A high share of EU legislative proposals is decided upon in a fast-tracked process called ‘trilogues’ taking place between representatives of the European Parliament, Council and Commission. To understand the EU’s inter-institutional negotiations, Emmy Ruiter investigates the way in which EU institutions internally prepare for these talks in her recent article “The European Parliament’s mandate for trilogues: explaining the discretion of political group advisors”. Based on interviews and a survey, Emmy demonstrates that Political Group Advisors (PGA) participate extensively in the intra-EP mandating process preceding trilogues. In particular during the early stages of co-ordination, they enjoy high levels of autonomy. Ahead of group and shadows meetings, PGAs act without well-defined instructions and base their actions on what they assume is in line with the group’s political agenda. She concludes with a normative caveat: “we need to consider the possible implications of PGAs’ autonomy for the legitimacy of EP decision-making“.