Brussels is reportedly seeking safeguards to prevent future entrants from blocking key foreign policy decisions
The EU could temporarily deny future member states’ veto rights in order to prevent them from interfering with the bloc’s foreign policy, the Guardian reported on Tuesday, citing EU sources.
The idea is reportedly being discussed as Brussels seeks to bring new members in before the end of the decade, while avoiding the kind of internal roadblocks that the likes of Hungary and Slovakia have put up to impede EU military and financial support for Ukraine.
According to the newspaper, the European Commission is now considering a plan under which new entrants would not automatically receive the power to block foreign policy decisions or other matters requiring unanimity, such as taxation. The measure could apply for several years after accession, four EU sources told the outlet.
The proposal to restrict veto rights was reportedly brought up during treaty negotiations with Montenegro, which has been negotiating accession for 14 years and is hoping to become the EU’s 28th member by 2028. It is currently considered the frontrunner among the bloc’s nine official candidate countries.
If the ban is ultimately included, Montenegro’s treaty could later serve as a template for other candidates, the Guardian claimed, noting that the measure is “legally borderline” and would have to be time-limited to avoid creating second-class EU members.
The proposal comes as Brussels has repeatedly struggled to push through major foreign policy decisions, such as a gargantuan €90 billion loan for Kiev, due to the bloc’s built-in unanimity rules, as well as pushback from member states opposed to funding Ukraine’s war effort.
A number of EU officials have since called for abandoning the bloc’s unanimity principles, with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stressing that an EU with over 33 members could not continue operating under rules designed for a smaller bloc.
Former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has similarly argued that unanimity has made the bloc irrelevant in international politics, calling for a smaller core group of members to be established that would make decisions on EU policy.
However, critics of this push have accused Brussels of using the Ukraine conflict and enlargement debate to centralize power at the expense of national sovereignty. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned that abolishing veto rights on fundamental EU issues would be “the beginning of the end” for the bloc.
