“Ordinary legislative proceedings” at the European Parliament: A Constitutional Analysis of the emerging European Parliamentary Law

A fine-tuned co-decision has been provided for in the Treaty of Lisbon as «the ordinary legislative procedure» along with a renewed classification of the EU legal acts echoing constitutional conceptual categories. The article aims to explore the legislative lawmaking in the European Union through the scrutiny of parliamentary procedures and the examination of the relevant negotiations taking place in and among the institutions. Special reference is made to the role that the European Parliament is called to play and, more generally, to the task that parliamentary institutions are to be assigned with a view to enhancing democracy in the supranational framework. Co-legislation entails a meaningful re-definition of well known constitutional concepts that have been questioned at length even in domestic systems owing to the rise of pluralism in modern societies. This effort leads to a better understanding of the so called democratic deficit and paves the way to a constitutional model for supranational decision making—with special regard to the role of parliaments —that could be consistent with democratic traditions and useful even in the view of a refreshed analysis of national constitutional systems.