The informal three-way negotiation between the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the European Parliament used to reach political agreement on EU legislation before formal adoption.
Trilogues are the standard mechanism for negotiating compromises between the Council and Parliament when their respective positions on a legislative file diverge. Each session is co-chaired by representatives of the Commission, the rotating Presidency of the Council, and the Parliament's lead rapporteur. Trilogue agreements are political rather than legally binding; the agreed text must be formally endorsed by both the Council and Parliament before publication in the Official Journal. The EU AI Act, GDPR, and Digital Services Act all reached final form through trilogue negotiations. AI governance practitioners track trilogues to understand the direction of pending obligations before they become law.
The Digital Omnibus to the AI Act reached provisional political agreement in trilogue on 7 May 2026 after a previous twelve-hour session collapsed on 28 April. The deal covered deferred high-risk timelines and the machinery exclusion. The provisional text now requires formal endorsement by EU governments and the European Parliament before becoming binding law.
