Abstract

A crucial role in the EU legislative process is played by the so-called trilogues, which are informal meetings between representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, which negotiate to reach an agreement that will be formally adopted by the EU legislators under article 289 of the TFEU. This paper analyses this inter-institutional practice in the light of the principles of democracy, institutional balance, efficiency and transparency in order to underline the most critical issues connected to it. Trilogues are test to assess the scope of the democratic principle in the EU and to consider the tension between different principles governing the decision-making process in the EU.