Procedure for amendment of the Treaties

The European Treaties might be amended by using one of three different procedures. These procedures are rarely used, but are of great importance for the functioning of the European Union and the way decisions are made within the European Union.

The member states of the European Union in both revision-procedures take center stage through the European Council, the Council of Ministers and their national parliaments. The European Parliament and the European Commission primarily have an advisory role.

For some policy areas, European treaties specifically state how the decision-making can be modified and which procedure applies in these areas. The rules for this type of amendment to the Treaties is governed by the passerelle procedure.

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  ordinary revision procedure¹
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  simplified revision procedure²
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  passerelle³

• 1. 

  Revising the European treaties is a long and difficult procedure. This is to be expected, considering that revisions made can profoundly change the structure and functioning of the European institutions, and the way decisions are made in the european Union. All parts of the treaties can be changed through the ordinary revision procedure.
   
• 2. 

  The simplified revision procedure can only be used for revising all or part of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, relating to the internal policies and acitions of the Union. The European Union is not allowed to use this procedure to optain any new power. For changes in other parts of the treaties, the ordinary revision procedure is used.
   
• 3. 

  This procedure is used to modify the legislative procedure used in some specific policy areas. The passarelle procedure is only used in those areas where this option is explicitly stated in the Eropean treaties. The use of the passerelle procedure is very limited, but it can have far-reaching consequences for the policy areas concerned.
   
• 4. 

  Decision making in the European Union takes places by means of various legislative procedures. The ordinary legislative procedure is the default procedure. When the Treaties indicate otherwise one of the special legislative procedures is used. Secondary legislation is decided upon by means of a seperate set of special procedures.