ABSTRACT
This chapter examines to what extent the Lisbon Treaty is affecting the use of fast track procedures by the European Parliament (EP) and the Council and focuses on insights from the previous legislative period. In line with recent intergovernmental conferences, the EP has come out of the negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty as a winner insofar as co-decision was extended into a vast array of policy fields. This gives rise to the question of how the EP will continue to exercise its legislative role, at a time when more legislative acts are concluded at early stages of the procedure. The chapter focuses on the consequences for the role of the administrative staff within the EP and the quality of democratic governance in the EU. There are a series of other provisions in the Lisbon Treaty that are not directly related to the co-decision procedure, but still could have an effect on the use of the fast track procedure.
