Well, it has been a while since I have talked about the European Union in and of itself…
The European Union legislative procedure is a rather complicated system, in its very nature and in explaining it. Being what is called a sui generis, a unique and unparalleled legislation system unlike anything currently existing, explaining the European Union’s legislative procedure is difficult when trying to compare with those of Nation States and/or board meetings.
Who is who in this process(es)?
There are three institutions of the European Union that are integral to this system, being the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the EU (the last not to be confused with two other separate organisations named similarly). Each one has specific duties and roles assigned to them throughout the process:
- The European Commission, headed by 27 Commissioners (one per Member State) approved to take power by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), is the sole legislative body, i.e., the only one of the three that may propose legislation;
- The European Parliament, constituted by 720 MEPs directly elected by EU citizens once every five years, goes through the Commission’s proposal and comes up with amendments/changes to the text where its MEPs see fit according to their political beliefs and the requests of their electorates/shareholders.
- The Council of the EU, made up of the government ministers of each Member State, also has a similar role to that of the Parliament. Their duties involve discussing the EP’s amendments to the EC’s proposal and coming up with their own changes where they are seen fit.
These are the duties of each body in order to advance legislative proposals that eventually become laws that influence the lives of all citizens of the European Union. In order to achieve this, there are multiple procedures in doing so, however, the most common, standardised and utilised system is named the Ordinary Legislative Procedure, or OLP for short.
The Ordinary Legislative Procedure (OLP)
The Ordinary Legislative Procedure, like many aspects of the European Union, is a rather unique approach to policymaking. All three aforementioned institutions have roles that encourage their members to apply different points of view, advices and requests for changes on a proposal long before it becomes an EU-wide legislation. Being a process that could take many months or even years, the OLP consists of constant negotiations and re-negotiations, as the EP and the Council of the EU will often pass back each other’s amended texts with more amended texts. Nonetheless, the OLP only allows for three attempts for the proposal to ever become law, lest the proposal fail and the Commission is to draw up a new legislative proposal -also a process that takes a lot of time in and of itself.
The OLP timeline
- Firstly, after examining current internal and external EU events and changes in geopolitical environments, the Commission, with help from the European Council, compiles a legislative proposal that impacts a certain field; for example, on international trade.
- Secondly, the prepared proposal is sent to the European Parliament, which, upon examining the nature of the proposal, hands it over to any of its relevant committees. The European Parliament has multiple of said committees, all specific to certain policymaking sectors. Continuing on the example mentioned at the end of point one, if the proposal affects international trade, it is up to the INTA committee to go through the text. Committees can work together if the proposal covers multiple different fields (such as foreign affairs or development). They are composed of MEPs that are specialised in the committee’s field(s), and often work together regardless of their political affiliations (although these remain important when considering their stakeholders’ and constituents’ opinions). This is further evidenced by the establishment of a rapporteur from the leading political group (could be S&D, PPE, ECR, etc) in the committee. A so-called “shadow rapporteur” from members of remaining political groups is also established, to have their say in the negotiation processes. The rapporteur’s role is to draft a report and lead the committee through the OLP. The ultimate goal of the committees is to examine, discuss and put forward amendments to the EC’s proposals as seen fit.
- After coming to an agreement on the proposal, with the necessary amendments, the text is brought to the plenary session of the EP. This process is extremely lengthy, as MEPs are free to put forward further changes if deemed necessary. An approved majority is required to turn the proposed text into law.
- After successfully passing the above stage, it is up to the Council’s members to examine any changes made by the EP (provided there are any). The Council will be made up of MS ministers whose office is relevant to the nature of the proposal; for example, if the text regards economical matters, the finance ministers are to meet together to discuss the proposal. If no objections exist, the proposal is adopted and becomes law.
- If they however have their own amendments to put forward, the text returns to the EP for further debate and analysis. Such a stage (called 2nd reading) is not too different from the aforementioned procedure; however, this time an absolute majority from the EP is needed, and they have three months to respond. If the EP rejects outright the Council’s amendments, the proposal is not adopted and the procedure ends, leaving the Commission to draft up another in the future. Otherwise, the EP could either add further amendments (signifying a second reading from the Council) or approve the given changes, adopting the proposal.
- If the Council approves the EP’s amendments in the second round, the text becomes legislation. If not, the two institutions go to the third and final round of talks with the establishment of a conciliation committee, where the EC, EP and the Council meet in so-called “trilogue meetings” to settle all remaining differences. If an agreement is not found, the proposal is not adopted. In case an agreement is found, but the joint text is not approved by the EP and the Council, the proposal also fails. Only if the joint text successfully receives approval from the EP and the Council does the text finally become law.
Other Legislative Procedures
OLP is by far the only legislative procedure the EU uses. Nonetheless, others do exist, the most noticeable ones being the Consultation procedure and Consent procedure, two so-called “Special Legislative Procedures”.
In a Consultation procedure, the Council can easily adopt EC proposals while being unbound by any potential positions from the EP. This procedure is extremely rare, and the European Court of Justice often strikes down any legislation the Council tries to get across through this system.
The Consent procedure is a little different: put simply, the Council decides to adopt EC texts after being greenlit by the Parliament in doing so, allowing the EP to have some vetoing power through this process. Despite not being allowed to propose amendments, they can threaten to withhold their consent to the procedure in case any of their requests are not met.
How often do legislation proposals become law?
Rarely do legislative proposals ever go past the second stage, with most becoming law within the first stage (in nearly ninety percent of cases in the 2019-2024 period!). The average amount of proposals adopted in each EP term consists a little more than four hundred pieces of legislation -an impressive amount considering the long periods of negotiations and re-negotiations that characterise the procedures.
After being approved through this lengthy process, it is then the turn of the Member States’ parliaments to approve and integrate them into their nation’s legislation. This stage thus completes the process, in line with EU treaties that each Member State signed up to during their entry to the bloc. The procedure commences again once the Commission, with advice and considerations from EUCO (Member States’ heads of States) and political researchers, prepares future legislation proposals that affect the everyday life of EU countries and their citizens.
Thank you for reading. Let me know your thoughts on the procedures and its nature, regarding its effectiveness and outreach(es), and if you know of any EU legislation that leaves a noticeable mark on your lives in Europe. Thank you again, and have a lovely day!
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