Jurisdiction(s):
Ireland

EU enlargement rekindles move from tax unanimity to qualified majority voting, with passerelle clauses and enhanced cooperation proposed to overcome vetoes

Published on: 10 April 2024

Published by a Law360 reporter

Legal News

Article summary

Some specialists and smaller EU nations argue that economic gaps between larger and smaller members mean the current set-up, which usually requires unanimous consent among EU countries on tax matters, safeguards the smaller states. Other analysts, along with the EU’s executive branch, say the voting system should be reworked, particularly if the EU expands, to make decision-making nimbler. With more countries able to block deals on their own, it would become harder for the bloc to function and to take decisions on areas such as taxation and foreign policy where unanimity still applies, said Apostolos Thomadakis of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels.

That differs from qualified majority voting, used for most other questions. Under that approach, a proposal is adopted if at least 55% of EU member countries support it and they represent at least 65% of the EU population. If the EU were to grow, Thomadakis told Law360 that moving towards qualified majority voting would be necessary; otherwise it would become very inflexible. The EU has not added any members since 2013, and it lost a country in 2020 when the UK left the group. But nine countries are considered official...

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