If the Senate or the House exercises its right of initiative, it is referred to as a law proposal (wetsvoorstel in Dutch, proposition de loi in French).
If the executive does so, this is referred to as a law project (wetsontwerp in Dutch, projet de loi in French).
The Conseil d'État (and sometimes the Constitutional Council) has the duty to advise the government on projects of law.
Both kind of bills can first be deposed either to the Senate or the National Assembly Only 10% of laws that are passed are proposed by Members of Parliament.
The European Commission has a near monopoly for legislative initiative, whereas in many parliamentary systems there is a mechanism whereby members of the parliament may introduce bills.
Under the Treaty of Maastricht enhanced by the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament has an indirect right of legislative initiative that allows it to ask the Commission to submit a proposal, though to reject the request the Commission only needs to "inform the European Parliament of the reasons".
[2][3][4][5] Member states also have an indirect right of legislative initiative concerning the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
[6] Some politicians, including Jean-Pierre Chevènement and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, feel that the Commission's monopoly on legislative initiative prevents the emergence or development of real democratic debate.