The aim of the timelines is to give an overview of where the legislative process on a specific dossier stands. The co-decision process involves the three EU institutions (Commission, Parliament and Council). In a nutshell, the European Commission proposes a piece of legislation. Then the European Parliament and the Council separately debate the proposal. In the case of the European Parliament, MEPs formally table amendments to the Commission proposal and it has to be approved in the correspondent EP committee. It usually takes nine months to have a Parliamentary committee position on a dossier.
Once the EP has its positions and the Council also has also agreed on a common position, formal trialogue negotiations begin. These types of negotiation are held between the three institutions, and the final outcome would be the final legislative text. Since the beginning of the crisis, all the pieces of legislation on financial services have been approved in first reading, which usually takes one-and-a-half years to be completed.