Why time is not on your side.

From the day the Commission publishes a legislative proposal, time is not on your side.

If you have not stepped in during the proposal’s preparation or have not received the proposal you want, you have a limited window of opportunity to get the law you want.

Many people miss that opportunity or don’t know it exists.

Time starts from the day the proposal is published and ends when a political agreement between the Council and EP is reached.

Whilst that political agreement may unravel or get alerted, the chances of it happening are low.

I don’t count the period after the political agreement. That text goes through some rubber stamping by the Committee, EP  Plenary, and COREPER, a formal signature ceremony and publication in the OJ.

The text is (more or less) fixed. It goes through a legal linguistic check. Sure, the French Perm Rep may phone up and say that shall meant may, but they’ll be ignored most of the time.

I realise that picking on a few limited moments in time may appear simplistic. There are after all around 70 steps in the journey of a piece of legislation. But they are some of the key moments.

In my experience, the best time to get what you want are:

1 and 6 are the most important.

Let’s look at a few files: Air pollution, CLP and Eco-design.

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30 March 2022: Proposal Published

18 May 2022: EP appoint Rapporteur

31 March 2022: Council Experts meet

12 December 2022: Rapporteur publishes draft report

22 May 2023: Council  General Approach

15 June 2023: Committee adopt Position

12 July 2023:  EP Adopt position

30 August 2023: First Trilogue

7 November 2023: Second Trilogue

5 Dember 2023:  Political Agreement

22 December 2023: COREPER approve the agreement

22 April: Vote in Plenary on the Deal

• You need to have a clear on the Commission’s ideas about a year before they table a proposal.
• You need to a clear position, alternative approaches, practical solutions, evidence, and legal language about 8 weeks after the Commission table their proposal.
• It takes time for MEPs and Member States to understand and take up your position.
• You need to be trusted by the key players involved in negotiating the text before the proposal is tabled or soon after.
• The technical trilogues are key. This is when the real deal is done. The dates of those meetings are not publicised.
• There are likely around 20 people who will have a major influence on the proposal’s contents. Your job is to know who they are and trust them. That is 20 out of 250 people (officials and politicians in the Member States, Brussels, and a limited group of journalists and opinion formers).
• Publishing position papers late in the day – which seems common practice – seems pointless.

This may not read across to other policy areas. Environment attaches and MEPs are likely more experienced in legislating.