EU Governance and Policy-Making: Better Regulation, Negotiation and the Presidency
How EU laws are made
The Commission holds the (near) monopoly of legislative initiative. Under the ordinary legislative procedure, Parliament and Council co-legislate: Commission proposal, EP committee rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs, Council working parties and COREPER, up to two readings plus conciliation; in practice trilogues settle most files. Better regulation means impact assessment, stakeholder consultation, evaluation, REFIT and fitness checks, and subsidiarity scrutiny by national parliaments (eight weeks, yellow/orange card). The Presidency rotates every six months, works in trios, chairs the Council and COREPER, brokers compromises and represents the Council - it does not legislate alone.
Traps and worked example
Traps: “Parliament proposes laws” (false); “Council adopts alone” (false); impact assessments are Commission documents; trilogues are informal and not in the Treaties; QMV versus unanimity; the Presidency is a chair, not a co-legislator. Negotiation culture rewards early mandate-building and compromise packages rather than positional bargaining. Worked example: a Commission proposal attracts 300 EP amendments; the rapporteur secures a negotiating mandate, a trilogue with the Presidency and Commission follows, Council agrees a general approach, and the final compromise is voted in plenary and in Council, then published in the Official Journal.