Legislative initiatives - by the European Parliament
Style:
Description:
Files with 'Legislative initiative' status represent explicit demands to the
European Commission for a proposal for new EU legislation expressed by the
European Parliament in plenary following a legislative-initiative report (INL).
Only INL procedures based on Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union can have this status.
Status type:
Announced - forthcoming initiatives
Style:
Description:
Files with 'Announced' status are initiatives expected from the European
Commission – in particular legislative proposals – which will contribute to
the implementation of the Commission’s priorities.
Most such files are announced in the Political Guidelines (of the incoming
Commission at the start of the mandate), in the Commission President's
yearly State of the Union speech and accompanying letter of intent, or in
the annual Commission work programme. Planned legislative proposals may also
be announced in a strategy, communication or action plan adopted by the
Commission, sometimes with an anticipated date of publication.
A few non-legislative files (communications from the European Commission) can
also be found with this status. These either announce future legislative
activity or are of major political importance.
Status type:
Tabled - proposals submitted to Parliament by the Commission
Style:
Description:
Once Parliament has received a legislative proposal – or significant
non-legislative initiative – and is able to start its consideration, the
file takes the status 'Tabled'. The move to this status from 'announced'
represents a significant change, going from a planned initiative, entirely
in the hands of the Commission, to a formal proposal dependent – for its
amendment and adoption – on the legislator (in most cases, under the
ordinary legislative procedure, the Parliament and Council jointly).
Status type:
Close to adoption - legislative procedure nearly completed
Style:
Description:
The status 'Close to adoption' applies to files for which the legislative
procedure will shortly be finalised. In the case of the ordinary legislative
procedure, this means that the European Parliament and Council have concluded
interinstitutional negotiations (trilogue) and reached a provisional agreement
on the text. Such provisional agreements need still to be formally adopted by
the two institutions.
Status type:
Blocked - proposals proceeding slowly or stalled
Style:
Description:
Files take on the status 'Blocked' when there has been no progress over at
least the previous nine months. In particular, when one or other
co-legislator has not formally started work on a proposal more than nine
months after it was tabled, or when no activity on the proposal has been
recorded in either the Council or Parliament for at least nine months.
In addition, where the Commission has announced an initiative would be
tabled on a certain date, but more than nine months after that date the
initiative has not been tabled, the file moves to this status.
Status type:
Adopted/Completed - legislation adopted or discussion ended
Style:
Description:
Once a legislative proposal is formally adopted, and has been signed by the
presidents of the European Parliament and the Council (or just the latter if
a special legislative procedure applies), the file moves to
'Adopted/Completed' status.
In the case of non-legislative initiatives from the Commission, this status
applies once the debate is finished – for example, once Parliament has
adopted a resolution on a Commission communication, or once the Commission
has tabled all the legislative proposals announced in the communication
concerned.
A Parliament legislative initiative takes this status once the Commission
has responded formally.
Status type:
Withdrawn - legislative proposal tabled but subsequently withdrawn
Style:
Description:
Files with 'Withdrawn' status are previously tabled proposals that have been
officially withdrawn by the European Commission, namely once the withdrawal is
published in the Official Journal.
Name:
TRAIN
Description:
Represents a main priority of the European Commission (i.e. one of the six
priorities of the von der Leyen Commission (2019-2024), or ten priorities of the
Juncker Commission (2014-2019)). A train is composed of a number of files – both
legislative and non-legislative – each of which are also known as CARRIAGES.
Separate trains cover all the files assigned to each parliamentary committee
(please see EP Committees).
Name:
CARRIAGE
Description:
Equals a legislative or non-legislative file which
forms part of a train. A carriage may cover more than one file in rare cases of
technical adjustments or minor changes to existing files.
Name:
PACKAGE
Description:
Represents a group of legislative and/or non-legislative files, based on the
indications of the European Commission. A package may, for example, cover all
files published under a strategy or an action plan. The grouping always reflects
the way the Commission has organised it.
Name:
STATUS
Description:
Indicates the level of advancement of legislative work on a file. There are
seven statuses which a given file may take on during the time it goes through
the legislative process.
Name:
EC PRIORITY
Description:
Politically defined priority set at the beginning of each European Commission
mandate (i.e. the six priorities of the von der Leyen Commission, ten priorities
of the Juncker Commission). Each priority is represented by a TRAIN composed of
separate files known as CARRIAGES.
Name:
EP COMMITTEES
Description:
A list of legislative and non-legislative files assigned to a parliamentary
committee. In total, 19 standing committees are represented on this website.
Name:
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Description:
Important files grouped under a separate heading indicating a European policy
priority, a major current topic or any other theme that is key for European
policy.
Name:
SCHEDULE
Description:
General table presenting TRAINS (within EC Priorities or EP Committees) in a
summarised form with relevant statistical data by STATUS. Landing page of the
website.
Name:
PROCEDURE
Description:
Indicates procedure number which helps to find files quickly (e.g.
2021/XXXX(COD), 2020/XXXX(CNS), 20219/XXXX(APP)...)
Name:
COMMISSION WORK PROGRAMME
Description:
Allows to choose all the files presented in the annual Commission work
programme, for each year since 2019.