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Glossary

● Status ● Terminology

Status type:

Legislative initiatives - by the European Parliament

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Description:

Files with 'Legislative initiative' status represent explicit demands to the European Commission for a proposal for new EU legislation expressed by the European Parliament in plenary following a legislative-initiative report (INL). Only INL procedures based on Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union can have this status.

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Announced - forthcoming initiatives

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Description:

Files with 'Announced' status are initiatives expected from the European Commission – in particular legislative proposals – which will contribute to the implementation of the Commission’s priorities. Most such files are announced in the Political Guidelines (of the incoming Commission at the start of the mandate), in the Commission President's yearly State of the Union speech and accompanying letter of intent, or in the annual Commission work programme. Planned legislative proposals may also be announced in a strategy, communication or action plan adopted by the Commission, sometimes with an anticipated date of publication. A few non-legislative files (communications from the European Commission) can also be found with this status. These either announce future legislative activity or are of major political importance.

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Tabled - proposals submitted to Parliament by the Commission

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Description:

Once Parliament has received a legislative proposal – or significant non-legislative initiative – and is able to start its consideration, the file takes the status 'Tabled'. The move to this status from 'announced' represents a significant change, going from a planned initiative, entirely in the hands of the Commission, to a formal proposal dependent – for its amendment and adoption – on the legislator (in most cases, under the ordinary legislative procedure, the Parliament and Council jointly).

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Close to adoption - legislative procedure nearly completed

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Description:

The status 'Close to adoption' applies to files for which the legislative procedure will shortly be finalised. In the case of the ordinary legislative procedure, this means that the European Parliament and Council have concluded interinstitutional negotiations (trilogue) and reached a provisional agreement on the text. Such provisional agreements need still to be formally adopted by the two institutions.

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Blocked - proposals proceeding slowly or stalled

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Description:

Files take on the status 'Blocked' when there has been no progress over at least the previous nine months. In particular, when one or other co-legislator has not formally started work on a proposal more than nine months after it was tabled, or when no activity on the proposal has been recorded in either the Council or Parliament for at least nine months. In addition, where the Commission has announced an initiative would be tabled on a certain date, but more than nine months after that date the initiative has not been tabled, the file moves to this status.

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Adopted/Completed - legislation adopted or discussion ended

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Description:

Once a legislative proposal is formally adopted, and has been signed by the presidents of the European Parliament and the Council (or just the latter if a special legislative procedure applies), the file moves to 'Adopted/Completed' status. In the case of non-legislative initiatives from the Commission, this status applies once the debate is finished – for example, once Parliament has adopted a resolution on a Commission communication, or once the Commission has tabled all the legislative proposals announced in the communication concerned. A Parliament legislative initiative takes this status once the Commission has responded formally.

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Withdrawn - legislative proposal tabled but subsequently withdrawn

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Description:

Files with 'Withdrawn' status are previously tabled proposals that have been officially withdrawn by the European Commission, namely once the withdrawal is published in the Official Journal.

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TRAIN

Description:

Represents a main priority of the European Commission (i.e. one of the six priorities of the von der Leyen Commission (2019-2024), or ten priorities of the Juncker Commission (2014-2019)). A train is composed of a number of files – both legislative and non-legislative – each of which are also known as CARRIAGES. Separate trains cover all the files assigned to each parliamentary committee (please see EP Committees).

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CARRIAGE

Description:

Equals a legislative or non-legislative file which forms part of a train. A carriage may cover more than one file in rare cases of technical adjustments or minor changes to existing files.

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PACKAGE

Description:

Represents a group of legislative and/or non-legislative files, based on the indications of the European Commission. A package may, for example, cover all files published under a strategy or an action plan. The grouping always reflects the way the Commission has organised it.

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STATUS

Description:

Indicates the level of advancement of legislative work on a file. There are seven statuses which a given file may take on during the time it goes through the legislative process.

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EC PRIORITY

Description:

Politically defined priority set at the beginning of each European Commission mandate (i.e. the six priorities of the von der Leyen Commission, ten priorities of the Juncker Commission). Each priority is represented by a TRAIN composed of separate files known as CARRIAGES.

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EP COMMITTEES

Description:

A list of legislative and non-legislative files assigned to a parliamentary committee. In total, 19 standing committees are represented on this website.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Description:

Important files grouped under a separate heading indicating a European policy priority, a major current topic or any other theme that is key for European policy.

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SCHEDULE

Description:

General table presenting TRAINS (within EC Priorities or EP Committees) in a summarised form with relevant statistical data by STATUS. Landing page of the website.

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PROCEDURE

Description:

Indicates procedure number which helps to find files quickly (e.g. 2021/XXXX(COD), 2020/XXXX(CNS), 20219/XXXX(APP)...)

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COMMISSION WORK PROGRAMME

Description:

Allows to choose all the files presented in the annual Commission work programme, for each year since 2019.