Transparency and Trilogues: Real Legislative Work for Grown-Ups?

Abstract

Trilogues represent a decisive stage in the European Union (EU) legislative process and often settle the substantive content of EU legislation. During trilogues, negotiations move fast and new solutions are actively identified by the negotiators. The (lack of) transparency of trilogues has been repeatedly criticised in recent years, yet the EU institutions have defended their “space to think”. Relying on a set of interviews with trilogue participants, this paper mirrors the institutional practices in the final stages of EU law-making against the requirements of openness in the EU Treaties, which aim to strengthen “democracy by allowing citizens to scrutinize all the information which has formed the basis of a legislative act”. The paper argues that, despite noble proclamations, the EU’s legislative practices are characterised by institutional discretion and the lack enforcement of transparency requirements. The paper describes how trilogues are conducted and how questions involving risk management and technically complex issues are assessed in this process. Greater transparency would also help to ensure that risks and alternatives are properly assessed and would thus contribute to better-quality risk regulation in the EU.

From Bad to Worse: The Continuous Dilemma Facing Parliaments in European Economic and Fiscal Governance

“…Following the July 2020 European Council, the EP was involved in fine-tuning the high-level criteria for the use of the RRF funds as part of the ordinary legislative procedure. Much EU legislation is today approved in 'trilogues', whereby EU laws are adopted without much public debate (Leino-Sandberg 2023;Shackleton and Raunio 2003). These debates are even further diminished when the legislative process is effectively steered by the European Council.…”