The EU can adopt legally binding acts on a specific number of areas, defined in Title I of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU, art. 2-6): where the Treaties do not give the Union any role; that area is left to the Member States. The EU can act on different areas based on three types of competences:

There are two main types of European laws:

• Directives, EU ‘framework laws’ that require specific laws by the Member States in order to be implemented and applicable.
• Regulations, EU laws directly applicable in the whole of the Union.

The European Union has several legislative procedures (for a full overview, see EU Monitor). The main one is the ordinary legislative procedure, which is the one used unless the Treaties specify a different procedure. Its main characteristic is that both the European Parliament and the Council of the EU equally have to approve the law, and can propose amendments to it. While both the Council and the Parliament start examining the text at the same time, formally the first to vote on a text is the European Parliament, while the Council votes on the amended text. If the Council amends the proposal, the new version is sent to the Parliament for a second reading. If the Parliament amends the Council’s proposal, the new text is sent to the Council and to the Commission, which gives its opinion on it. If the Council does not approve all of the Parliament’s amendments, a Conciliation Committee composed of an equal number of Council and Parliament representatives is established to reach an agreement on a common text, with the mediation of the European Commission. This final text is sent to both the Parliament and Council for a third reading. In practice, very few legislative proposals arrive at the Conciliation stage, as once the initial positions of each body are clear, the Commission, the Parliament and the Council organise informal negotiations called trilogues to reach a common text, therefore anticipating the practice of Conciliation to earlier stages of the process.

While no legal definition exists at the EU level on what ‘civil dialogue’ is, a practical definition of it has emerged over the years as ‘civil society’s engagement in the entire cycle of EU law- and policymaking, not only on specific thematic areas throughout the policy cycle, but also on programmatic issues and agenda-setting’. More specifically, the European Economic and Social Committee has identified three complementary forms of civil dialogue:

• Horizontal dialogue: dialogue between civil society organisations themselves on the development of the European Union and its policies.

The Treaty on European Union – TEU and the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union – TFEU (usually called ‘the Treaties’) function as a de facto constitution for the European Union. In the Treaties, civil society is mentioned in four articles: Art. 15, 300, 302 of the TFEU and Art. 11 of the TEU, in the section on democratic principles.

Art. 302 of the TFEU indicates that the Council appoints the members of the EESC proposed by the Member States, after consulting the Commission; but also that the Council can also ask for the opinion of European bodies —which are representative of the various economic and social sectors— and of civil society; however, such a review is felt as merely formal by some European CSOs, which have managed to influence the appointment process only in very limited cases.

Art. 11.2 of the TEU deals with the citizens’ participation in the EU policy-making processes. In particular, it says that the institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society. While not mentioned explicitly, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) consider this article as the legal foundation for the establishment of civil dialogue mechanisms at the EU level. They therefore call for the implementation of Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union.

While not mentioning civil society directly, other articles of the EU Treaties (or of texts that have the same value as Treaties) concern civil society: Art. 10 of the TEU describes the functioning of the democracy at the Union level, and recognises that ‘every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union. Decisions shall be taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen’ (Art. 10.2). The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which is at the same level as the Treaties, but applies only when implementing EU law, guarantees several freedoms linked to the operations of civil society, such as freedom of expression and information (Art. 11), freedom of assembly and association (Art. 12), right to good administration (Art. 41), right of access to documents (Art. 42), right to refer to an Ombudsman (Art. 43), right to petition (Art. 44). 

A legislative provision that implements Article 11 does not exist, as the article itself does not provide a specific obligation to act. However, the Commission has adopted a new communication to the other institutions called ‘Better Regulation: Joining forces to make better laws’. In this communication, in the complementary staff working document and in the toolbox, the Commission identifies public consultations via the Have your say portal as the main way to gather input from citizens and stakeholders, while targeted consultations with stakeholders are preferred when the subject is deemed too technical or of limited interest for the general public (see section ‘Civil Dialogue: the European Commission’). 

The European Parliament has a Vice-President in charge of organising consultations with civil society organisations. CSOs are also invited to hearings by the Parliament committees. Citizens, also on behalf of CSOs, can petition the Parliament on a subject which comes within the European Union’s fields of activity that affects them directly, and has a committee specifically dedicated to examining them (see section ‘Civil dialogue: the European Parliament’). The Council of the European Union (also called ‘the Council’) does not have a framework of engagement with CSOs, apart from the field of foreign affairs. Any other CSO involvement is either based on the tradition of involvement of some organisations in the informal sectoral Council meetings, or is decided on at the initiative of the rotating Presidencies of the Council. The European Council does not have any framework of engagement with civil society, apart from a general right to send letters to the institutions enshrined in the Treaties (see section ‘Civil dialogue: the Council of the European Union and the European Council’).

Materials and resources

• EnTrust (2023). Report on practices of enhanced trust in governance
• European Commission (2023): Recommendation on promoting the engagement and effective participation of citizens and civil society organisations in public policy-making processes
• European Commission (2023): Better Regulation Toolbox.
• Council of the EU (2023). Conclusions on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; The role of the civic space in protecting and promoting fundamental rights in the EU
• European Civic Forum & Civic Space Watch (2022). Towards vibrant European civic and democratic space. 
• European Parliament resolution (2022) on Shrinking space for civil society in Europe
• European Civic Forum & Civil Society Europe (2021). Towards an open, transparent, and structured EU civil dialogue.
• European Commission (2021). Better Regulation: Joining forces to make better laws.
• European Commission (2021). Better Regulation Guidelines.
• Council of the EU (2017). EU engagement with civil society in external relations – Council conclusions.
• Treaty on European Union (2012).
• Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2012).