Inter-institutional Procedure

European Parliament

 1.    the legislative proposal coming from the Commission is referred to the responsible Committee and to one or more committees expected to deliver opinions; in some cases, two or more Committees can work together on a proposal, under the “enhanced cooperation” procedure

2.    A draft report is adopted and sent to the plenary

3.    The proposal is adopted with or without amendments; if the amendments are not approved by the Council, there will be a second reading

European Parliament Committees

1.    The committee nominates a rapporteur whose main task is to draft the report on the legislative proposal; the political groups other than the one of the rapporteur nominate “shadow rapporteurs”

2.    An initial discussion takes place in the Committee, with the representatives of the Commission and Council being present.

3.    The rapporteur drafts the text. He gathers his information from various sources, including: national governments, European Commission, trade unions, lobbying groups, etc.

4.    The draft text is distributed to the members and discussed in the Committee. Amendments are tabled.

5.    The draft text is voted upon and adopted. It is collated by the Committee Secretariat (including the opinions from other Committees. It is translated into all 23 official languages and sent to the plenary.