EU legislative procedure

When a draft for new legislation is received from the Commission, the Ministry of Justice contacts the Swedish Migration Agency for comments. The Swedish Migration Agency contributes specialist knowledge and expertise to the negotiations.

Negotiations

The Commission is the EU institution that drafts legislative proposals. These proposals are sent in parallel to the EU Member States (in the Council of the European Union, also known as the Council of Ministers) and to the European Parliament. The two bodies must first agree internally and then among themselves.

The Member States conduct negotiations in various working groups, where Sweden is represented by the Ministry of Justice in the field of migration. An expert from the Swedish Migration Agency usually participates. The Swedish Migration Agency's specialists continually pass comment on the various proposals during the negotiations. Once all the Member States have reached an agreement, which can take months or even years, and all the wordings have been agreed, agreement must then be reached with the European Parliament. Once the two bodies have reached an agreement, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament can adopt the ordinance or directive.

The Council of Ministers is made up of ministers from the governments of the EU states. The constellation of ministers taking part in the negotiations will depend on the matter in hand. When it comes to matters of concern to the Swedish Migration Agency, it is the Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs who make decisions. However, in the European Parliament, the decisions are taken in plenary, but they are prepared in the committees. It is the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) that is responsible for migration matters.

Implementation and review

The Swedish Migration Agency not only contributes expertise during the negotiations; it also provides specialist knowledge during the implementation and review of legislation. The Swedish Migration Agency does this by participating in expert groups and implementation committees that are subordinate to and managed by the European Commission.

The implementation committees decide on detailed regulation. When a matter is considered too detailed to be stipulated in ordinary EU law, or if it is regulation that needs to be updated frequently, the legislators (the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers) give the European Commission the power to regulate certain parts in detail. The Swedish Migration Agency represents Sweden in a number of such implementation committees and their sub-groups.

In the expert groups, which also come under the control of the European Commission, the Swedish Migration Agency exchanges experiences with other Member States, discusses existing legislation and has the opportunity to report to the European Commission on aspects that work well or less well prior to the Commission reviewing and developing new legislation.

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