The European Parliament has set its internal deadlines for the legislative files to be approved within the end of this legislative mandate, according to a note seen by Euractiv. 

The European Parliament is a co-legislator together with the Council of the EU, where ministers gather on each matter to adopt the legislation following its proposal by the EU executive, the European Commission.

With the next EU elections to be held in June 2024, the race is on to complete legislation before the handover – as not all files are guaranteed to be rolled over to the incoming Parliament.

Early February next year will be the “last week to reach provisional agreement with the Council to publish files before Summer 2024”, the note reads.

Another deadline is set for the first two weeks of March, “to reach provisional agreements with Council in order to publish files in autumn 2024 under the corrigendum procedure,” the note states.

Legislative process

When the Commission publishes a legislative file, initiating the ‘ordinary legislative procedure’, the co-legislators start negotiating their position on the piece of legislation, before the beginning of the interinstitutional negotiations (the so-called trilogue). When the three institutions reach a deal, called a ‘provisional agreement’, it is to be voted on by the co-legislators. 

For these reasons, legislative processes are extremely long, often lasting at least a year or a year and a half.

Slightly before the end of each mandate, or legislative term, EU institutions have to come up with solutions, prioritising files that have to be approved before the election, which will be held in early June 2024.

The note set ‘Autumn 2023’ as the time frame to decide on the prioritisation of legislative files to be approved before the end of the mandate. At the end of November, the Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC) will hold a meeting with the Belgian presidency to “exchange on legislative priorities”.

The CCC is a political body of the European Parliament which coordinates the work of parliamentary committees, which are at the core of the EU Parliament’s legislative work.

The Belgian government will hold the presidency of the co-legislator (the Council), setting up the agenda from January to June 2024.

In mid-March, the CCC will hold a meeting regarding the state of play of remaining files and will discuss the “outlook of the new term” while the last session of the European Parliament before elections is set for 22-25 April.

Files that are not approved before the end of this mandate will be shifted to the next one. However, particularly on the EU Parliament side, can be subject to re-consideration, depending on which legislative stage they reach.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]

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