A group of ten EU member states has launched a new campaign to reform the bloc’s approach to foreign and security policy-making after years of internal fighting over the issue. While the reform would favor France and Germany, the EU’s two most populous nations, previous attempts to change the system have proven to be divergent, reports the media platform European Newsroom (enr) in its feature article published on Friday.
At the beginning of May, a so-called Group of Friends, led by Germany and which also includes Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain, launched a call for a review of the vote on the EU’s common foreign and security policy (CFSP). Romania joined the group at the beginning of this week, according to the MAE, after participating in previous meetings of the Group as an observer.
Instead of unanimity on key foreign policy and security issues, the group called for a system called qualified majority voting. This type of vote requires the consent of 15 of the 27 member countries, provided that they represent more than 65% of the total population of the EU, of approximately 450 million inhabitants.
“The aim is to improve the efficiency and speed of the foreign policy decision-making process. Against the background of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the increasing international challenges facing the EU, the group members are convinced that the foreign policy of The EU needs adapted processes and procedures to strengthen the EU as a foreign policy actor,” reads a document of the Group of Friends.
In opposition, however, a coalition of countries was formed in favor of maintaining unanimity. According to some accounts, this includes, among other countries, Poland and Hungarynotes Agerpres.
The head of Romanian diplomacy, Bogdan Aurescu, conveyed that it remains important for Romania to ensure the necessary mechanisms to protect/safeguard national interests. The Romanian Foreign Minister showed that the use of the qualified majority for decision-making in the areas related to the CFSP (Common Foreign and Security Policy) also implies a corresponding change in the culture of decision-making, including more responsibility, so a decision made through this mechanism will have to be adopted in parameters as close as possible including to the interests of the states that did not vote for it.
At the same time, such an approach is likely to strengthen confidence in the conduct of the Union as a global actor. Also, Bogdan Aurescu showed that the approach within the proposed reflection must be pragmatic, starting from the application of qualified majority voting in those areas of the CFSP where it is already allowed and avoiding ideological approaches with potential for division.
The change in the geopolitical situation requires more speed
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock emphasized that the group did not propose a revolution, but an assessment of what can be done within the existing EU treaties to make the Union’s foreign and security policy more effective. The existing treaties, under the so-called “passerelle clauses”, allow the transition from unanimity to qualified majority decision-making in certain areas, including regarding sanctions.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz considers changes in the voting procedures of the European Union inevitable. It should not be possible for one member state to stop everything, Scholz told German media.
In a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Scholz also spoke about the needs for reform within the European Union, including the changes needed to admit more countries to the now 27-member union. More decisions should be made by majority vote instead of unanimous vote, he said. Meanwhile, the insistence on democratic principles and the rule of law is “indispensable”, he added.
In the same sense, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, expressed himself on the occasion of the institutional celebration of Europe Day, on May 9. “We must decisively opt for qualified majority voting and therefore we must be consistent. If we are moving towards a European Union of more than 30 countries, we will have to change the way we decide the policies that we apply,” Sanchez said.
On board, but with caution
For the time being, Slovenia is part of the Group of Friends “to see what happens”, the state secretary of the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Zbogar, said on Monday. “As a small country, we want to say what our problems might be and make it clear that we need some assurances that our interests will be taken into account,” he added.
“A more efficient decision-making process, by using the qualified majority, would give the EU the ability to pronounce quickly and to have an impactful action”, declared the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu. He also reminded that, at the same time, it remains important for Romania to ensure the necessary mechanisms to protect and defend national interests.
The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, is, personally, “in favor of qualified majority voting (in foreign policy, no), but this is not the time to address this issue”. “In any case”, he added, the problem could be resumed “after the end of the Ukrainian crisis and after we finish the expansion to the Balkans”.
As for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the general secretary of the European Movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haris Plakalo, believes that the change in voting rules will not affect this country so much, since it received the status of a candidate country for EU accession in December of last year, although it did not fulfill the established priorities. “We don’t have to be worried and we can’t be worried when it comes to changing the approach to foreign policy decision-making in the EU Council, because EU enlargement in the Western Balkans is defined and determined by many documents, strategies and outlined as being one of the EU’s important tasks,” he added.
Maintaining the right of veto
The Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zbigniew Rau, told the Polish press that “there is a strong tendency on the part of the German neighbors (…) that those matters which, according to the current legislation, are subject to a unanimous vote, such as fiscal issues and , the most important for us, those concerning security and foreign policy, to be decided by majority vote. We, Poland, cannot agree to this,” he declared.
Bulgaria has so far respected the rule of unanimity, said acting Foreign Minister Ivan Kondov. He stated that in his opinion this should not be changed, but added that the next government in Sofia should deal with this. Bulgaria is expected to soon have a new rotating government, which will be co-chaired by former European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.
Sofia has used its veto only once since joining the EU in 2007, in connection with the start of enlargement negotiations with North Macedonia last year. Sofia and Skopje are at odds, with Bulgaria and the EU insisting that, in order to open the first chapters of negotiations, North Macedonia’s constitution be amended to include the local Bulgarian minority as one of the minorities in the former Yugoslav republic.
Nemanja Todorovic Stiplija of European Western Balkans, a Belgrade-based independent think tank that focuses on the Western Balkans, said the unanimity debate “has been going on for years, but there is no sign that it will be resolved in the near future. It is true that it is related to the subject of enlargement (…), but its greater importance is for the situations we are currently witnessing – Hungary’s opposition to certain decisions in the field of Foreign and Common Security Policy”.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto expressed his “concern about the debate on qualified majority voting in EU foreign policy, noting the importance of maintaining the unanimity requirement to protect national interests”. During a press conference, Szijjarto reported that there was a meeting at the level of ambassadors for those member states that want to keep the possibility to defend their own interest in the decision-making process in Brussels.
Asked if Croatia participated in this meeting, the Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlic Radman, stated that he was not aware of this initiative.
Croatia did not support the proposal to replace the decision-making process by consensus with qualified majority voting in certain areas of EU foreign policy, because unanimity is the only mechanism that guarantees the equality of smaller states, Grlic Radman said. However, he emphasized, “this does not mean that Croatia is not in favor of EU unity. On the contrary, so far we have never blocked any decision and have always been a constructive collaborator”.
Strength in diversity?
Karl Nehammer, the chancellor of Austria, has declared that he is against centralism and for diversity in the EU and therefore against several EU majority decisions. He said that the struggle for consensus is difficult in the EU, but that it ensures democracy and diversity.
Austria’s foreign ministry also expressed skepticism about the proposal, saying that qualified majority voting is not a panacea. “Only political will is the key to success, the struggle for compromise is the essence of the EU. And once agreements are reached, they are supported by everyone. This is a special value, especially in volatile times like now.”
However, in the past, top Austrian politicians have spoken out in favor of majority decisions. The group of friends said it aims to coordinate with EU institutions and work closely with all member states, inviting other countries to join its reform efforts. If a simple majority of the EU countries – 14 of the 27 member states – vote to launch a process of reforming the EU treaties, negotiations could begin.
Editor: Marco Badea
