Initiation of EU legislation: report with evidence, 22nd report of session 2007-08

This report seeks to describe how draft European Union legislation comes into being. The Committee examines the sources of ideas for legislation and the processes by which ideas are developed to the point when they are submitted, as formal proposals for legislation, to the legislating institutions of the Union. The Committee considers the ‘right of initiative’ - the power to make formal proposals - and who has it. They look at how, in practice, the principal institution with a right of initiative - the European Commission - develops draft legislation. They examine influences on the initiation and development of the EC’s proposals.