European Union Law

Here are some of the resources on decision-making in the EU available through the UIUC Library system. Search the catalog for additional resources.

The scope of the EU's decision-making authority is limited to those policy areas (or "competences" in EU parlance) that have been expressly delegated to the EU by the Member States.  This delegation of authority is outlined in Part I, Title I, of the consolidated Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.  The Member States retain the authority to legislate and regulate on policy matters that are not expressly delegated to the EU by treaty.

In some policy areas, the EU has exclusive competence, meaning that the Member States have delegated all of their lawmaking authority to the EU.  Other policy matters constitute areas of shared competence between the EU and the Member States.  In some areas of shared competence, the Member States may legislate only to the extent that the EU has refrained from legislating.  In other areas of shared competence, the EU may only supplement legislation enacted by the Member States.  

An important corollary to the concept of shared competences is the principle of subsidiarity, which holds that the EU should refrain from acting when an objective can be accomplished more efficiently by the individual Member States or their political subdivisions.

The following table highlights some of the EU's areas of exclusive and shared competence.  Consult Part I, Title I, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union for a complete inventory of exclusive and shared competences.

The legislative process in the EU is unusual in that the right to initiate legislation belongs not to the legislature, but to a separate institution, the European Commission.  Although the Commission often introduces legislation at the request of the legislature or the Member States, the Commission gets to determine what form the legislation will take.

With the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, most EU legislation is now subject to the Ordinary Legislative Procedure, under which the Commission submits a proposal to both the Parliament and the EU Council.  The Parliament takes the initiative in amending the proposal.  If the Council accepts the Parliament's amendments, the legislation is enacted.  If the Council rejects the Parliament's amendments, it may then submit its own amendments.  If the Parliament takes no action, the legislation is adopted on the Council's terms.  If the Parliament rejects the Council's wording, a conciliation committee may be appointed to hammer out a compromise.  

The EU's foundational treaties also provide for a variety of "special legislative procedures," including the the Consent Procedure and the Consultation Procedure that allow the Council to enact legislation with substantially less input from the Parliament.  In some cases, the Council may bypass the Parliament entirely and enact legislation in consultation with the Commission.  There are even a few circumstances where the Commission can enact legislation on its own without consulting either chamber of the legislature. 

A more detailed discussion of the EU's legislative process can be found in the Guide to EU Decision-Making, written by Professor Steven Peers of the University of Essex, and in The ABC of European Union Law, written by Professor Klaus-Dieter Borchardt of the University of Wurzburg.

"In the case of most EU legislation, the Council of the European Union decides by qualified majority, which is the default voting rule in accordance with Article 16 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). However, in some areas of EU legislation, the Council acts by unanimity and procedural decisions are taken by a simple majority (where 14 out of 27 EU Member States are in favour).

Until 1 November 2014, the Member States with the largest populations had 27 to 29 votes, medium-sized countries 7 to 14 votes and small countries 3 or 4 votes. A decision required at least 260 out of 352 votes to be adopted.

On 1 November 2014, the rules for establishing a qualified majority changed (Article 16 TEU). When the Council acts on a proposal from the Commission or the EU’s High Representative, a qualified majority is reached if:

• 55% of the members of the Council vote in favour (i.e. 15 out of 27);
• these members of the Council represent at least 65% of the total EU population.

This is known as the double majority rule. A blocking minority must include at least 4 Member States.

When the Council does not act on a proposal from the Commission or the High Representative a qualified majority is reached if:

• at least 72% of Council members vote in favour (i.e. 20 out of 27); and
• they represent at least 65% of the total EU population.

Until 31 March 2017, Member States could still request that an act is adopted in accordance with the previous rule for qualified majority voting. In addition, they may request the application of the Ioannina II compromise (see Declaration No 7 annexed to the Lisbon Treaty). This allows a group of countries to demonstrate their opposition to an act even if the group is not large enough in number to constitute a blocking minority."

Credit: Lex Europa, Glossary of summaries, "Weighting of Votes in the Council," https://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/weighting_votes_council.html (Last accessed 8/31/2021)

Old Weighted Voting Distribution: