There are several websites which monitor and publish EU publications with the aim of making the EU policymaking cycle insightful.

As the EU institutions publish a great number of documents every day, learning how these digital trackers work is essential to gaining insight in the procedures leading to the adoption of legal acts. Below you can read more about the functioning of these trackers and how best to use them!

Commission Work Programme

A good start to any initiative to track the EU policy-making cycle is to take a look at the Commission Work Programme. This work program is published yearly and details what the (legislative) plans of the Commission are the upcoming year.

Consilium

Consilium is the shared website of the European Council and the Council of the EU. It allows users to search for EU documents, which can be prompted through the use of an interinstitutional code or title.  This number is used throughout the EU institutions in order to simplify working procedures.

For example, the (previous) Waste Framework Directive (WFD) is referred to as: 2005/0281/COD.

Furthermore, via the  Consilium website, it is possible to gain insight into the agendas, minutes and official documents of the Council of the European Union and Coreper 1 and 2. For example, searching for the interinstitutional number of the WFD returns a significant amount of results. Unlike the other trackers mentioned in this Theory Module, Consilium does not provide an overview or status of a specific  EU legislative process. As the main portal for the Council, it is still helpful to visit the website and take account of the latest (legislative) documents by the Council or the European Council.

EUR-Lex

This database covers most texts published by the EU-institutions and is updated frequently. Its main source is the Official Journal of the European Union. The site is maintained by the Publications Office of the EU. The Publications Office is an interinstitutional office tasked with publishing the publications of the EU institutions. It allows the user to search for documents using titles, but also interinstitutional codes. Not only is it possible to find all relevant documents usring EUR-Lex, it also possible to monitor the status of EU legislative procedures.

For example,  this overview shows how the recent legislative process amending the WFD unfolded between the Commission, Council and Parliament and which positions were taken in the decisionmaking process. 

Oeil

Oeil is the legislative observatory for the European Parliament. It provides roughly the same overview of the EU legislative process as EUR-Lex, but this website is particularly aimed at the European Parliament. It is an especially useful source for information about the EU legislative process within the European Parliament by providing  overviews of scheduled debates,  votes in parliamentary committees and assigned rapporteurs for specific legislative procedures.

For example, on this webpage, Oeil provides an overview of the legislative process regarding the WFD. Under key events, it shows the particular process the commission proposal went through in the Parliament. Moreover, it shows detailed information about the negotiation teams involved for each of the institutions.

Parltrack

This service is maintained by volunteers who obtain their data from the website of the European Parliament, EP plenary minutes and parliamentary committee agendas.  It is a unique tool that combines multiple sources into a comprehensive legislative monitoring instrument.

For example, on the dossier page  of the website, it is possible to see the current status of numerous legislative proposals in the EP, including the responsible rapporteur.