A unanimous vote no longer makes sense for decision-making in key areas of EU policy.

This was stated by the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at a conference of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

“I have always argued that in some key areas it no longer makes sense to achieve unanimity in voting if we want to move faster,” said von der Leyen.

She added that the European Union should play a more significant role in matters of health and defense.

Von der Leyen also said she was ready to support changes to the EU treaty if necessary to implement the ideas of EU citizens about the future of the bloc.

Rejection of principles

Von der Leyen is not the first European politician to have recently raised the issue of abandoning the unanimous vote of EU members on key issues.

Earlier, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called for abandoning the principle of unanimity in voting on foreign policy decisions and amending the fundamental treaties of the union in connection with Russia's operation in Ukraine.

Draghi said Europe must move towards pragmatic federalism to better meet economic, energy, defense and foreign policy challenges.

“If this requires starting the process of changing the EU treaties, then we should support it,” Draghi said in the European Parliament.

The Italian prime minister explained that the European Union needs to improve its decision-making ability in order to respond to the challenge posed by Russia, which allegedly endangers peace on the continent.

“We have to eliminate this principle of unanimity, which leads to the logic of cross-veto, and move to decision-making through the principle of a qualified majority,” Draghi said.

The Italian Prime Minister (formerly Draghi was also the head of the European Central Bank) added that a Europe "capable of making timely decisions is a Europe that is more authoritative to its citizens and to the world."

For sensitive issues

It is worth noting that on the official website of the European Council, unanimity is characterized as an electoral principle, which is applied in the case of voting on important and sensitive issues.

These include: granting EU membership to new countries, foreign policy and security issues, empowering EU citizens with new rights, financial issues, as well as a number of issues in the field of justice and home affairs.

At the same time, the number of areas where the unanimity of all members of the union is necessary for a decision to be made is steadily declining.

So, in 1986, the Single European Act was signed, which revised a number of provisions of the Treaty of Rome (one of the documents that established the EU) with the aim - as stated on the EU website - "to give new impetus to the process of European integration and complete the creation of the internal market."

  • European Commission building

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He reduced the number of policy areas that required a unanimous decision.

Subsequently, the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force in 2009, also expanded the number of issues in which the principle of "qualified majority" rather than unanimity is now applicable for decision in the Council of Europe.

sanctions issue

The discussion of abandoning the principle of unanimity in making decisions on key issues is taking place against the backdrop of attempts by the European Union to agree on another package of sanctions against Russia.

Thus, Bloomberg, citing informed sources, reported a meeting of EU permanent representatives on May 8, at which they could not agree on the sixth package of restrictive measures against Moscow.

Earlier, Ursula von der Leyen said that the package will include the withdrawal of Russian oil by the end of 2022, as well as the disconnection of a number of banks (including Sberbank) from SWIFT.

  • Viktor Orban

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To adopt new sanctions, they must be unanimously agreed upon by all 27 EU countries.

According to Bloomberg, Hungary has not agreed to a ban on Russian oil imports.

The European Union will not be able to reject the principle of unanimous decision-making even under the pretext of a Russian special operation in Ukraine, as this will show the EU countries that they can no longer defend their national interests, Vladimir Schweitzer, head of the Department of Social and Political Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes.

“Hungary proceeds from its national interests, primarily in the field of energy security.

Now they are in a difficult position.

They are concerned about the interests of their homeland, which can be very bad from sanctions.

If the EU wants to deviate from the principle of unanimity in order to ignore such moments, they will disagree with this, ”the expert said.

However, the EU countries are firmly convinced that it is the energy rent that allows Russia to conduct its special operation, Vladimir Schweitzer noted.

“They have become stronger in this opinion.

This greatly complicates relations between Russia and the EU, and now, in order to form a common policy, they want to dictate the conditions imposed by the majority, bypassing the principle of unanimity, ”said the source of RT.

In an interview with RT, Nikolai Mezhevich, chief researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that such statements are probing the ground as to whether the EU will be able to use the situation in Ukraine to achieve the abolition of the principle of unanimity in foreign policy decision-making.

“It remains only to see what will come out of this, whether there will be this cancellation or not.

If this really happens, then this is a very interesting precedent.

The EU has been working on the principle of unanimity for a very long time - since the transformation from the European Economic Community into the European Union itself, ”the expert explained. 

This suggests that the differences in the EU have become very strong, Nikolai Mezhevich explained.

“Now, if Hungary is against it, it will be bombarded with “qualified majority” votes.

But what will happen if Germany changes its position in the future?

In addition, in the EU there is a block of poorer states that believe that they need help - these are Portugal, Spain, Greece, sometimes Italy joins them.

There is a bloc of northern countries that, relatively speaking, are fighting the parasiticism of the southern countries of Europe.

There is a position of Eastern Europe.

If they cannot defend their positions, since everything will be decided by a simple majority, then Brussels will be in for surprises along the way.

But, apparently, there is no other option, because now the disagreements have become very strong, ”concluded the interlocutor of RT.