Abstract
The ordinary legislative procedure of the EU consists of a process where the European Council proposes legislation and the European Parliament and the Council adopt it together. This codecision procedure was created by the Maastricht Treaty and balances three European interests: The European Parliament must protect the interests of the citizens; the Council must protect those of the Member States and the Commission must promote the general European Interest. The ordinary legislative procedure consists of three readings. First, the Commission submits a proposal to the EP and the Council. The plenary will then adopt or reject the proposal, with or without amendments. If the proposal cannot be adopted at the first reading, a second reading follows. The EP receives the Council’s position and must make a decision within 3 months after that. If the proposal is still not adopted, a Conciliation Committee is composed, that has the task of reaching an agreement based on the positions of the EP and the Council. In the past years, a trend can be seen where more and more proposals are concluded in the first reading. This shows the flexibility of the codecision procedure and the willingness between institutions to cooperate. The author concludes by stating that the European Parliament has become a real actor within this ordinary legislative procedure. She, however, warns about the potential lack of transparency that can take place within these trilogue discussions between the EP, EC and the Council. The European Parliament has taken new procedural measures to address this issue.
Administrator, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament, Brussels.
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Notes
- 1.
The author wants to thank Steven Noë for his valuable comments. The views expressed, however, are strictly personal and solely the responsibility of the author and they do not necessarily reflect the view of the institution.
- 2.
On 5 November 2013, under the auspices of the vice-presidents for conciliation, Gianni Pittella, Aledo Vidal Quadrats and Georgio Papastamkos a conference on 20Â years of codecision took place in the Parliament. A number of imminent speakers will comment on the codecision procedure (past, present and future).
- 3.
Kapteyn-VerLoren van Themaat 1995, p. 268.
- 4.
See Huber, forthcoming.
- 5.
Article 14 of the Treaty on the European Union.
- 6.
There are 22 standing committees that prepare the work of the plenary: Foreign Affairs (AFET), Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), Development (DEVE), International Trade (INTA), Budgets (BUDG), Budgetary Control (CONT), Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Transport and Tourism (TRAN), Regional Development (REGI), Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI), Fisheries (PECH), Culture and Education (CULT), Legal Affairs (JURI), Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), Petitions (PETI) and one special committee Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering (CRIM).
- 7.
Rule 56 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. See also Craig and de Burca 2011, p. 126.
- 8.
Currently (2015) this would be 384 votes in favour (out of total of 766 Members).
- 9.
The task of the Conciliation Committee is not coming to an agreement on the amendments proposed by the European Parliament, but of reaching agreement on a joint text, that is a draft of the legislative proposal agreed in the conciliation meeting. It must be adopted at third reading by both Parliament and Council. Thus, provisions that have not been amended in second reading are not necessarily excluded from the discussions. See Case C-344/04, Iata and ELFAA [2006] ECR I-443, paras 57–59.
- 10.
See http://www.consilium.europa.eu/council/council-configurations/list-of-council-preparatory-bodies?lang=en for a list of the Council’s working parties (there are around 150 committees). Accessed 20 December 2014. Meetings of these Working parties are not open to EP Members or officials, the Commission, however, participates.
- 11.
An interesting case was what recently happened in the course of the negotiations on the car CO2 emission limits. An agreement between the Parliament and the Council was reached before summer, but in a highly unusual move, Germany reportedly blocked a Council vote to agree on the deal (because of concerns about the impact of the new rules on its car manufacturers).
- 12.
See para 14 of the Joint Declaration on the practical arrangements for the codecision procedure of 13 June 2007, OJ C 145 of 30 June 2007, p. 1.
- 13.
Joint Declaration on practical arrangements for the codecision procedure of 13 June 2007, para 18.
- 14.
OJ C 148, 28 May 1999, p. 1 (updated in 2007).
- 15.
Joint Declaration of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on the practical arrangements for the codecision procedure, OJ C 145 of 30 June 2007, p. 1.
- 16.
Para 8 of the Joint Declaration.
- 17.
Para 7 of the Joint Declaration.
- 18.
However in the area of external relations we see that besides the Presidency and the Commission the European External Action Service will be participating in the trilogue meetings due to the specific division of competences in that area of cooperation.
- 19.
Joint Declaration para 13.
- 20.
Figure based on situation mid-August 2013.
- 21.
Shadow rapporteurs are appointed by political groups to follow the work of the rapporteur.
- 22.
See Huber and Shackleton 2013, p. 1045.
- 23.
See Huber, forthcoming, pp. 18 and 19.
- 24.
See Curtin 2011, p. 71.
- 25.
See Curtin 2011, p. 72.
- 26.
See Corbett et al. 2011, p. 244.
- 27.
The report of Enrique Guerrero Salom on amendment of Rule 70 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure on interinstitutional negotiations in legislative procedures A-7-0281/2012 of 25 September 2012.
- 28.
Rule 70a describes the so-called ‘exceptional procedure, in which under certain conditions negotiations can take place prior to the adoption of a report in committee. Negotiations cannot start immediately but are subject to control by the Conference of Presidents and of the plenary.
- 29.
The procedure on the adoption of a decision to open interinstitutional negotiations prior to the adoption of a report in committee, whereby the decision has to pass by the Conference of Presidents and the plenary.
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Bultena, A. (2016). Negotiations in the Ordinary Legislative Procedure: The Perspective of the European Parliament. In: Goudappel, F., Hirsch Ballin, E. (eds) Democracy and Rule of Law in the European Union. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-066-4_8
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