{"id":423,"date":"2013-02-13T13:31:03","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T13:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/?page_id=423"},"modified":"2017-05-31T10:44:14","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T10:44:14","slug":"the-consultation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-2-understanding-eu-policy-making\/the-consultation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Special Legislative Procedures: Consultation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Under the consultation procedure the Commission and the Council are only required to\u00a0<b>consult<\/b>\u00a0the European Parliament on legislative proposals. This means that if the Council so wishes, it may enact legislation that the European Parliament does not approve of.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/europa.eu\/legislation_summaries\/glossary\/consultation_procedure_en.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click here to read a description of the consultation procedure from the Europa website<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Under the consultation procedure, the Council can vote using qualified majority voting if necessary, however, in practice consensus is often achieved.<\/p>\n<h2><b>A powerless Parliament?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Despite its lack of veto power within this procedure, the Parliament is not completely powerless to act in the face of legislation it opposes. Thanks to the \u2018isoglucose\u2019 ruling of the ECJ in 1980 (case 138\/79), where the ECJ stated that the Council\u00a0<strong>must<\/strong>\u00a0wait for Parliament&#8217;s opinion prior to adopting legislation; thus, Parliament has a valuable delaying power.<\/p>\n<p>In cases when the Parliament is unhappy with proposed legislation, it can postpone making a decision and lobby the Commission to change the proposal. This does not constitute a veto, as the Parliament is unable to withhold its opinion permanently. However it does at least make sure that the Parliament&#8217;s opinions are taken into account.<\/p>\n<p>The consultation procedure in diagrammatic form\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-757 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/consultation_procedure.jpg\" alt=\"consultation_procedure\" width=\"395\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/consultation_procedure.jpg 395w, https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/consultation_procedure-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Before the 1980\u2019s and the adoption of the Single European Act, the consultation procedure was the most common form of decision making procedure in the EU. Reflecting a long term shift towards more involvement of the Parliament in decision making, the consultation procedure is now only used in a small number of areas such as internal market exemptions and the competition law.<\/p>\n<p>Consultation Key Facts<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Commission makes a proposal<\/li>\n<li>Parliament is asked for its opinion before the Council can act<\/li>\n<li>The Council cannot act until it receives the Parliament&#8217;s opinion, however the Parliament cannot permanently delay its opinion<\/li>\n<li>The Council acts by consensus but can use QMV<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Consultation Key Features<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No Parliament veto<\/li>\n<li>Parliament is only able to exert some power by delaying<\/li>\n<li>Power rests with the Council so this process can be seen as largely intergovernmental<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Under the consultation procedure the Commission and the Council are only required to\u00a0consult\u00a0the European Parliament on legislative proposals. This means that if the Council so wishes, it may enact legislation that the European Parliament does not approve of.\u00a0Click here to read a description of the consultation procedure from the Europa website Under the consultation procedure,<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-wrapper\"><a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-2-understanding-eu-policy-making\/the-consultation\/\" title=\"Read More\"> <span class=\"button \">Read More<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":393,"menu_order":33,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-423","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Special Legislative Procedures: Consultation - European Studies Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-2-understanding-eu-policy-making\/the-consultation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Special Legislative Procedures: Consultation - European Studies Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Under the consultation procedure the Commission and the Council are only required to\u00a0consult\u00a0the European Parliament on legislative proposals. This means that if the Council so wishes, it may enact legislation that the European Parliament does not approve of.\u00a0Click here to read a description of the consultation procedure from the Europa website Under the consultation procedure, Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/learning\/module-2-understanding-eu-policy-making\/the-consultation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"European Studies Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-31T10:44:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/hum.port.ac.uk\/europeanstudieshub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/consultation_procedure.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UoPEuropeanSt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-2-understanding-eu-policy-making\\\/the-consultation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hum.port.ac.uk\\\/europeanstudieshub\\\/learning\\\/module-2-understanding-eu-policy-making\\\/the-consultation\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Special Legislative Procedures: Consultation - 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