Voting in the Council of the European Union

The procedures for voting in the Council of the European Union are described in the treaties of the European Union

Treaties of the European Union

The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedures and objectives...

. The Council of the European Union

Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...

(or simply Council) has had its voting procedure amended by subsequent treaties and currently operates on a system brought forth by the Treaty of Nice

Treaty of Nice

The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003. It amended the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome...

. The Treaty of Lisbon

Treaty of Lisbon

The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....

is set to replace this system from 2014.

Qualified majority voting

This section presents the formerly used, currently used, and proposed qualified majority voting systems employed in the Council of the European Union

Council of the European Union

, and its predecessor institutions. While some policy areas require unanimity among all Council members, for selected policy areas qualified majority voting has existed right from the start. All major treaties have shifted some policy areas from unanimity to qualified majority voting.

Whenever the community was enlarged, voting weights for new members were defined and thresholds re-adjusted by accession treaties. After its inception in 1958, the most notable changes to the voting system occurred:

with the 1973 enlargement, when the number of votes for the largest member states was increased from 4 to 10,
with the Treaty of Nice
Treaty of Nice
The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003. It amended the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome...

, when the maximum number of votes was increased to 29, thresholds became defined in terms of percentages, and a direct population-dependent condition was introduced,
with the Treaty of Lisbon
Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....

, when the concept of votes was abandoned in favor of a "double majority
Double majority
A double majority is the name given to a vote which requires a majority of votes according to two separate criteria. The mechanism is usually used to require strong support for any measure considered to be of great importance...

" depending only on the number of states and the population represented.

All systems prescribed higher thresholds for passing acts that were not proposed by the Commission. Member states have to cast their votes en bloc (i.e., a member state may not split its votes). Hence, the number of votes rather describes the weight of a member's single vote.

Treaty of Rome (1958–1973)

According to Article 148 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC Treaty), acts of the Council required for their adoption:

12 votes (if the act was proposed by the Commission), or
12 votes by at least 4 member states (if the act was not proposed by the Commission).

The values above are related to the EU-6, the founding member states. The treaty allocated the votes as follows:

4 votes: France, Germany, Italy,
2 votes: Belgium, Netherlands,
1 votes: Luxembourg.

Accession Treaty (1973–1979)

Article 148 of the EEC Treaty, specifying the qualified majority voting system of the Council, was amended by Article 8 of the Accession Treaty regulating the enlargement of the community by Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Acts of the Council now required for their adoption:

41 votes (if the act was proposed by the Commission), or
41 votes by at least 6 member states (if the act was not proposed by the Commission).

These values were now related to the EU-9. The treaty allocated the votes as follows:

10 votes: France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom,
5 votes: Belgium, Netherlands,
3 votes: Denmark, Ireland,
2 votes: Luxembourg.

Accession Treaty (1979–1985)

Article 148 of the EEC Treaty, specifying the qualified majority voting system of the Council, was amended by Article 14 of the Accession Treaty regulating the enlargement of the community by Greece. Acts of the Council now required for their adoption:

45 votes (if the act was proposed by the Commission), or
45 votes by at least 6 member states (if the act was not proposed by the Commission).

The votes allocated previously to the EU-9 did not change. Greece was allocated 5 votes.

Accession Treaty (1985–1995)

Article 148 of the EEC Treaty, specifying the qualified majority voting system of the Council, was amended by Article 14 of the Accession Treaty regulating the enlargement of the community by Portugal and Spain. Acts of the Council now required for their adoption:

54 votes (if the act was proposed by the Commission), or
54 votes by at least 8 member states (if the act was not proposed by the Commission).

The votes allocated previously to the EU-10 did not change. To the new members, the following votes were allocated:

8 votes: Spain,
5 votes: Portugal.

The Treaty of Maastricht established the European Community Treaty (EC Treaty) where the qualified majority voting system was detailed in Article 148. While this treaty transferred some policy areas subject to unanimity to qualified majority, it neither changed the voting weights nor the thresholds.

Accession Treaty (1995–2003)

Article 148 of the EC Treaty, specifying the qualified majority voting system of the Council, was amended by Article 8 of the Accession Treaty regulating the enlargement of the community by Austria, Finland, and Sweden. Acts of the Council now required for their adoption:

62 votes (if the act was proposed by the Commission), or
62 votes by at least 10 member states (if the act was not proposed by the Commission).

