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The mechanism through which deals may be struck at an
early stage involves so-called
trilogue meetings
between the
Commission, the Council, and the European Parliament. Originally,
trilogue meetings were devised for the post-second reading and
pre-conciliation period. By bringing together a reduced number of
participants from the Council and the Parliament, these meetings
allowed participants an opportunity to identify potential
compromises in advance of meetings of the full conciliation
committee. Over the years, the trilogue meetings have proven
effective in reducing uncertainties and channeling conflicts
(Shackleton, 2000: 334, 336).
Such pre-arrangements, however, have been moved up ever
earlier in the process from the post-second-reading and
pre-conciliation phase of the co-decision procedures. Increasingly,
trilogues are being used in earlier stages, during the first and
second readings (Curtin, 2009). Apart from the success in bringing
about compromise between the institutions, the increasing
dependence on trilogues can be explained by the time pressures
under which the EP and the Council operate, needing to enter the
conciliation process within a maximum of eight weeks of the
Council’s second reading. With the ever expanding scope of the
co-decision legislative procedure with each treaty reform, relevant
institutions cannot afford to be engaged in constant conciliation
talks, and conciliation is increasingly seen as a measure of last
resort. As a tradeoff, a growing percentage of legislation is adopted
without meaningful, Parliament-wise dialogues in the plenary
session. The new legislative pattern fostered by the co-decision
procedure has encouraged use of the less open, less public,
decision-making style of the Council by the European Parliament.
Open deliberations have been increasingly replaced by small group
negotiations, both within and across institutions, further distancing
only on a comparison between policy formation before and after the Treaty
of Lisbon.