The ordinary legislative procedure (English version)

"How does the EU legislate?" is a PowerPoint presentation describing the ordinary legislative procedure. Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009 this procedure is almost universally used when the European Union legislates.

 

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How does the European Union legislate?

Under the Nice Treaty the most common way of making decisions in the EU was through the 'codecision procedure', which means that the Council and the European Parliament legislate together, on an equal basis.

In the Lisbon Treaty this procedure is called the 'ordinary legislative procudure'. Basically, the main difference is that now, under the Lisbon Treaty, this procedure is almost exclusively used when the European Union legislates. This means that the European Parliament now also legislates on the common agricultural policy (CAP) and in other areas where, according to the Nice Treaty, the Council used to be the sole legislator.

To describe this legislative procedure in a clear and vivid way we have chosen to show video cuts from when the Services Directive* was discussed and voted on in the European Parliament. In this presentation you can follow, step by step, the emergence of a new EU law. The action takes place from 2002 to 2006. The Services Directive entered into force in December 2009.

•  The EU decision_2012 (98MB)

In order to view and listen to this presentation you need to have PowerPoint as well as loudspeakers installed on your computer, and a programme for showing multimedia files. If you have an older version of PowerPoint you might need to update PowerPoint first. You also need a programme for unzipping zipped files (WinZip, e.g.).

Start downloading the presentation by clicking on 'Download the presentation', choose 'Open', not 'Save'. (It might take some minutes to download the presentation since it is rather heavy.) Mark all files in the list and choose 'Extract'. Choose where on your computer you would like to store the presentation, for instance in a new file on your desktop. Then choose 'Extract'. The presentation will now be placed in your new file. Please check the quality and volume of your loudspeakers. Then open the file.

1. Double click on 'The_EUs_decision_making_process_20100205', and the first slide will appear.
2. Show the next slide by clicking 'Page Up' or 'Enter' or on the arrow icon in the left hand corner of the slide.
3. Start the video (on slides where there is a black square) by clicking once anywhere within the black square. (Some moments might pass before the very first video starts.) Pause the video by clicking once anywhere in the video. Restart the video by clicking once more in the video.
4. To continue the presentation onto the next slide, click once outside of the video square / black square.

This PowerPoint presentation was compiled by the European Parliament Information Office in Sweden in collaboration with World Television. The CD (in Swedish) was produced by the Publications Office, Luxembourg.

© Copyright: The European Union, 2007, 2010.

This presentation is provided for free for information and educational purposes regarding the European Parliament. If the presentation is to be used for any other purposes, approval must be obtained beforehand by the European Parliament Information Office in Sweden. In no circumstances may this presentation be sold or rented. Nota bene! Pictures representing the buildings or art work of the European Parliament may only be used to illustrate current topics or events.

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* Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (OJ L 376, 27/12/2006, p. 36).