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Factsheet EU Treaties Institutions Legislation
Factsheet EU Treaties Institutions Legislation
EU Treaties, legislation,
institutions and
decision-making
Factsheet
An online course (MOOC) for regional and local authorities
Do 80% of national
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EUROPEAN UNION
EU institutions
The European Parliament (EP) and its 751 members represent the citizens of the Member States
and are directly elected every five years. The Parliament takes decisions on most EU laws together
with the Council of the EU, via the ordinary legislative procedure. Parliamentary positions are
prepared by 22 Committees which work on different policies and adopted during plenary sessions held in Strasbourg or Brussels. Eight political
groups have been established at the European
Parliament for the current term of office. There
around 6 000 EP staff in total, including both the
EP Secretariat-General and the political groups
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EUROPEAN UNION
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EU decision-making
EU decision-making involves three main institutions: the European Parliament, the Council of the
European Union which represents the individual member countries and the European Commission. In principle, the European Commission
makes new proposals, but it is the Council together with the Parliament that adopts them. Before
any proposal, the Commission takes stock of existing legislation and conducts an impact assessment. It must also consult stakeholders and other
institutions for their views and seek the opinions
of national parliaments and governments.
The ordinary legislative procedure replaces the
co-decision procedure and involves the European
Parliament and the Council of the EU as co-legislators. The ordinary legislative procedure is laid
down under Article 294 TFEU. In addition, under
the ordinary legislative procedure the Council of
the EU takes decisions by qualified majority. In
order to improve decision making and enhance
the effectiveness of the procedure, the Treaty of
Lisbon laid down a new definition of a qualified
majority. The Council and the Parliament adopt
legislative acts either at first reading, or at second
reading. If after the second reading the two institutions have still not reached agreement, a Conciliation Committee is convened. Building on previous Treaties, the Treaty of Lisbon extended the
ordinary legislative procedure to new policy areas.
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EUROPEAN UNION
The Better
Regulation Agenda
In May 2015, the European
Commission adopted a Better
Regulation Agenda, which aims
to increase the openness and
transparency of the EU law-making
process. The initiative affects the
Commissions internal procedures
and includes the possibility of a
new interinstitutional agreement
with the European Parliament
and the Council of the EU, which
would enter into force before the
end of 2015. Better regulation
a precise description of special legislative procedures. The rules on special legislative procedures
are therefore defined on an ad hoc basis by the
Articles of the TEU and the TFEU that govern their
adoption. All EU legal acts and national transposition laws can be found on EUR-Lex. Moreover, the
EPs Legislative Observatory monitors the main
steps in the decision-making process.
Disclaimer
The content of this document and any opinions expressed therein do not
necessarily represent the official position of the European Committee of the
Regions (CoR). It is addressed to the participants of the online course (MOOC)
oft he CoR on regions, EU institutions and policy-making. Reproduction and
translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is
acknowledged and the CoR is given prior notice and sent a copy.
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