The votes allocated previously to the EU-12 did not change. To the new members, the following votes were allocated:

4 votes: Austria, Sweden,
3 votes: Finland.

Treaty of Nice (2003–2014/2017)

Comparison of voting weights
*Population in millions as of 1 January 2003*
Member state	Population		Nice Treaty of Nice The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003. It amended the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome...		Penrose Penrose method The Penrose method is a method devised in 1946 by Professor Lionel Penrose for allocating the voting weights of delegations in decision-making bodies proportional to the square root of the population represented by this delegation...
Germany	82.54m	16.5%	29	8.4%	9.55%
Early Modern France	59.64m	12.9%	29	8.4%	8.11%
	59.33m	12.4%	29	8.4%	8.09%
Italy	57.32m	12.0%	29	8.4%	7.95%
Spain	41.55m	9.0%	27	7.8%	6.78%
Poland	38.22m	7.6%	27	7.8%	6.49%
Kingdom of Romania	21.77m	4.3%	14	4.1%	4.91%
Netherlands	16.19m	3.3%	13	3.8%	4.22%
Greece	11.01m	2.2%	12	3.5%	3.49%
Portugal	10.41m	2.1%	12	3.5%	3.39%
Belgium	10.36m	2.1%	12	3.5%	3.38%
	10.20m	2.1%	12	3.5%	3.35%
Hungary	10.14m	2.0%	12	3.5%	3.34%
Sweden	8.94m	1.9%	10	2.9%	3.14%
Austria	8.08m	1.7%	10	2.9%	2.98%
Kingdom of Bulgaria	7.85m	1.5%	10	2.9%	2.94%
Denmark	5.38m	1.1%	7	2.0%	2.44%
Slovakia	5.38m	1.1%	7	2.0%	2.44%
Finland	5.21m	1.1%	7	2.0%	2.39%
Republic of Ireland	3.96m	0.9%	7	2.0%	2.09%
Lithuania	3.46m	0.7%	7	2.0%	1.95%
Latvia	2.33m	0.5%	4	1.2%	1.61%
Slovenia	2.00m	0.4%	4	1.2%	1.48%
Estonia	1.36m	0.3%	4	1.2%	1.23%
Cyprus	0.72m	0.2%	4	1.2%	0.89%
Luxembourg	0.45m	0.1%	4	1.2%	0.70%
Malta	0.40m	0.1%	3	0.9%	0.66%
European Union	484.20m	100%	345	100%	100%

The currently applicable voting system of the Council is defined in the Treaty of Nice since its entry into force on 1 February 2003. The voting weights of the member states according to this treaty are shown in the table on the right.

The following conditions apply to taking decisions:

Majority of countries: 50% if proposal made by the Commission, or else 67%, and
Majority of voting weights: 74%, and
Majority of population: 62%.

The last condition is only checked upon request by a member state.

In the absence of consensus, qualified majority voting is the Council's key way of decision-making. In terms of the current statistics, the pass condition translates into:

At least 14 (or 18, if proposal was not made by the Commission) countries,
At least 255 of the total 345 voting weights,
At least 311 mil. people represented by the states that vote in favour.

The last requirement is almost always already implied by the condition on the number of voting weights. The rare exceptions to this may occur in certain cases when a proposal is backed by exactly three of the six most populous member states but not including Germany, that is, three of France, UK, Italy, Spain and Poland, and by all or nearly all of the 21 other members.

Note that mechanisms by which the Commission makes a proposal may not require weighted votes. For example, the Anti-Dumping Advisory Committee (ADAC) can approve a proposal to impose tariffs based on a simple, unweighted majority. Since this simple majority vote leads to a Commission proposal to the Council, the simple majority effectively requires a qualified majority to overturn it (because overturning the recommendation of the ADAC means voting against a Commission proposal). This greatly increases the power of small member states in such circumstances.

The declarations of the conference which adopted the Treaty of Nice contained contradictory statements concerning [qualified majority voting after the enlargement of the European Union to 25 and 27 members: one declaration specified that the qualifying majority of votes would increase to a maximum of 73.4%, contradicting another declaration which specified a qualifying majority of 258 votes (74.78%) after enlargement to 27 countries. But the treaties of accession following the Treaty of Nice clarified the actual required majority.

