Who can initiate EU legislation today
Can the European Parliament propose EU laws? Usually, not directly. The European Commission holds the general right of legislative initiative under Article 17 of the Treaty on European Union. Parliament and the Council then amend, negotiate, and adopt most legislation on the basis of the Commission's proposal.
Parliament can request a proposal under Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. If the Commission declines, it must explain its reasons. Parliament also has direct initiative in a limited set of institutional matters, including aspects of European elections and its own organisation. Those powers matter, but they do not amount to the ordinary ability to introduce a bill across EU policy.
The Commission's initiative was designed to protect the common European interest and produce technically coherent proposals rather than let national governments dominate the agenda. That logic still has value. Independent impact assessment, legal expertise, consultation, and treaty compliance should remain central to federal lawmaking.
The democratic case for parliamentary initiative
But democratic Europe has changed. Parliament is directly elected, co-legislates across a wide field, approves the budget, and elects the Commission President. If a European party wins an election on a promise to create a rail programme, change a digital rule, protect a civil right, or reform an energy law, it should be able to table legislation and be judged on whether it passes.
A full parliamentary right of initiative would also strengthen opposition. Minority groups could publish complete alternative bills, force committee scrutiny, and show voters what a different majority would do. Not every proposal would reach a final vote, but the agenda would become part of democratic competition instead of remaining largely inside the executive.
The right should be shared, not monopolised. A federal European Commission or government should continue proposing legislation. A chamber representing member countries could receive initiative rights within its role. A defined number of citizens should retain a strengthened citizens' initiative. National parliaments could trigger subsidiarity review or submit joint proposals in areas of shared concern.
Safeguards and treaty change
Procedural safeguards can protect quality. Parliamentary bills should include legal-basis analysis, budget estimates, public consultation, impact assessment, fundamental-rights review, and a subsidiarity statement. Committees need independent drafting and research capacity. The answer to democratic initiative is better legislative infrastructure, not an executive monopoly.
The European Parliament itself called in 2022 for treaty revision to give it a general and direct right of initiative. A 2025 European Parliamentary Research Service briefing still described the Commission's near-monopoly and Parliament's indirect route under Article 225. This is therefore not a theoretical gap invented by federalists; it is a recognised question in the Union's institutional development.
Federal Europa supports a full right of legislative initiative because elections should have legislative consequences. A European federation will be credible when citizens can choose a programme, its representatives can introduce the promised laws, government and opposition can contest them in public, and voters can judge the result at the next election.