This paper discusses one of the most remarkable developments of EU legislative procedures in recent years, namely the inflation of early agreements, which actually leave few opportunities for deliberation within the European Parliament. While this trend is not new, it has been developping spectacularly in the previous legislative. The paper, based on quantitative and qualitative analyses, discusses the reasons that have prompted this evolution, who has benefited from it and not, and the kind of reactions it has elicited form EU institutions. It argues that the phenomenon illustrates the difficulty of combining intergovernmental and party political processes in the EU political system.
