Legislative process in the European Union

Parliament

The European Parliament has 751 members who are elected every 5 years on the basis of universal suffrage . Parliament is organized as a multi-party body, and members of parliament work on its committees and are part of political groups , not national delegations. However, parliamentary political groups are very weak because of their status as broad ideological groups made up of existing national parties.

Parliamentary power has increased significantly since the 1950s, since the new legislative procedures provided more equality between Parliament and the Council. Parliament also received more authority in appointing the European Commission , which has always been accountable to parliament (Parliament has the right to disbelieve it).

Council

The Council of the European Union represents the governments of the member states, and therefore the number of participants corresponds to the number of states, however, the votes are distributed according to the number of each population. Therefore, the work of the Council does not depend on political groups and instead of working on committees, most of its work is carried out by diplomatic representatives ( COREPER ).

European Commission

The Commission has a de facto monopoly on making proposals for the legislative process, the power that gives the Commission a significant influence on the agenda of the entire EU. ^[3] And although the Commission introduces laws at the behest of the Council or at the proposal of the Parliament, the Commission determines the specific form of the legislative proposal.

Usually the Commission’s negative opinion forces the Council to vote unanimously, not by a majority vote. There are also cases where the Commission may independently pass legislation.

National Parliaments

The national parliaments of the EU member states have an early warning mechanism, which stipulates that if one of the countries indicates that the draft law violates the general principles of subsidiarity — the so-called “yellow card” —that such a bill should be revised. If the majority of parliaments do so - the so-called “orange card” - then the Council or Parliament can withdraw such a bill. ^[four]

The usual legislative procedure ^[5] is the main procedure used to create directives and other documents. Previously, it was called the joint decision-making procedure , which is opposed to the intergovernmental method , based on the consultation procedure or on the open method of coordination. ^{[6] [7]}

In the Treaties of the European Union, the usual legislative procedure is described as follows. The Commission makes a legislative proposal to the Parliament or the Council. In the first reading, Parliament expresses its position. If the Council agrees with the opinion of the Parliament, such an act will be considered adopted. If not, the Council should express its own opinion on this matter and send such an act back to Parliament with its own explanations. The Commission also informs Parliament of its position on this issue. In the second reading, the act is considered adopted if Parliament approves the text submitted by the Council or does not adopt any decision. Parliament may reject the text submitted by the Council, which will lead to the rejection of the act, or improve it and pass it back to the Council. The Commission expresses its opinion a second time. Those amendments that the Commission rejected, the Council can only accept unanimously, and not by a majority vote. ^[eight]

If within three months from the date of receipt of the new version of the text of the Parliament, the Council adopts it, then such an act is considered adopted. If not, the Chairman of the Council shall, by agreement of the Chairman of Parliament, convene a Conciliation Committee consisting of the Council and a corresponding number of representatives of the Parliament (with the Commission present as moderator). The committee makes the general text on the basis of two stated positions. If within six weeks the general text is not agreed, then the act will be rejected. If a committee is adopted and the text is approved, then the Council and Parliament (by majority vote) should adopt this text on the third reading. If they do not, the act will be rejected.

The procedure first appeared in the Maastricht Treaty and was presented as a joint decision-making procedure and was created to replace the cooperative procedure. The joint decision-making procedure was improved by the Amsterdam Treaty and other acts, in particular the Nice Treaty . The procedure changed the usual legislative procedure, and its application was extended to almost all areas of activity, such as agriculture, fish farming, transport, the public sector, and the like.

The treaties contain provisions for the use of special legislative procedures in certain areas. Procedures that are worth paying attention to are advisory and consent procedures, but others can be used.

Consultation procedure

According to this procedure, the Council, acting either unanimously or by a qualified majority, may adopt legislation proposed by the European Commission after consultation with the European Parliament. Despite the fact that the Council should consult with the Parliament regarding the legislative proposal, the Council is not bound by the position of the Parliament. In practice, the Council usually ignores the opinion of the Parliament or even makes a decision before Parliament makes proposals. However, the European Court decided that the Council was obliged to wait for the position of Parliament, and the decisions that were made without the participation of Parliament were overturned. Acting in this way, Parliament sometimes sabotages the adoption of legislation that it does not approve.

Prior to the adoption of the Single European Act, the consultative procedure was the most widely used legislative procedure in the European Community . Consultation is still used for legislative purposes in the field of domestic market exemptions and competition law.

Reconciliation Procedure

The approval procedure provides that the council may adopt legislation at the proposal of the European Commission after receiving approval from the Parliament. Thus, Parliament has the legal authority to accept or reject any proposals. However, Parliament cooperates with the conciliation committee and presents interim conclusions, in which it expresses its concern to the Council and can keep its decision until its arguments are taken into account. This applies to membership , exit methods , general legal foundations, and the like.

The Commission and Council act alone

This procedure assumes that the Council may enact laws proposed by the Commission, without taking into account the opinion of Parliament. The procedure is used when the Common External Tariff is established , as well as for negotiations concerning trade transactions in a foreign trade space.

The Commission is acting solely.

In some areas, the Commission may adopt regulatory and technical legislation without the consent of other bodies. The Commission may adopt laws on its own initiative regarding monopolies and concessions granted to companies of member states and workers who wish to stay in these states if they worked there. Due to this procedure, two directives were adopted: one regarding transparency in relations between member states and companies, and the second regarding competition in the telecommunications sector.

Legislation that was adopted as a result of these procedures can be expressed in various forms. Ordinances are laws that have direct effect. Directives must be transposed within national legislation to a certain extent. Decisions have a direct effect, but only in relation to specific individuals or situations. There are also other forms.

Non-state expert lobbyist groups have a definite influence on decisions taken in the European Union. For 2016, the registry created by agreement of 2011 concluded between the European Commission and the European Parliament registered more than 8.3 thousand lobbying organizations, including the Russian TNK Gazprom and Lukoil ^[9] . In fact, there are more lobbyists, since not all of them have registered. Some of them have been functioning for decades. As early as 1958, two existing lobbying organizations emerged in Brussels - the Committee of Agrarian Organizations in the EU (Committee of Agricultural Organizations in the EU / COPA, now COPA-COGECA224) and the Industrial and Employer's Confederations of Europe / UNICE, since 2007 BUSINESSEUROPE225) ^[10] . In the agricultural sphere, the major lobbyists in the EU institutions are three groups: The European Federation of Food, the British British Agriculture Bureau and the French ^[11] . Registration conditions (it is voluntary and optional) for lobbyists are as follows ^[12] :

• Any organization can register, including religious groups, private advisory offices, trade unions, academic institutions, etc .;
• When registering, you are required to provide information about the organization, as well as about persons accredited to the EU;
• Registration requires you to sign an ethical code of conduct.

Registration gives the lobbyist a number of rights ^[9] :

• Receive newsletter about updating the legal framework;
• To be a member of expert groups;
• Request a meeting with an official representative;
• Get acquainted with the statistics.

• Collaboration Procedure

• EU website on decision making (eng.)
• European Parliament: Procedures (English)