We often hear ‘formal’ stakeholder consultation processes described as time-consuming and bureaucratic, undertaken without adequate information, real representation, or time to discuss and report back. Too often they are carried out as a formality with no chance of influencing well established mechanisms of non-transparent decision-making. We will argue here that this negative view may be challenged and that there are formal tools in the current regulations and procedures that could allow a more effective participation by different stakeholders in policymaking. We will examine how formal stakeholder consultation fits into the partnership principle in Europe, how it works in theory and practice, with some examples, and how it can be made more effective in the coming years.