European Union Legislative Process
The Treaty on the European Union (Maastricht, 1992) established three Pillars:
- European Community (EC) Pillar covering mostly traditional economic policy areas
- The Second Pillar which deals with Common Foreign and Security Policy
- The Third Pillar dealing with Co-operation in the fields of justice and home affairs
Most legislative decisions take place in the EC Pillar.
The three European institutions i.e. the European Commission, European Council and European Parliament take decisions in the legislative field. The Commission is the initiator of proposals for new legislation; however it has limited legislative power.
The legislative power in the Community will be exercised either by the Council or jointly by Parliament and the Council, who can only act on a proposal from the Commission.
The legal basis of the proposal ( i.e. the Treaty article cited as the grounds for making the proposal) also determines which institutions have to be consulted and according to which procedure.
Legislative Procedures
Various procedures govern decision making in the legislative process.
- Assent
The assent procedure was introduced by the Single European Act, 1986. It means that the European Council has to obtain the European Parliament's assent before certain very important decisions are taken. The European Parliament can accept or reject a proposal but cannot amend it. - Co-operation Procedure
The co-operation procedure was introduced by the Single European Act, 1986 and is generally only used in the EMU. - Consultation
Under this procedure the European Council must consult the European Parliament and take its views into account. However, it is not bound by the European Parliament's position but only by the obligation to consult it. Once it has received this opinion, the Commission can amend its proposal accordingly. The proposal is then examined by the European Council, which can adopt it as it is or amend it first. However, if the European Council decides to reject the European Commission proposal, this must be a unanimous decision. The procedure applies in particular to the common agricultural policy. - The Co-Decision Procedure
The co-decision procedure (Article 251 of the EC Treaty, formerly Article 189b) was introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht. It gives the European Parliament the power to adopt instruments jointly with the Council. In practice, it has strengthened Parliament's legislative powers in the following fields: the free movement of workers, right of establishment, services, the internal market, education (incentive measures), health (incentive measures), consumer policy, trans-European networks (guidelines), environment (general action programme), culture (incentive measures) and research (framework programme).
The Treaty of Amsterdam has simplified the co-decision procedure, making it quicker, more effective and more transparent. It has been extended to new areas such as social exclusion, public health and the fight against fraud affecting the European Community's financial interests
A brief outline of the procedure is as follows:
- The Commission formulates a proposal that is sent to the Parliament and the Council for consultation.
- The Parliament formulates its opinion which it sends to the Council.
- The Council deliberates on the Commission proposal and the Parliaments opinion and adopts a draft Common Position.
- The Common Position is then sent back to the Parliament for its second reading. The Parliament then has three months to either:
a) approve (or refrain from reacting to) the Council’s Common Position, in which case it will be adopted and become law
b) amend the Common Position in which case a Conciliation Committee is set up. This committee consists of equal representatives of the Council and the Parliament who negotiate the amendments which are subsequently adopted or rejected or
c) reject the Common Position outright in which case the Council can convene the Conciliation Committee and commence negotiations as (b) above. - If the Conciliation Committee reaches an agreement and approves the Common Position it becomes law.
- If the Conciliation Committee fails to reach a compromise on a Common Position, the Council may within 6 weeks confirm its own decision by a qualified majority with or without the opinion of the Parliament. The Common Position is then sent back to Parliament for its third reading. If the Common Position is rejected by Parliament at this stage by a qualified majority the proposal is lost and does not become law.
Last reviewed: 19/5/2009