To veto or not to veto? That's the big question in the EU

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To veto or not to veto? That's the big question in the EU  Governments can veto decisions on foreign affairs, enlargement and budget. But this also makes enacting sanctions against countries like Russia or Israel harder to approve.   READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/09/22/to-veto-or-not-to-veto-thats-the-big-question-in-the-eu  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00to the underground press that kept the flame of freedom.

00:03In her landmark State of the Union speech,

00:06the president of the European Commission called for an end

00:09to member states' veto power in EU decision-making.

00:12I believe that we need to move to qualified majorities

00:16in some areas, for example, in foreign policy.

00:19It is time.

00:22It is time to break free from the shackles of unanimity.

00:26Right now, governments can veto decisions on foreign affairs,

00:31enlargement and the EU budget.

00:33That also makes it harder to agree on sanctions

00:36against countries like Russia or Israel.

00:39It's a long-running debate within the EU that has never been resolved.

00:43So why raise it again now?

00:46I think she put it at the end of her speech to sign up

00:49that she wants to push against those member states

00:51who use these tactical vetoes, in particular Hungary,

00:54but there's no strong push behind it.

00:58The reason for that is that to get from anonymity

01:01to qualified majority, you first need anonymity itself.

01:05EU treaties require unanimity on sovereignty issues

01:09to protect all member states.

01:11Smaller countries value this especially,

01:14as it guarantees their voices are heard.

01:17But larger states like Germany and France

01:19are pushing for more decisions by qualified majority

01:22in foreign and security policy.

01:25Experts say, however, that changing the rules is not essential,

01:29since consensus has always been the glue holding the Union together.

01:32The institution which dictates the political direction of the EU

01:39is actually in the building behind us.

01:41It's the European Council, it's the head of the state and government.

01:43They decide everything by consensus.

01:46They do conclusions by consensus.

01:48In fact, the consensus has made things more durable.

01:51Because if you immediately, on an important issue,

01:55a sensitive issue, you go ahead without voting countries,

01:58I think you'll create a problem.

02:01To shift from unanimity to qualified majority voting,

02:04there is technically no need to amend the treaties.

02:07The Commission or a group of member states could start the process.

02:11But so far, Ursula von der Leyen's call

02:14has not been met by any formal steps.

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