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Written by Kristina Grošek.
The ninth parliamentary term formally ended on 15 July 2024, ahead of the constitutive part-session of the European Parliament elected on 6-9 June 2024. Despite their best efforts, the co‑legislators had not reached agreement on a number of legislative proposals before the end of the ninth term. These will form a major part of the business that needs to be picked up again in the tenth term. To ensure continuity in its work, Parliament has adopted rules on how to deal with unfinished files.
Unfinished business in the European Parliament
‘Unfinished business’ refers to any procedure on which parliamentary work was ongoing at the end of the parliamentary term, i.e. where the plenary had not taken a final decision. According to Rule 250 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, at the end of the last part-session before elections, all Parliament’s unfinished business is deemed to have lapsed, unless the Conference of Presidents – at the beginning of the new term – decides, on the basis of reasoned requests from parliamentary committees and other institutions, to resume or continue consideration of the unfinished business. Furthermore, Parliament can ask the European Commission to refer a proposal to it again, in order for work to resume (Rules62 and 86).
Unfinished files at the end of the ninth parliamentary term
As of 1 July 2024, at the end of the ninth term, some 174ordinary legislative procedure files were ongoing at different stages of the legislative process. Of these, around 60 remained at an early stage. There are also several other unfinished files (e.g. special legislative procedures, budgetary procedures, and non-legislative procedures). In line with Rule 250, once the committees have been constituted, the new Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC) will invite each committee to provide information on the state of play of unfinished files, and on how they intend to handle them (resume work, or ask the Commission to modify or withdraw the proposal). The Conference of Presidents will then decide on which files work will resume and in what manner. On the basis of that decision, the President will then inform the Commission and the Council of Parliament’s plans.
Unfinished files at the end of the eighth parliamentary term
On 24 July 2019, the Chair of the CCC wrote to the chairs of all committees, requesting that they examine the unfinished files and inform him on how they proposed to proceed. Following this, at its meeting of 16 October 2019, the Conference of Presidents decided to resume work on 37 files under the ordinary legislative procedure where a first-reading position had not yet been adopted. The decision listed a further 83 files on which a first-reading position had already been adopted in plenary. Work was to resume on another 71 files (under various procedures), while the Commission was asked to withdraw 12 legislative proposals.
Commission and Council
The Treaties do not set out a specific procedure for handling unfinished legislative files at the end of a parliamentary term, but they do allow the Commission to change a proposal, as long as the Council has not acted (Article 293(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). For those files where the first reading has been concluded in Parliament, once the Council has transmitted its first-reading position, Treaty deadlines for the second reading must be respected. The 2007 joint declaration on practical arrangements for the co-decision procedure stipulates that the institutions coordinate their work, to enable proceedings to be conducted in a coherent and convergent fashion (point 6), with maximum efficiency (point 20).
Read this ‘at a glance note ‘on ‘Unfinished business from the ninth term‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
[[{“value”:”
Written by Kristina Grošek.
The ninth parliamentary term formally ended on 15 July 2024, ahead of the constitutive part-session of the European Parliament elected on 6-9 June 2024. Despite their best efforts, the co‑legislators had not reached agreement on a number of legislative proposals before the end of the ninth term. These will form a major part of the business that needs to be picked up again in the tenth term. To ensure continuity in its work, Parliament has adopted rules on how to deal with unfinished files.
Unfinished business in the European Parliament
‘Unfinished business’ refers to any procedure on which parliamentary work was ongoing at the end of the parliamentary term, i.e. where the plenary had not taken a final decision. According to Rule 250 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, at the end of the last part-session before elections, all Parliament’s unfinished business is deemed to have lapsed, unless the Conference of Presidents – at the beginning of the new term – decides, on the basis of reasoned requests from parliamentary committees and other institutions, to resume or continue consideration of the unfinished business. Furthermore, Parliament can ask the European Commission to refer a proposal to it again, in order for work to resume (Rules62 and 86).
Unfinished files at the end of the ninth parliamentary term
As of 1 July 2024, at the end of the ninth term, some 174ordinary legislative procedure files were ongoing at different stages of the legislative process. Of these, around 60 remained at an early stage. There are also several other unfinished files (e.g. special legislative procedures, budgetary procedures, and non-legislative procedures). In line with Rule 250, once the committees have been constituted, the new Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC) will invite each committee to provide information on the state of play of unfinished files, and on how they intend to handle them (resume work, or ask the Commission to modify or withdraw the proposal). The Conference of Presidents will then decide on which files work will resume and in what manner. On the basis of that decision, the President will then inform the Commission and the Council of Parliament’s plans.
Unfinished files at the end of the eighth parliamentary term
On 24 July 2019, the Chair of the CCC wrote to the chairs of all committees, requesting that they examine the unfinished files and inform him on how they proposed to proceed. Following this, at its meeting of 16 October 2019, the Conference of Presidents decided to resume work on 37 files under the ordinary legislative procedure where a first-reading position had not yet been adopted. The decision listed a further 83 files on which a first-reading position had already been adopted in plenary. Work was to resume on another 71 files (under various procedures), while the Commission was asked to withdraw 12 legislative proposals.
Commission and Council
The Treaties do not set out a specific procedure for handling unfinished legislative files at the end of a parliamentary term, but they do allow the Commission to change a proposal, as long as the Council has not acted (Article 293(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). For those files where the first reading has been concluded in Parliament, once the Council has transmitted its first-reading position, Treaty deadlines for the second reading must be respected. The 2007 joint declaration on practical arrangements for the co-decision procedure stipulates that the institutions coordinate their work, to enable proceedings to be conducted in a coherent and convergent fashion (point 6), with maximum efficiency (point 20).
Read this ‘at a glance note ‘on ‘Unfinished business from the ninth term‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
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