Part 1: EU Decision-Making Principles: Loyalty, Conferral, Subsidiarity and
Proportionality
Outline
- EU-Decision making principles (IV): Proportionality Principle
- The Commission’s Right of Initiative
- The Citizens Initiative
- The EU’s Decision Making Procedures: an Introduction
- Special Legislative Procedures: Consent and Consultation
- The Ordinary Legislative Procedure in detail (art 294 TFEU)
- BREXIT
EU-Decision making principles (IV): Proportionality Principle
- When the Commission is proposing a regulation it has a particular aim in mind – that should
be what the directive is about. Commission cannot include other situations or subjects: it
should have a separate directive and shouldn’t go beyond what is necessary to legislate
- “Under the principle of proportionality, the content and form of Union action shall not
exceed what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaty”
- “Laid down in Art. 5(4) TEU. More detailed rules in Protocol 2”
Commission’s Right of Initiative
- Commission has the exclusive right of initiative
(Green paper= policy document by the Commission where it sets out ideas and invites
stakeholders to participate in the discussion to make legislation more effective
White paper = Commission will launch legislative action and already put ideas in the white
paper what a proposal should look like. Then invites stakeholders to see if they can agree
with the ideas / also uses white papers if the Commission wants the Union to take a step
forward – Europe 27 - )
- Solidarity clause: if another state is under terrorist attack and needs help from other member
states, the Commission can propose legislative action to assist other member states
(exceptional situation, not a common situation) -> judicial cooperation in criminal matters
and police cooperation
- The Council takes the final decision (mostly together with the EP). Commission is in
possession of the ball: it’s the Commission who decides when it will come up with a
legislative proposal and what this proposal looks like
The Citizen’s Initiative
- The Citizen’s Initiative is a call to the European Commission to initiate legislation (must be
supported by at least 1 million signatures of EU citizens in 7 member states)
- Does not oblige the Commission to come up with legislative proposals on the basis of
citizens’ proposals
- Citizen’s initiative must be registered with the Commission after which they have one year to
collect the required signatures.
- If signatures are collected:
o European Commission organizes a meeting with the initiators
, o EP will organize a public hearing
- Problems with refused initiatives, EX: Singing the European Anthem in Esperanto: lacks a
legal basis
- EX: Stop vivisection: to stop animal testing for developing medication – Commission has not
adopted any legislation because at the moment they don’t feel that there are technological
alternatives to animal testing. Instead the Commission organized a conference where all
scientists working in this area were invited to try to come up with a solution but that was the
best they could offer
- Then why the Citizen’s Initiative? It gives people a voice and enables them to communicate
with the Parliament and the Commission
The EU’s Decision Making Procedures: an Introduction
- More power to the parliament
- EC Treaty (1957): Consultation procedure
o Virtually no role for the parliament regarding legislative tasks
- Single European Act (1986): Co-operation procedure
o Parliament got the right of amendment. But still it’s the Council that in the end
adopted the proposal: still no legislative powers for the Parliament
- EU Treaty (1992): Co-decision procedure
o Limited to 12 policy areas, but cooperation with Commission in legislative procedure
- Nowadays, some things have changed:
o Co- operation procedure is dropped (Parliament has the right of amendment when it
comes to co-decision but not as a separate procedure)
o Co- decision was laid in the Ordinary Legislative Procedure: common way of adopting
legislation
o Consent Procedure & Consultation procedure is now called ‘Special Legislative
Procedure’
Special Legislative Procedures: Consent and Consultation
- Consent procedure: used for special and specific situations: The Council has to obtain the EP’s
consent before certain decisions are taken. Parliament may accept or reject a proposal but
cannot amend it (EX: Enlargement art 49 TEU, art 50 TEU)
- Consultation procedure: Council must consult the EP before voting on the Commission
proposal and take its views into account. It is not bound by the Parliament’s views. (EX: art
252 TFEU, art 3332 TFEU, non-mandatory instruments, especially recommendations and
opinions)
Ordinary Legislative Procedure in detail (art. 294 TFEU)
- Commission proposal: the Council and the EP (European Parliament) are equals
- The procedure has four stages: first reading, second reading, conciliation, third reading
- Each stage can be concluded with the adoption of the final text of the legislation (75% is
already adopted in the first reading, therefore the other readings are only necessary when
the proposal is not accepted)
- The proposal can only be rejected at the end of the second reading or after the conclusion of
the conciliation stage
- The Commission can withdraw the proposal at any given time
Voordelen van het kopen van samenvattingen bij Stuvia op een rij:
Verzekerd van kwaliteit door reviews
Stuvia-klanten hebben meer dan 700.000 samenvattingen beoordeeld. Zo weet je zeker dat je de beste documenten koopt!
Snel en makkelijk kopen
Je betaalt supersnel en eenmalig met iDeal, creditcard of Stuvia-tegoed voor de samenvatting. Zonder lidmaatschap.
Focus op de essentie
Samenvattingen worden geschreven voor en door anderen. Daarom zijn de samenvattingen altijd betrouwbaar en actueel. Zo kom je snel tot de kern!
Veelgestelde vragen
Wat krijg ik als ik dit document koop?
Je krijgt een PDF, die direct beschikbaar is na je aankoop. Het gekochte document is altijd, overal en oneindig toegankelijk via je profiel.
Tevredenheidsgarantie: hoe werkt dat?
Onze tevredenheidsgarantie zorgt ervoor dat je altijd een studiedocument vindt dat goed bij je past. Je vult een formulier in en onze klantenservice regelt de rest.
Van wie koop ik deze samenvatting?
Stuvia is een marktplaats, je koop dit document dus niet van ons, maar van verkoper maritlamers9. Stuvia faciliteert de betaling aan de verkoper.
Zit ik meteen vast aan een abonnement?
Nee, je koopt alleen deze samenvatting voor €6,99. Je zit daarna nergens aan vast.
