EU governments lock horns over majority voting rules

Date: 17/02/2000

By Gareth Harding

ARGUMENTS between EU governments over how far to extend qualified majority voting look set to provoke the fiercest battles of the treaty reform negotiations which got under way this week, amid deep divisions over the issue.

Initial talks between national officials have revealed a split between those countries which are willing to scrap the national veto in all but a handful of areas and those fighting to retain many of their blocking powers.

In the one camp are member states such as France, Italy, Germany and the Benelux countries, which favour a massive extension of qualified majority voting (QMV) in the Council of Ministers. In the other are countries including the UK, Spain, Austria and the Scandinavian member states, which are fighting to cling on to their vetoes in a significant number of areas.

The Portuguese presidency has weighed into the argument on the side of those calling for a radical shift towards majority voting. At the first meeting of the team charged with drawing up a new treaty earlier this week, Lisbon unveiled a policy paper which - if accepted by Union governments - would prevent member states from blocking legislation single-handedly except in the most sensitive of areas.

The presidency document proposes extending QMV to all remaining single-market legislation, rules governing the drafting and implementation of the Union's spending plans, appointments to bodies such as the European Court of Justice and the European Central Bank, large areas of foreign policy, and decisions in the justice and home affairs field.

Portugal also argues that "despite their political sensitivity", governments might consider extending majority voting to anti-discrimination measures, certain police and judicial cooperation decisions, rules governing state aid, international agreements on intellectual property and services, the proposed statute for MEPs and treaty provisions stipulating where the seat of the EU institutions should be.

Reflecting member states' concerns about the newly-formed far-right government in Austria, Lisbon states that the existing treaty rules governing when a member state can be suspended for breaching the Union's fundamental principles might have to be reviewed.

However, the Portuguese presidency believes that a third of the 75 articles where unanimity currently applies are likely to remain unchanged at the end of the Intergovernmental Conference. These include provisions on a common defence policy, future revisions of the treaties, the EU's 'own resources' and its language rules.

Portugal received the enthusiastic support of the European Commission and MEPs for its approach at the launch of the Intergovernmental Conference earlier this week.

The heads of both bodies made an impassioned plea for national vetoes to be done away with in an enlarged Union. European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine argued that legislating for "half a billion men and women" using the present system would "condemn the Union to paralysis or expose it to unacceptable blackmail by states threatening to employ their veto", while Commission chief Romano Prodi said that any policy areas where decisions still had to be taken by unanimity in an EU of 28 states would be "condemned to stagnation".

Diplomats say the extension of QMV is the "most difficult topic on the agenda" and is unlikely to be settled until Union leaders meet to finalise the new treaty in December.

The other two issues which will dominate the year-long talks - the reweighting of votes in the Council and limiting the number of European Commissioners in an enlarged EU - are expected to prove less thorny.

Larger member states such as Italy and the UK have already declared that they would be willing to surrender their right to a second Commissioner in return for more votes in Council, and smaller countries appear willing to accept this compromise.

Arguments between EU governments over how far to extend qualified majority voting look set to provoke the fiercest battles of the treaty reform negotiations which are now under way, amid deep divisions over the issue.