Square root method (rejected)

Poland proposed the Penrose method

Penrose method

The Penrose method is a method devised in 1946 by Professor Lionel Penrose for allocating the voting weights of delegations in decision-making bodies proportional to the square root of the population represented by this delegation...

(also known as the "square root method"), which would narrow the weighting of votes between the largest and smallest countries in terms of population. The Czech Republic supported this method to some extent, but has warned it would not back a Polish veto on this matter. All the other states remained opposed. After previously refusing to discuss the issue, the German government agreed to include it for discussion at the June council. The given percentage is the game theoretical optimal threshold, and is known as the "Jagiellonian Compromise". The Penrose method voting weights allocated to the states are shown in the table to the right.

According to the proposal, the requirement for an act to pass in the Council was:

Majority of voting weights: 61.4 %.

Treaty of Lisbon (2014 onwards)

Article 16 of the "Treaty on European Union", as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon, stipulates that the Council voting arrangements of the Nice Treaty will apply until 31 October 2014. Moreover, until 31 March 2017, any member state can request that the Nice rules are used for a particular vote. Article 16 also states the conditions for a qualified majority, effective from 1 November 2014 (Lisbon rules):

Majority of countries: 55% if acting on a proposal from the Commission or from the High Representative
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is the main co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy within the European Union...

, or else 72%, and
Majority of population: 65%.

A blocking minority requires—in addition to not meeting one of the two conditions above—that at least 4 countries (or, if not all countries participate in the vote, the minimum number of countries representing more than 35% of the population of the participating countries, plus one country) vote against the proposal. Thus, there may be cases where an act is passed, even though the population condition is not met. This precludes scenarios where 3 populous countries could block a decision against the other 24 countries.

Note that the Lisbon rules eradicated the use of "artificial" voting weights. This move, first proposed in the Constitution

Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe , , was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union...

, is based on the size of populations and, at the same time, acknowledges the smaller member states' fears of being overruled by the larger countries.

Voting practice

In practice, the Council targets unanimous decisions and qualified majority voting is often simply used as a means to pressure compromises for consensus. For example in 2008, 128 out of 147 Council decisions were unanimous. Within the remaining decisions, there was a total of 32 abstentions and 8 votes against the respective decision. These opposing votes were cast twice by Luxembourg and once by each of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Netherlands, and Portugal.

Policy areas

The EU has competence to make decisions only in those areas specified in the Treaties. Competence can be exclusive, joint with national governments, or supporting, with national governments having lead competence. The Lisbon Treaty added some policies to the responsibility of the European Union. Moreover, qualified majority voting (QMV) was extended to policy areas that required unanimity according to the Nice Treaty.

The new areas of QMV are:
! Area !! Nice !! Lisbon !! Reference
|-
| Initiatives of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs || Unanimity || QMV following unanimous request || 15b TEU
|-
| Rules concerning the Armaments Agency || Unanimity || QMV || 28D§2 TEU
|-
| Freedom to establish a business || Unanimity || QMV || 47§2 TFEU
|-
| Self-employment access rights || Unanimity || QMV || 47§2 TFEU
|-
| Freedom, security and justice – cooperation and evaluation || Unanimity || QMV || 70 TFEU
|-
| Border controls || Unanimity || QMV || 77 TFEU
|-
| Asylum || Unanimity || QMV || 78 TFEU
|-
| Immigration || Unanimity || QMV || 79 TFEU
|-
| Crime prevention incentives || Unanimity || QMV || 69c TFEU
|-
| Eurojust

Eurojust

Eurojust is an agency of the European Union dealing with judicial co-operation in criminal matters....

|| Unanimity || QMV || 69d TFEU
|-
| Police cooperation || Unanimity || QMV || 69f TFEU
|-
| Europol

Europol

Europol is the European Union's criminal intelligence agency. It became fully operational on 1 July 1999....

|| Unanimity || QMV || 69g TFEU
|-
| Transport || Unanimity || QMV || 71§2 TFEU
|-
| European Central Bank

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank is the institution of the European Union that administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU Eurozone member states. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt,...

|| Unanimity || QMV || 107§3, 245b TFEU
|-
| Culture || Unanimity || QMV || 151 TFEU
|-
| Structural and Cohension Funds || Unanimity || QMV || 161 TFEU
|-
| Organisation of the Council of the European Union

