11 European Union countries have called for the abolition of the veto in foreign policy
Eleven European Union member states have called for a review of the bloc’s foreign policy decision-making process. Specifically, they are considering possible restrictions on individual countries’ veto power.
Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and Sweden have called for a change to the current rules.
The document notes that the culture of consensus remains an important source of the EU’s legitimacy, but it should facilitate joint action rather than hinder it.
The authors of the letter emphasize that in the face of strategic competition, growing instability, and attempts to undermine the international order, the European Union must be able to swiftly leverage its political, economic, and diplomatic clout.
Currently, most decisions in the EU’s common foreign and security policy require the unanimous support of all member states. This allows a single country to block decisions made by the other states.
The letter proposes making more active use of the mechanism of constructive abstention instead of the veto, not linking foreign policy decisions to issues that are not directly related to them, and exploring the possibilities provided for in EU treaties to transition to qualified majority voting.
The signatory countries also propose requiring states that block joint decisions to provide clear and well-founded reasons for doing so.
The initiators emphasized that the legal basis for the proposed changes already exists within the framework of current EU treaties.
Discussions on changing the rules have intensified following the repeated use of the veto by certain member states—notably Hungary—to block joint EU decisions on foreign policy and support for Ukraine.
This is stated in a joint letter from the countries addressed to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas.
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