The Reverse Majority Voting under the ‘Six Pack’: A Bad Turn for the Union?

Abstract
The ‘six-pack,’ a set of six Union legislative acts that was adopted in November 2011, was one of the main Union responses to the current sovereign debt crisis. Aware of the weak performance of the Stability and Growth Pact and of the underlying design faults of the Treaty provisions on the coordination of Member States' economic policies, in particular the multilateral surveillance procedure (Art 121 TFEU) and the excessive deficit procedure (Article 126 TFEU), the legislators were determined to strengthen the means of surveillance in this policy field. One step considered necessary to achieve this end was the introduction of reverse majority voting in the Council when the latter has to adopt, for example, sanctions in above procedures. This article will examine whether this voting method is compatible with the Treaties.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Evaluating EU Economic Governance. Elements for the debate on the 'Six-Pack' and 'Two-Pack' http://www.europeansources.info/record/evaluating-eu-economic-governance-elements-for-the-debate-on-the-six-pack-and-two-pack/

ESO: Background information: Beyond the six pack and two pack: Economic governance explained http://www.europeansources.info/record/memo-beyond-the-six-pack-and-two-pack-economic-governance-explained/

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