Council of the European Union

|| Unanimity || QMV || 201b TFEU
|-
| European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice

The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...

|| Unanimity || QMV || 245, 224a, 225a TFEU
|-
| Freedom of movement for workers || Unanimity || QMV || 42 TFEU
|-
| Social security || Unanimity || QMV || 42 TFEU
|-
| Criminal judicial cooperation || Unanimity || QMV || 69a TFEU
|-
| Criminal law || Unanimity || QMV || 69b TFEU
|-
| President of the European Council

President of the European Council

The President of the European Council is a principal representative of the European Union on the world stage, and the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council...

election || (New item) || QMV || 9b§5 TEU
|-
| Foreign Affairs High Representative election || (New item) || QMV || 9e§1 TEU
|-
| Funding the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Common Foreign and Security Policy

The Common Foreign and Security Policy is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas...

|| Unanimity || QMV || 28 TEU
|-
| Common defense policy || Unanimity || QMV || 28e TEU
|-
| Withdrawal of a member state || (new item) || QMV || 49a TEU
|-
| General economic interest services || Unanimity || QMV || 16 TFEU
|-
| Diplomatic and consular protection || Unanimity || QMV || 20 TFEU
|-
| Citizens initiative regulations || Unanimity || QMV || 21 TFEU
|-
| Intellectual property || Unanimity || QMV || 97a TFEU
|-
| Eurozone external representation || Unanimity || QMV || 115c TFEU
|-
| Sport || Unanimity || QMV || 149 TFEU
|-
| Space || Unanimity || QMV || 172a TFEU
|-
| Energy || Unanimity || QMV || 176a TFEU
|-
| Tourism || Unanimity || QMV || 176b TFEU
|-
| Civil protection || Unanimity || QMV || 176c TFEU
|-
| Administrative cooperation || Unanimity || QMV || 176d TFEU
|-
| Emergency international aid || Unanimity || QMV || 188i TFEU
|-
| Humanitarian aid || Unanimity || QMV || 188j TFEU
|-
| Response to natural disasters or terrorism || (new item)|| QMV || 188R§3 TFEU
|-
| Economic and Social Committee

Economic and Social Committee

The European Economic and Social Committee is a body of the European Union established in 1958. It is a consultative assembly composed of employers , employees and representatives of various other interests...

|| QMV || QMV || 256a TFEU
|-
| Committee of the Regions

Committee of the Regions

The Committee of the Regions is European Union's assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities with a direct voice within the EU's institutional framework....

|| Unanimity || QMV || 256a TFEU
|-
| Economic and Social Committee

Economic and Social Committee

|| Unanimity || QMV || 256a TFEU
|-
| The EU budget || Unanimity || QMV || 269 TFEU
|-

Unanimity

Certain policy fields remain subject to unanimity in whole or in part, such as:

membership of the Union (opening of accession negotiations, association, serious violations of the Union's values, etc.);
taxation;
the finances of the Union (own resources, the multiannual financial framework);
harmonisation in the field of social security and social protection;
certain provisions in the field of justice and home affairs (the European prosecutor, family law, operational police cooperation, etc.);
the flexibility clause (352 TFEU) allowing the Union to act to achieve one of its objectives in the absence of a specific legal basis in the treaties;
the common foreign and security policy, with the exception of certain clearly defined cases;
the common security and defence policy, with the exception of the establishment of permanent structured cooperation;
citizenship (the granting of new rights to European citizens, anti-discrimination measures);
certain institutional issues (the electoral system and composition of the Parliament, certain appointments, the composition of the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee, the seats of the institutions, the language regime, the revision of the treaties, including the bridging clauses, etc.).

External links

Majority Calculator for Council decisions
A detailed summary of qualified majority voting
BBC: Background on the voting weights discussion
Analysis and history of voting weights in the Council
New winners and old losers. A priori voting power in the EU25
Article at EUABC
europa.eu.int: Full text of the Constitution – Title IV article I-25
Completion of the 5-th enlargement and institutional changes (votes in Council and European Parliament including Bulgaria's and Romania's from 1 Jan 2007)
For context, subsections of this document are entitled "The European Commission", "The Council of the European Union" and "European Parliament".

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.