15 – Activity in plenary

The European Parliament adopts its positions by voting in plenary session on legislative and budgetary texts, as well as on own-initiative reports and other resolutions. The Parliament’s 20 standing committees prepare the ground, undertaking detailed consideration of draft EU legislation and holding hearings on key issues. In the course of the legislative process, representatives of EP committees meet frequently with their counterparts in the Council and the European Commission, in trilateral negotiations known as ‘trilogues’, under the ‘co-decision’ procedure – see page 10.
The statistics below show that the 2014-19 European Parliament sat for longer than its predecessor, and held almost a third more votes; however, it adopted fewer texts, both legislative and non-legislative.