo Verde.
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