EUImpact

Ordinary legislative procedure

Files the Commission, Parliament and Council are still arguing over.

Most EU law is not a Commission decree. The Commission proposes; Parliament and the Council co-legislate; trilogues are the closed-door talks that try to finish the job. Status notes are briefings — OEIL and EUR-Lex are the record.

How a file moves

  1. 1

    Commission proposal

    The Commission tables a text. Parliament and Council start work in parallel.

  2. 2

    Council position

    Member states agree a general approach or negotiating mandate.

  3. 3

    Parliament position

    A committee or plenary adopts a first-reading position or a trilogue mandate.

  4. 4

    Trilogue

    Informal talks between Parliament, Council and Commission to close the gaps.

  5. 5

    Provisional deal

    Negotiators shook hands. Each institution still has to confirm the text.

  6. 6

    Formal adoption

    Legal-linguistic polish, votes, then the Official Journal. Not law until then.

Watch list

High-salience co-decision files. Stages move; open OEIL before you act.

  • EU budget 2028–2034

    Trilogue

    MFF package (Commission 2025)

    This is the seven-year ceiling on almost everything else: farms, regions, research, Ukraine support, and new funds. No MFF, no orderly start to the next programmes.

    The three institutions treated a prompt MFF deal as a 2026 joint priority. National envelopes, own resources and new spending (defence, competitiveness) are the real fight.

    The fight: Who pays more, whether new EU taxes appear, and how much is ring-fenced for defence versus cohesion and climate.

    Legislative ObservatoryOfficial dossier

  • ETS tweak

    Commission proposal

    2026/0229(COD)

    The ETS sets the carbon price that industry and (increasingly) other sectors actually pay. Tweaks to the reserve change scarcity — and power and steel bills.

    A 2026 ordinary-legislative-procedure file on the carbon market. Early: Commission text is in, co-legislators are opening it.

    The fight: How tight the cap stays versus industry competitiveness and CBAM interaction.

    Legislative ObservatoryOfficial dossier

  • Defence and chemicals speed-up

    Trilogue

    2025/0176(COD) · COM(2025) 822

    It sits at the junction of chemicals law and the 2030 defence-readiness goal: faster permits, without quietly hollowing REACH.

    Parliament voted a committee mandate and opened interinstitutional talks after the December 2025 committee vote. Classic trilogue file.

    The fight: How far environmental and health controls bend for military production, and how much of the European Defence Fund logic spills into civilian chemicals.

    Legislative ObservatoryOfficial dossier

  • Returns regulation

    Trilogue

    Ordinary legislative procedure (2025 Commission proposal)

    This is the operational follow-on to the migration pact: how people who do not have a right to stay are returned, detained, or transferred.

    Still a live co-decision file in 2026. EPRS has been briefing it as legislation in progress through mid-2026.

    The fight: Detention, mutual recognition of return decisions, and fundamental-rights safeguards versus speed and ‘effectiveness’.

    Legislative ObservatoryOfficial dossier

  • Securitisation reform

    Trilogue

    Ordinary legislative procedure · trilogues from June 2026

    The rules decide how banks package loans. Capital treatment changes who gets credit, including for housing and SMEs.

    Parliament, Council and Commission entered a late trilogue phase in summer 2026 after each side had a mandate.

    The fight: How simple and transparent a deal must be to get lighter capital, without repeating pre-2008 opacity.

    Legislative ObservatoryOfficial dossier

  • Pharma package

    Provisional deal

    2023/0131(COD) and 2023/0132(COD)

    Biggest rewrite of EU medicines law in twenty years: how long a company keeps data protection, shortages, and access in smaller markets.

    Provisional political agreement in December 2025. Coreper endorsed in March 2026. Formal adoption and OJ publication were the remaining steps through 2026.

    The fight: Length of regulatory protection versus obligation to launch and supply in all Member States.

    Legislative ObservatoryOfficial dossier

  • Critical Medicines Act

    Provisional deal

    Ordinary legislative procedure

    It is about not running out of antibiotics, insulin and other critical products when a factory fails.

    Provisional political agreement reported in May 2026, travelling with the pharma rewrite as the supply-security twin.

    The fight: Industrial policy (EU manufacturing) versus open procurement and state-aid limits.

    Legislative ObservatoryOfficial dossier

  • Green claims

    Trilogue

    2023/0085(COD)

    It would police ‘climate-neutral’ and similar labels on products. If it dies or is gutted, greenwash stays a marketing problem.

    A long-running co-decision file. Trilogues have been politically sticky; treat the OEIL record as the live status, not a press headline.

    The fight: How much proof a company needs before it prints a green slogan, and whether micro-firms are in.

    Legislative ObservatoryOfficial dossier

New Commission proposals

Live from EUR-Lex: texts proposed for the Parliament and the Council (ordinary procedure). Updated when you open this page.

The proposals feed is quiet from here. Use EUR-Lex preparatory acts.

Institution press is separate: Official news.