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Decision Making Processes and Lobbying in the EU

Decision Making Processes and Lobbying in the EU. Thomas Prorok. Preliminary steps of the legislative procedure. Commission, Council & Parliament ideas must be found and communicated Green and White Books Commission's sole right of initiative

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Decision Making Processes and Lobbying in the EU

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  1. Decision Making Processes and Lobbying in the EU Thomas Prorok

  2. Preliminary steps of the legislative procedure • Commission, Council & Parliament • ideas must be found and communicated • Green and White Books • Commission's sole right of initiative • Council Parliament request submission of proposals for specific questions. • European Council defines the general political objectives • ==> lobby on national level

  3. The Position of the European Commission • Monopoly of Commission on decisions relating to the date, form, and contents of the legislative measure • influence the legislative procedure by modifying or withdrawing its proposal • File leaders • proposal comes from the competent file leader • carried out in the departments • issue a statement • file leader always tries to obtain a consensus • Inter service meetings are organised in addition • National experts: • meet in committees set up for this specific purpose • or the information proceeds from ad hoc interviews with experts

  4. The advisory committees within the Commission • Commission & experts/ civil servants from MS • National experts also act as members of the working groups of Council • Hearings facultative or obligatory • Committees are advisory and supportive • Established by ToR, most by secondary legislation • Committees are of special importance • Member states try to implement their own interests as early as in the expert committees. • Commission is not bound by the proposals from the committees

  5. Further steps and the decision making process in the Commission • Legal service verifies the legal consistency • Cabinets prepare consultations in the Commission • at the beginning of each week • A-points: chefs de cabinet agree on a resolution • ==> Commission only needs to approve it formally • oral procedure in a joint meeting • written procedure • exclude technical matters from the meeting • delegation procedure • authorises a member of the Commission • management and administration • 15% in oral and 60% in written procedures

  6. Further steps and the decision making process after Commission • Publication • draft is forwarded to the Council as a proposal by the Commission • proposals and changes approved by the Commission are published in the Journal, Section C. • The Hearing Phase • The Council verifies whether other institutions (e.g. Committee of the Regions) have a hearing right. • In most cases this hearing right is guaranteed by the treaties (obligatory hearing), in addition facultative hearings have become a rule in almost all cases. • enormous political relevance. • After the hearing phase the Council might have a modified version of the Commission's proposal.

  7. The decision making process • Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC, COREPER) • Prepares the Council meetings • Strongly formalised institution on an ambassadorial level meeting weekly • Working groups • Experts from the ministries of the member states • Same representatives as in the Commission • Not solved issued in are handled to PRC or Council • A and B-items • A-items have already been sorted in the PRC • summary decision without any prior discussion • true items of the agenda (B-items) to be discussed before decision in the Council • About 80% of decisions are taken according to the A-items procedure. • Decision procedure majority of decisions are taken by qualified majority. • Role of the European Parliament • Since the Treaty of Amsterdam the codecision procedure has applied to most of the fields of Community legislation.

  8. Comitology - Implementing decisions • Commission implements Council decisions in cooperation with committees composed of national civil servants • Council transfers implementing EC legislation to the Commission • 1987: Comitology decision providing for various committee proceedings for advising and controlling the Commission • Advisory committees • implementation of the Internal Market • opinion must be heeded by the Commission in as far as possible • Management committees • involved in the implementation provisions for agriculture since 1962 • regulatory committee • opinions on the implementation provisions planned by the Commission • qualified majority • If rejected, the Commission must first submit them to the Council • Importance of commitology • integrates the member states into all decision making processes • more than 1000

  9. Summary: Lobbyism • activities are particularly focused on the Commission, • also European Parliament • Council through the national civil servants, • further Institutions of the Union and the numerous committees • lobbyists' expert knowledge is often welcome to the commission • main possibilities for Lobbying: • before the legislative proceedings (committees of the Commission), • during the proceedings (working groups in the Council, PRC, European Parliament, and Committee of the Regions) • after the conclusion of the legislative process during the implementation phase (comitology)

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