The ordinary legislative procedure step by step (Article 294 TFEU)

Most EU legislation is made by one procedure, and its deadlines and majorities are some of the most testable numbers in the syllabus. Every figure below comes from the Treaty text, chiefly Article 294 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Read it alongside how qualified majority is calculated, since the Council's votes in this procedure are by qualified majority unless stated otherwise.

What the procedure is

Acts adopted by a legislative procedure are "legislative acts" (Art 289(3) TFEU). The procedure applies wherever a Treaty article refers to it. The proposal normally comes from the Commission, but in cases the Treaties specify it can come from a group of Member States, a recommendation of the ECB or a request of the Court of Justice; then the Commission's formal role shrinks (Art 294(15) TFEU).

The procedure at a glance

1. Proposal. The Commission submits a proposal to Parliament and the Council (Art 294(2)).
2. First reading. Parliament adopts its position; the Council either approves it (the act is adopted) or adopts its own position (Art 294(3) to (6)).
3. Second reading. Parliament has three months to approve, reject or amend the Council's position; the Council then has three months to approve all of Parliament's amendments or not (Art 294(7) and (8)).
4. Conciliation. If the Council does not approve all the amendments, a Conciliation Committee is convened within six weeks and has six weeks to agree a joint text (Art 294(8) and (10) to (12)).
5. Third reading. Parliament and the Council each have six weeks to adopt the joint text (Art 294(13)).
6. Signature and publication. The Presidents of Parliament and the Council sign the act, and it is published in the Official Journal (Art 297(1)).

The act can be adopted at any of the three readings. Parliament's own overview stresses that conciliation "has become the exception", and says that in its ninth term (2019-2024) all files under the procedure were agreed at first or early second reading.

First reading

• Parliament adopts its position at first reading and sends it to the Council (Art 294(3)). It votes by a majority of the votes cast, its default rule (Art 231 TFEU).
• If the Council approves Parliament's position, the act is adopted in Parliament's wording (Art 294(4)).
• If not, the Council adopts its own position at first reading, sends it to Parliament and explains its reasons fully; the Commission tells Parliament its position too (Art 294(5) and (6)).
• No deadline. Article 294 sets no time limit for either first reading. Parliament's overview says the same: neither institution is subject to any time limit for concluding its first reading.

Second reading

The clock starts when Parliament receives the Council's first-reading position. Within three months, Parliament (Art 294(7)):

• approves the Council's position or takes no decision: the act is deemed adopted in the Council's wording;
• rejects the Council's position by a majority of its component members: the act is deemed not adopted;
• amends the Council's position by a majority of its component members: the amended text goes to the Council and the Commission, and the Commission gives an opinion on the amendments.

With 720 Members in 2024-2029 (Decision (EU) 2023/2061), a majority of component members is 361, the figure Parliament gives on its own pages. Silence works in the Council's favour here: if Parliament does nothing in three months, the Council's position becomes law.

The Council then has three months from receiving Parliament's amendments. Acting by qualified majority, it either approves all of them, and the act is adopted, or does not, in which case the President of the Council, in agreement with the President of Parliament, convenes the Conciliation Committee within six weeks (Art 294(8)).

Conciliation and third reading

• Composition. The members of the Council or their representatives, and an equal number of members representing Parliament (Art 294(10)).
• Task and majorities. To agree a joint text within six weeks of being convened, by a qualified majority of the Council side and a majority of the Parliament side, on the basis of the two second-reading positions (Art 294(10)).
• The Commission takes part and takes all necessary initiatives to reconcile the positions (Art 294(11)).
• No joint text in six weeks: the act is deemed not adopted (Art 294(12)).
• Third reading. If a joint text is approved, Parliament, acting by a majority of the votes cast, and the Council, acting by qualified majority, each have six weeks to adopt it. If they fail to, the act is deemed not adopted (Art 294(13)).

Note the change in Parliament's majority: a majority of component members to reject or amend at second reading, but only a majority of the votes cast at first and third reading.

Every time limit and majority in one table

Once adopted, the act is signed by the President of Parliament and the President of the Council, published in the Official Journal, and enters into force on the date it specifies or, failing that, on the twentieth day after publication (Art 297(1) TFEU).

The Commission's hold on its proposal: Article 293

Where the Council acts on a Commission proposal, it can amend that proposal only by acting unanimously. The Treaty exempts the conciliation and third-reading stages (Art 294(10) and (13)) and certain budget articles (Art 293(1) TFEU). And until the Council has acted, the Commission may alter its proposal at any time (Art 293(2) TFEU). Together with Article 294(9), this is why a negative Commission opinion matters: it raises the bar in the Council from qualified majority to unanimity.

Trilogues and early agreements

The Treaty does not mention trilogues. Parliament's overview describes the interinstitutional negotiations, led on its side by the rapporteur and the committee chair, through which most files are now agreed at first or early second reading. The Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016 commits the three institutions to "ensure the transparency of legislative procedures, on the basis of relevant legislation and case-law, including an appropriate handling of trilateral negotiations" (point 38). The same agreement records that Parliament and the Council "are to exercise their powers on an equal footing", with the Commission as "facilitator" (point 32).

Ordinary against special legislative procedures

A special legislative procedure is the adoption of a regulation, directive or decision by Parliament with the participation of the Council, or by the Council with the participation of Parliament, in the cases the Treaties specify (Art 289(2) TFEU). The participation is usually either consent or consultation:

Programming: how files are chosen and prioritised

The Commission initiates the Union's annual and multiannual programming (Art 17(1) TEU). Under the 2016 Interinstitutional Agreement, the Commission adopts an annual Work Programme after a dialogue with Parliament and the Council, and the three institutions then "agree on a joint declaration on annual interinstitutional programming", signed by their three Presidents, which identifies files that "should receive priority treatment in the legislative process" (points 6 and 7). The current programme is covered in the Commission's 2026 work programme.

When the procedure was introduced

Parliament's overview states that "Under the Treaty of Lisbon, codecision officially became the 'Ordinary Legislative Procedure'" and the general rule for EU legislation. Parliament's fact sheet on the Treaty of Lisbon gives its entry into force as 1 December 2009. The wider sequence of treaties is in the EU history timeline.

How the procedure is tested

The procedure gives examiners clean numbers to swap: three months against six weeks, one month against two weeks, a majority of component members against a majority of votes cast, qualified majority against unanimity (we estimate this from how the test is built from Treaty sentences). Learn each number with its stage. The glossary has "conciliation committee" and "trilogue" in English, French and German, and the Parliament hub and Council hub cover each co-legislator. For the acts the Commission adopts after a law is passed, see delegated and implementing acts.

Worked example (our own question)

Under Article 294 TFEU, how long does the European Parliament have to act on the Council's position at first reading, before any extension? (a) Six weeks; (b) Two months; (c) Three months; (d) Eight weeks.

Answer: (c). Article 294(7) TFEU: "If, within three months of such communication, the European Parliament...". The period can be extended by up to one month (Art 294(14)). Six weeks is the limit for convening the Conciliation Committee, for its work and for the third reading. Two months and eight weeks appear nowhere in Article 294.