A lot of time is spent trying to table to amendments to Commission proposals once they go out the door.
I’m asked when is the best time to get your ideas taken up.
My general answer is the best time to get your ideas taken up is whilst the proposal is still being considered.
Once it is out the door of the Commission, ideas are getting firmed up within 3-months and is near fully moulded within 6 months.
This means if you don’t have your ideas, in the form of legisaltive amendments, in front of people with the power of the pen, within 2-4 months of the proposal coming out the Commission you gave a problem.
In practice, it means you have 8 weeks to get your policy solutions down on paper, with supporting evidence, in the form of amendments and justifications when the Commission table their proposal,
The Best Time to get your ideas taken up
- drafting of the proposal in the Commission
- inter-service consultation
- when rapporteur/shadows, council working group first consider the report
- Rapporteur’s draft report and first package of amendments
- Deadline for amendments in Committee
- Working Group’s timetable for consideration of your amendments. If you step in after the Council Working Party have agreed on your Article, they won’t re-open it.
There is a longer list
7. Compromise amendments in Committee and Plenary
8. Technical meetings
9. Formal Trilogues
But, here you are playing with an ever diminishing returns of the ability to influence. And, in practice you are rifting on previous legislative language you prepared at the start.
Timing Example
If I look at a recent piece of legislation, the passage of the F-Gas Regulation, it gives you hints on when it is best to get your ideas added into the text.
- June 2020: Road Map published
- January 2022: RSB Consider IA
- February 2022: Drafting of Proposal
- March 2022: Inter-Service Consultation
- April 2022: Proposal adopted
- April 2022: Start of 8 week public consultation
- June 2022: First Discussion in Committee & Council Working Party
- October 2022: Draft Report to Environment Committee
- November 2022: Deadline for Amendments
- February 2023:Final Compromises in ENVI and Publication of Voting list
- February 2023: Counicl Working Party Compromise
- March 2023: Environment Committee adopt opinion
- April 2023: EP Plenary adopt, Council Mandate
- April, May, June, July 2023: Trilogues
- June-July 2023: Technincal Meetings
- October 2023: Agreeement
- February 2024: Law published in OJ
Challenges
You’ll need to move fast once the Commission raise the idea of bringing forward a piece of legislation on your issue.
This means you need to develop position, evidence and solutions. And, for each of your policy asks you’ll need to have legislative language to translate what you want into law.
You’ll have been been bringing forward your solutuions and supporting legislative langguage (aka amendments) during inter-service consultation.
If you don’t have this is pre-prepared once the Commission table the proposal you’ll have your work cut out for you.
This means a lot less internal meetings. I’ve found that internal meetings are the instruments of procrastination in all organisations – for and not for profit.
It makes sense to prepare defensive points on amemdnemtns you suspect will come up.
Everything after 8 weeks should just be iterations of established positions.
If you wake up late in the day, after a period of self imposed hibernation, and enter the debate too late, don’t be suprised if you are ignored.