Preamble
The best defense against Miss. information campaigns is Mr. information campaigns, especially before the upcoming EU elections. This article brings you a bit closer to the EU, since your voice is louder than you think.
Here is my attempt to simplify the EU legislative process to send you on your journey:
Welcome to the EU Factory
Our guide, 1.65 meters tall, with a red tie and blue jacket, greets us at the staff entrance. A total of 17 other people are already waiting. I pull out my phone and show my ticket.
“Ah, Mr. Feil, welcome. Now that everyone is here, please follow me.”
He opens the door and waits until we’re all through. The building, big on the outside, was even bigger on the inside. Big doors lead us into a massive hall filled with huge machines, conveyor belts and smoke.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome to the EU cake factory! I’m Stefan, your guide for today. There’s a lot to see, so let’s start right away. I hope you’re not afraid of heights, we’re going up to the visitor skywalk.” Like Willy Wonka, he welcomes us into the hallowed halls.
‘I’m not dressed for this’ is the first thought that came to mind as I climbed up the rungs of the ladder. Once at the top, it was less a platform and more a walkway, from one side of the factory to the other. From the top, you could see into every office.
Our guide appeared and didn’t seem to mind climbing ten meters straight up. “Just a quick note: if anyone has a question, just raise your hand after each step. Please follow me.”
We slowly moved forward.
Conception
“This is step one: the conception.” Our guide shows us a large room to our left.
“We get ideas from many different sources within the European institutions, such as the European Council or the Council of the European Union, but also directly from national governments and ministries. We consider your proposals and suggestions, which you can send to us via the European Citizens’ Initiative (1). The European Commission has the right to the initiative and can therefore propose the recipe. Use the code to find out more.”
A QR code is visible on the panel:
He pulls a sheet of paper out of his pocket, almost like a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat.
“This is the finished proposal,” he holds up the sheet of paper like a relic: “Questions?”
A voice flies over my head: “I see two baskets, one seems almost overflowing, the other is almost empty. What’s in there?”
“Thanks for the question. The full basket is full of suggestions, criticism, and improvement proposals from companies, interest groups, etc. They have a lot to tell us. The empty one,” his expression seemed almost disappointed, “is for suggestions from the public and organizations we don’t get that many. Private individuals don’t seem to say much. Onward!”
Regulatory Scrutiny Board
Stefan holds the paper loosely in his left hand. Suddenly, a jelly-like hand shoots up from below and takes the paper straight out of his hand. It disappears into a small room, about the size of half a tennis court, an eighth of a quarter of a basketball court, or a quarter of a football penalty area.
“There sits the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, very space-efficiently in a room of about 100 m²” is another way of putting it. Compared to the other rooms, there is a glass panel above it and the room is darkened. “There are aspects of the RSB that are not visible to the public. (2) It’s difficult to see in, just a small hole in the middle through which the paper has been pulled.
An overview of the cases, meetings and influence of the RSB (5).
“For example, we wanted to make a cake with less sugar and fat. But since this could lead to short-term losses, they rate the proposal negative twice in a row, and the new version will not be accepted. As the board is also against the law, it never got any further. That’s why we still don’t have a low-sugar and low-fat cake on offer. So, that’s enough RSB for now, let’s move on.”
Stefan takes a fishing rod and throws the hook through the hole, it flies ten meters into the depths. After a short back and forth, he pulls the paper up again. Many places were marked in red or pages were completely crossed out. He holds up the paper:
“As you can see, the RSB made some drastic changes to it, but we can carry on. (6) Here we go, almost halfway through.”
First Reading in Parliament
“I ask you not to lean too far forward. The next room below us is the European Parliament. The first reading of the recipe will take place there soon. This is where the chefs from all over Europe meet. Each country votes differently, some like chocolate cake, others strawberries. Each country sends at least six chefs. (7) The rest of the distribution is decided by how many people each chef will work for. So Germany has 96 chefs, France 79, and Luxembourg six. Everyone can see how their own chef has voted.” (8)
Stefan drops the sheet of paper with the recipe down. A member of staff in a tight suit and medal takes it, makes copies and passes it through the rows.
“Now each chef can briefly give their opinion on the recipe and make suggestions. The law is then voted on. They can accept, change, or reject the recipe. If the recipe is accepted, we start baking the cake. On the board on the left, you can see the current division of the parties in Parliament.”
An image “Media from the plenary chamber” can be seen below:
First Reading in the Council
“You can now see the Council on the right”. Stefan drops the recipe with the corrections down again. “This is made up of the chefs of the countries. Depending on the recipe, they are the chefs for cakes, shortbread, muffins, and so on. There are ten different compositions in total, each with 27 chefs. They represent their own opinions and the interests of the country. For a recipe to be accepted, 15 chefs must be in favor of it and the people they cook for must be 65% of our customers and your fellow europeans. The more customers a chef represents, the more important their approval is. Without the accepting chefs from Germany, France, or Italy, a new recipe is practically impossible.” (9)
Stefan brings the sheet of paper back up with the help of his fishing rod. There is now a large stamp on it saying “unsatisfactory”.
“Oh, I guess they didn’t think it was good enough. After the first solution, the council can give the recipe directly to our master baker if they think it’s good enough. Now we have to go back for a moment.”
Second Reading in Parliament
Stefan drops the sheet of paper and it landed on the table of Ms. Metsola, the current President.
“The second reading is basically the same as the first. In this case, we are now discussing whether we can reach an agreement with our colleagues from the Council. This is often a power play as to who speaks for more customers. Since only a little over 60% voted in Germany in 2019, the Commission is arguing that is has more rights” (10)
A hammer hits the table below, a paper airplane comes shooting up. Stefan unfolds it. It was the recipe, a second stamp could now be seen: APPROVED.
“Very good, the recipe is now perfect in theory. Now it’s time to put it into practice.”
The Test Bake
We moved on, finally, there was some action. There’s a cake, the base completely made of cell phones. The cake is beeing covered with transparent icing.
“We don’t bake the cakes centrally for all citizens, each country has its own bakery. We only bake sample cakes, which we then send to the respective country in our recipe book. (11) Every country has a different taste, so every country needs a different cake. There are two different types:
On the one hand, we have regulations and decisions. These are available immediately. Once the recipe has been finalized, each country has two years to transform it into its own cake. The recipe may not be completely different, but it may be changed. (12) Currently, you can see the cake with the flavor ‘EU Roaming’. Everyone can enjoy Europe-wide mobile internet at no extra charge.”
Quality Control
“This is the last room,” Stefan points to the bottom left of a huge area, the size of a football pitch. People are sitting all over the place at almost a dozen screens. A screen is set to ‘Börse vor 8’, one of my favorite reality TV shows. The walls were littered with televisions showing news programs from all over the world.
“This is where our quality analysts sit, they can launch an EU pilot if they find any problems. They check that the cakes are being delivered to everyone as the recipe intended and that the taste has not been altered too much. If this is the case, they pass it on to our flavor enforcers. (12) They monitor trends and signal whether there is demand for new flavors. (13) This is also where your feedback about our cakes and how local bakeries are interpreting our recipes comes in.”
On a screen in the left-hand corner, a middle-aged man with glasses, a beard, and a youthful smile picks up a cricket bat. He looks at it briefly, weighs it in his hands, and starts to absolutely demolish a cake (14). “Here we have an example of a company not really caring about our cakes” Stefan points at the screen. “As we represent a large part of their consumers, we have the ability to set higher fines than each country on their own.”
“Thank you, thank you to everyone for coming. On Sunday, 07/09, we’ll have a big vote on your favorite cuisine. Please everyone come and tell us what you want to see in the next recipes.” Stefan pauses briefly and raises his index finger. “Because only those who decide on the recipe writers can complain about the recipes!” (15)
After I climbed back down to safe ground via a ladder, he served us a slice of cake.
I bite into it “Oh, not bad, what’s that?” I ask the baker.
“Justice!”
“Interesting taste, what’s the name of the cake?”
“Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive or CSDDD” the baker says proudly.
“Mhh, ok, thanks!” I simply nod my head, take the cake and continue walking.
“Here’s some more information,” a nice lady hands me a flyer littered with links:
- https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/how-it-works_en (Visited on: 19.04.2024)
- https://www.lobbycontrol.de/wp-content/uploads/The-EUs-Commission-Regulatory-Scrutiny-Board_Studie_2023.pdf (Visited on: 15.04.2024)
- https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-making-process/regulatory-scrutiny-board_en (Visited on: 10.04.2024)
- https://commission.europa.eu/jobs-european-commission/job-opportunities/managers-european-commission/apply-management-positions-european-commission/member-regulatory-scrutiny-board-principal-adviser_en (Visited on: 16.04.2024)
- https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/f4a8a308-a850-4ad0-8ca4-a71b5430574b_en?filename=RSB_2022_1.pdf (Visited on: 16.04.2024)
- https://friendsoftheearth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/INSIDE-JOB_-How-business-lobbyists-used-the-Commissions-scrutiny-procedures.pdf (Visited on: 05.04.2024)
- https://european-union.europa.eu/institutions-law-budget/institutions-and-bodies/search-all-eu-institutions-and-bodies/european-parliament_en (Visited on: 10.04.2024)
- https://european-union.europa.eu/institutions-law-budget/institutions-and-bodies/search-all-eu-institutions-and-bodies/european-council_de (Visited on: 12.04.2024)
- https://howtheyvote.eu/ (Visited on: 20.04.2024)
- https://www.bundeswahlleiterin.de/europawahlen/2019/ergebnisse/bund-99.html
- https://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html (Visited on: 01.04.2024)
- https://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/scoreboard/_docs/2022/12/enforcement-tools/eu-pilot_en.pdf (Visited on: 22.04.2024)
- https://commission.europa.eu/law/application-eu-law/implementing-eu-law_en (Visited on: 10.04.2024)
- https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/comp/items/104946/ (Visited on: 15.04.2024)
- https://elections.europa.eu/en/how-to-vote/ (Visited on: 20.04.2024)
I leave the factory through the souvenir store. Before I get on my bike, I quickly make a note of 09.06.24 in my calendar. And also get a snow globe with the members of the RSB, it’s on sale.
Personal Note
I’m sure you haven’t learned everything from this article after reading it for the first time. It’s a long leap from cake to EU law. My aim is not to explain the entire EU, I can’t do that in one article. It should help to show that everyone can represent their interests at the EU level, it’s not an unbreakable black box. Even you can try to change the law if you don’t like it.
Admittedly, it’s not easy. There are large groups and organisations that have a lot of interest in changing the laws or keeping them how they are. One letter, one vote or one comment won’t make a difference. What it will do is give power to those you support and that want to change laws the same way you do. NGOs, individuals or groups. If they point at 10 comments or 10k comments, their sway is greatly increased. I hope that I sparked your interest and the next time someone talks about “they do what they want up there anyway”, send them this article.
Glossary
European Citizens’ Initiative:
A way for EU citizens to propose new laws directly to the European Commission.
Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB):
An independent body that checks the quality of impact assessments for new EU legislation.
European Parliament:
The EU’s law-making body, composed of directly elected representatives from all member states.
Council of the European Union:
Also known as the Council, it’s where national ministers from each EU country meet to adopt laws and coordinate policies.
EU Pilot:
A tool used by the European Commission to resolve potential breaches of EU law without starting formal infringement procedures.
CSDDD:
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, a proposed EU law aimed at making businesses accountable for human rights and environmental impacts in their value chains.
First Reading:
The initial stage of the EU legislative process where both the European Parliament and the Council examine a proposed law.
Second Reading:
A subsequent stage in the legislative process where the Parliament and Council review amendments and try to reach an agreement.
Regulation:
A binding legislative act that must be applied in its entirety across the EU.
Directive:
A legislative act that sets out goals for EU countries to achieve, leaving it to national authorities to decide how to adapt their laws to meet these goals.
