Changing the treaties – but how? Current EU institutional reform proposals in comparison

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By Manuel Müller

Having trouble keeping up with EU reform ideas? Here’s an overview.

The debate on reforming the EU treaties is once again gaining momentum. Working groups, think tanks and expert panels are writing drafts and proposals. With so many plans being put forward, however, it is easy to lose track of the multitude of individual ideas. In which areas are treaty reforms being discussed, and who has suggested which change?

To keep an overview, I have drawn up a table that compares the main reform proposals of recent years and months. It is a working document, initially intended for my own use only. But it may be useful to others, too, so I have made it publicly available here.

Seven reform plans

The compilation compares seven plans for EU institutional reform presented by different bodies since 2013:

• Spinelli Group, A Fundamental Law of the European Union, Bertelsmann-Stiftung 2013.
• European Parliament, Possible evolutions of and adjustments to the current institutional set-up of the European Union (“Verhofstadt Report”), 2017.
• Julian Plottka/Manuel Müller, Enhancing the EU’s democratic legitimacy: Short and Long-Term Avenues to Reinforce Parliamentary and Participative Democracy at the EU Level, Institut für Europäische Politik/Friedrich Ebert Foundation 2019.
• Conference on the Future of Europe, Report on the Final Outcome, 2022.
• European Parliament, Draft Report on proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (“Article 48 Report”, co-rapporteurs’ draft), 2023.
• Franco-German expert working group on EU institutional reform, Sailing on High Seas: Reforming and Enlarging the EU for the 21^st Century, 2023.
• CEPS-SWP High-Level Group on Bolstering EU Democracy, The Radicality of Sunlight: Five Pathways to a More Democratic Europe, 2023.

These drafts are very different in nature: Some are official documents of European institutions, others have been presented by think tanks; some are fully formulated draft treaties, others are just lists of proposals. What they all have in common is that they offer comprehensive plans for institutional reform. As more such plans are presented in the near future, I will expand the compilation accordingly.

The table lists each draft’s proposals for specific reform areas (focusing mainly on institutional changes that require a treaty revision) and provides references to the linked original documents. While the table is intended to give an overview of the most important reform approaches, it doesn’t claim to be exhaustive. Suggestions for additions or improvements are always welcome.

The overview is available here.

Picture: Notepad with proposals for EU reforms: Manuel Müller [all rights reserved].