Friday

29th Mar 2024

'No decision expected' for EU decision on unanimous decisions

  • Swedish minister for European affairs Hans Dahlgren (l) and Mikuláš Bek, the Czech minister for European affairs at the Tuesday meeting (Photo: Council of the European Union)
Listen to article

EU affairs ministers meeting on Tuesday (20 September) have achieved little movement on using majority voting instead of unanimity on sanctions or human rights issues.

Swedish minister for European affairs Hans Dahlgren told EUobserver after the meeting that this was a first discussion on using the so-called "passarelle clause", a workaround for the EU treaty, to move toward qualified majority decisions.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Dahlgren said "there were some very hesitant voices" around the table, but added that he "did not hear anybody who slammed the door" on the possibility.

"The more examples we have where we need the EU to be more effective, the stronger the argument will be. Hopefully it will not take too long, but I am not convinced this will happen in the next year or so," Dahlgren said.

Mikuláš Bek, the Czech minister for European affairs, whose country heads the EU council's rotating presidency, said enlargement and changes to decision-making are politically interlinked.

He said his presidency will try to put together an "attractive set of items" on institutional reforms, and there could be "limited progress".

The idea to have a majority vote in foreign affairs issues, particularly when it comes to human rights and sanctions, has been floating around for years.

Former EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker put it forward in 2018 in his annual state of the union speech, arguing that it would "improve our ability to speak with one voice" on the world stage.

The initiative found a new momentum since Russia's war in Ukraine highlighted Hungary's reluctance to back some parts of the sanctions against Moscow.

However, smaller member states, fearing they would be outvoted by larger countries, have been opposed to moving away from unanimity for years.

Some central European countries feel particularly edgy about qualified majority voting.

In 2015, when the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia were outvoted on migrant-sharing quotas, it prompted boycotts and legal challenges.

The EU's top court eventually said the procedure was correct, but politically the damage was done.

Arriving at the ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, Hungary's justice minister Judit Varga said they wanted to "safeguard the unanimity".

"Every member states' vital and serious interest should be taken into account when we are sitting at the negotiating table," Varga said.

She added that "we would like to come back to the spirit of cooperation at the EU".

Hungary has been frequently blocking agreements to water down the consensus, most recently in a sanctionspackage against Russia and refused to back a joint EU call for a UN investigation into war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

Ireland's state minister for EU affairs Thomas Byrne was also lukewarm about the idea arriving to the Brussels meeting.

Byrne said the Dublin government's focus priority was to make sure that "people can stay warm for the winter at a reasonable price".

"But if we get sidetracked into issues of procedure, issues of intra-institutional relations, I think citizens wont thank us for that," he said.

"Make no mistake, if we were to start to have a discussion on qualified majority voting, it will have no impact on sanctions discussions over the coming months," the state minister warned.

What is the qualified majority voting?

In 2019, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen once repeated calls for qualified majority voting (QMV) in areas such as sanctions and human rights.

In the council of member states, reaching a qualified majority has two conditions: 55 percent of member states vote in favour — so 15 out of 27 — and it has to be backed by EU countries representing at least 65 percent of the total population of the bloc.

A so-called blocking minority must include at least four council members representing more than 35 percent of the EU population.

What is the passarelle clause?

One idea is to use the so-called passarelle clause, a mechanism that allows EU countries to shift on some very specific topics to majority voting without changing the EU treaty.

However, EU governments need to agree unanimously to switch to majority voting in some areas.

The mechanism also allows for an "emergency break", cancelling a vote for vital reasons of national policy.

Scholz wants majority voting for EU sanctions

In a speech about the future of Europe, the German chancellor argued for majority voting in some policy areas — and institutional reform to prepare for enlargement eastwards.

Cyprus blocking EU sanctions on Belarus

Cyprus is holding hostage EU sanctions on Belarus in return for a new Turkey blacklist, EU sources said, as Greek and Turkish ministers traded harsh words in the EU parliament.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us