How To Pass A Law Fast

Stick the details in the  Annex. So few people read, and even fewer read to the Annexes, you’ll be able to hide the substance in plain sight.

Make sure the title is suitably non-descriptive. Give it an innocuous title. If a substance, the full name. This will ensure that most people will never look at the initiative.

Follow the rules of procedure to the letter. You don’t want to be tripped up near the end by some perceived procedural error.

Use plain English in your communication. This will throw many technical experts who find it hard, if it not impossible, to communicate clearly. You’ll be the only person in the room who the political masters can understand.

It helps to have a politically savvy Cabinet lead who is taking your initiative through. They’ll be the one who is more than happy to call out in Chef de Fiche meetings the origin of the national champion concerns being raised by a DG.

Work to get your initiative in the Political Guidelines and first Work Programme. You are half way there before you even  started.

Consult with the Member States extensively. Do this bilaterally and through expert groups/committee meetings. Keep detailed records to show that most /all governments signed off on each position before it went out the door.

Consult with stakeholders. Keep detailed records of all meetings. Keep on file each interest groups solutions and proposals to the initiative. Make sure that the meeting records are very detailed. If stakeholders have no solutions and proposals for the proposal, you’ll be sadly forced to respond along the following lines “whilst we may not agree on the proposal, it is not fair to say we have not taken into your position. We have met 20 times, and we have answered 100 letters, and many more emails. We were unable to take on board your position you provided no obvious solution, evidence or proposal to support your position”.

It helps if stakeholders who oppose your initiative turn up late, like for the first time on the Monday afternoon before  the College adoption on Wednesday, or the morning of the final trilogue. It is hard to take on board their concerns at this late stage.

It helps if stakeholders who oppose your initiative don’t know how the Commission adopt proposals and how laws are made.

You are blessed if the opposition in the Council or EP comes from the political marginal, or elements who seem to hold themselves out as ‘Friends of Vladimir Putin’. The mainstream who opposed the proposal will now back your proposal.

Once the proposal is out, be available 24/7 to assist the Rapporteur and Presidency in their legislative deliberations. Meet Perm Reps when they need to address any points of clarification.

Make sure your briefings are clear. You’ll stand out in a world of gobbledygook.Address any points of concerns clearly.

Hope that stakeholders who support your proposal are on top of their game. They are the ones meeting Ministers and their teams back home to make sure that the position in Brussels is the right one.

Hope that media coverage pops up at just the right time in just the right journal of record to help switch doubting mind(s). There is nothing more cathartic for a politician to find out the world is watching and the press will cover their decision.

Keep a detailed record of how every political agreement was reached, and the evidence for every agreement, so that when political amnesia kicks in, you have a contemporaneous record to remind people that they voted for the proposal for exactly the same reasons that they now question, being fully aware at the time of the issue, and having  the same  evidence to support their decision.

Be nice. The most successful officials at passing ambitious laws were all nice people. They were able to communicate at the technical, policy and political level with ease. They left the ego at the door.

Work hard. Passing laws is not something for idol and hangers on. It is long and irregular hours.

All success sits with your political masters. You are a just a foots soldier.

When it is ended, list all the follow up measures that are necessary, e.g. Q&A, planning for delegated and implementing acts, information notes for 3rd countries and interested parties. Inform your hierarchy. Don’t let a new law flounder on poor follow up.