For the last few years, I’ve taught on a course at the EUI, “Unboxing the European Commission.”
Over the years, the slides and case studies have been refined and become more forensic.
The Commission’s working practices evolve. Yet, 99% of ordinary legislation goes through a familiar journey of adoption and legislative passage. The politics and political players involved will change from file to file, but the process remains familiar.
Preparing for this October’s visit to Florence, I wanted to gain a better understanding of how much of the Commission’s preparation and internal decision-making process is publicly available.
Of the 38 key moments, 18 are unknown when a proposal is being prepared. These are the moments when you can influence the proposal most.
CLP OLP – bluured
Using the example of the adoption of the CLP Regulation, I’ve blurred out the steps that are not in the public during the adoption process. Some steps – meetings of ISSG and RSB and their opinion – are made public when the proposal is adopted. The most critical steps, such as meetings with the Cabinets to secure a lead, the launch of ISC, bilateral negotiations between services, or the initiation of drafting, are not public.
These are the vital steps that allow you to influence the proposal.
If you wait until the Commission’s proposal is published, your chances of getting what you want are at between 0 to 5%. There are of course exceptions, when frantic last efforts lead PM’s to intervene to save the day.
Most of this can be avoided if you bring high-quality evidence and solutions to the table at the start. The starting gun is when the file is mentioned in the Political Guidelines, Mission Letters, and Work Programme.
You then need to bring your solutions to the table and be a constructive partner throughout the preparation and drafting phase, directly with the Member State experts and the Commission’s Task Force, Services, and Cabinets.
You’ll need to know the steps that any ordinary legislative proposal goes through and what you can do to influence each step. If you’d like a forensic examination of what you can do, I’ll see you in Florence in October.
And this year, there will be a deep forensic dive into Delegated acts, implementing acts, and PRS measures.