Legislative proposals

Article 17 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) sets out the various tasks and roles to be played by the European Commission, with its second paragraph explicitly stating that ‘Union legislative acts may only be adopted on the basis of a Commission proposal, except where the Treaties provide otherwise’. This right of initiative gives the Commission considerable power in shaping EU policy and legislation. However, as the treaty article makes clear, the Commission does not have the monopoly for initiating legislative proposals.

The European Parliament may, under Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), ‘acting by a majority of its component Members, request the Commission to submit any appropriate proposal on matters on which it considers that a Union act is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties’. The treaties also stipulate the cases where the Parliament has a direct right of initiative: for decisions relating to its own composition (Article 14 TEU), for the provisions on the election of its members (Article 223(1) TFEU), for the general conditions governing the performance of its members’ duties (Article 223(2) TFEU), for the rules governing the exercise of its right of inquiry (Article 226 TFEU) and for the regulations and general conditions governing the performance of the Ombudsman’s duties (Article 228 TFEU).

A European Council summit may call on the Commission to draw up policy proposals.

The Council of the European Union, under Article 241 TFEU, ‘acting by a simple majority, may request the Commission to undertake any studies the Council considers desirable for the attainment of the common objectives, and to submit to it any appropriate proposals’.

Under Article 11 TEU and Article 24 TFEU, the citizens’ initiative allows citizens to invite the Commission to submit proposals on which they believe EU legislation should be adopted. Once an initiative has reached one million signatures from at least seven EU Member States (each country has a minimum threshold), the Commission has to decide what action to take, if any.

In the context of the ordinary legislative procedure, legislative proposals may also be put forward by the following:

a quarter of the Member States (under Article 76 TFEU),
the Court of Justice (under Article 257 TFEU), and
the European Central Bank (under Article 40 of Protocol No 4).

The legislative process (ordinary legislative procedure or special legislative procedure) used to adopt legislative proposals is determined by the treaty article that forms the legal basis of the act.