European Commission working on reform to bypass national vetoes in decision-making

The European Commission will propose reforming the EU's decision-making mechanism to circumvent national vetoes by member states.

Source: Rapporteur, citing internal draft documents on the EU's enlargement strategy, as reported by European Pravda

Details: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will next week present a plan to prepare the European Union for enlargement to more than 30 members without amending the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The outlet describes the proposals as the biggest changes to the EU's internal functioning in a decade.

The documents to be presented by the European Commission propose using transitional legal provisions to remove the requirement for unanimity among the 27 member states at many intermediate stages of a candidate country's EU accession process.

The European Commission proposes applying a lower qualified-majority voting threshold – 15 countries representing two-thirds of the EU's population – to a broader range of policy areas, including sanctions, human rights, defence and security, and tax evasion.

The changes, which would themselves require unanimous approval, could speed up the accession process for countries such as Ukraine, Montenegro and North Macedonia, which face obstacles from a small number of EU members. However, Rapporteur expects the plan could face opposition from many existing member states.

Background:

• A European Pravda correspondent previously reported that the European Commission had postponed until 6 October the presentation of its assessment of how future EU enlargement would affect the EU's key policies and what changes the EU itself might need to make to accommodate new member states. Decision-making in an enlarged EU will be addressed in a separate section of the document.
• The EU is also developing proposals under which four countries considered frontrunners in the European integration process – Montenegro, Ukraine, Moldova and Albania – would receive roadmaps towards membership.

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