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Informal negotiations in EU legislative decision-making: a systematic review and research agenda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Thomas Laloux
Thomas Laloux*
Affiliation:
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS - Institut de sciences politiques Louvain-Europe (ISPOLE), Université catholique de Louvain, Place Montesquieu 1 bte L2.08.07, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
*
E-mail: thomas.g.laloux@uclouvain.be
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Abstract

Over the last 20 years, the political dynamics in EU legislative policy-making have fundamentally changed as trilogues have become the major forum for legislative negotiations. From this perspective, this article represents a first systematic review of the literature on trilogues by using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. In doing so, it demonstrates the impact of trilogues on EU legislative politics, both intra- and inter-institutionally, as well as the normative concerns they have raised. It also shows that trilogues do not yet constitute uniform practices. Further, this article identifies the limits of our knowledge and therefore avenues for future research to improve our understanding of EU legislative politics.

Keywords

Early agreementsOrdinary legislative procedureResearch agendaSystematic reviewTrilogues

Information

Type
Research
Information
European Political Science , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 443 - 460
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 European Consortium for Political Research

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