EU legislative procedures - Ordinary legislative procedures

8 important questions on EU legislative procedures - Ordinary legislative procedures

Is the Ordinary legislative procedure often used?

Yes 90% of the time. It is the most important procedure.

Why is it called ordinary legislative procedure?

It is called ordinary because both the Council and the European Parliament are involved in this procedure. They have both the right to change content of a legislative proposal and they both have the right to veto.

Where does the ordinary legislative procedure begin with?

With the proposal (stage);
The European Commission sent a proposal to the council and the European Parliament.

The European Commission is the only one with the right of initiative   
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What happens during the First reading?

The European parliament can reject, approve or amend the proposal of the European Commission by a majority of the votes cast.

After that the proposal wil move to the Council, who may either agree or disagree with the Parliament. If the council does not agree it will have to motivate why.

After this stage, the second reading begins.

What happens during the Second reading?

The European Parliament will have to decide what it is going to do with the proposal once again. The European Parliament has three options;
1. The Parliament may approve the Councils position by a majority of the votes cast
2. The Parliament may reject the Councils position by a majority of its component members.
3. The Parliament may propose amendments to the councils position by a majority of its component members.

With amendment, the proposal is back in the Councils court and it has three options..

1. The Council can approve all of the Parliaments amendments, and thereby the legislative act is adopted;
2. The Council can reject of all the Parliaments amendments;
3. The Council cannot approve all of the Parliaments amendments. The proposal will enter into the conciliation stage  

What happens during the Conciliation stage?

A conciliation committee now tries to reach agreement on a joined text on the basis of the positions of the European Parliament and the Council at second reading.

The committee co-decides by a qualified majority of the Council and a majority sent by the Parliament.

If the committee does not adopt a joined text, the legislative proposal has failed. If the committee approves a joined text, it returns to the formal Union legislator for a third reading.

What happens during the Third reading?

The European Parliament needs to endorse the joint text by majority of the votes cast, while the Council must confirm the text by a qualified majority.

If one of the two disagrees with the proposal of the committee, the proposal finally flounders. If the opposite happens, the proposal is adopted and only needs to be signed and published.

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