German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has called for an end to the requirement for unanimous agreement of European Union member states for taxation and foreign policy decisions, so the union can continue to function as it adds new members.
In a key speech on enlargement at Germany’s foreign ministry, Ms Baerbock argued that national vetoes should be removed to ensure the EU can have a stronger international voice and not become hamstrung by differences of opinion as new countries join.
“In areas where the principle of unanimity still applies, decisions become ever more difficult because there are individual countries that block decisions,” she said in a speech at the foreign ministry in Berlin.
“We should be able to take more decisions on the basis of qualified majority voting, be that in the field of taxation or external action,” she added. “This will also mean that countries like Germany can be outvoted. Any country can be outvoted.”
She spoke at a German government event dedicated to considering how the EU needs to reform in order to add new members such as Ukraine and the western Balkans.
Her comments come after weeks in which the EU struggled to present a unified position on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which revealed a gulf between Germany’s strongly pro-Israel position and the views of Ireland among other member states.
“It is not about giving up sovereignty,” she told the event, saying instead that all member states would benefit from a stronger EU “which is capable of having a voice of its own in the competition of powers and can stand up for the interests of its citizens”.
Ms Baerbock also revived the idea of reducing the number of EU commissioners so that not every member state would always have one each.
This idea was initially proposed in the Lisbon Treaty, but was dropped in a concession to Ireland after Irish voters rejected it in a referendum in 2008.
Ms Baerbock said the European Parliament and Commission “cannot simply be allowed to grow ever bigger” as the EU adds new member states.
Instead, groups of countries could share positions within the commission, and the EU could “divide up large commission portfolios among several member states”, she suggested.
The foreign minister acknowledged that ideas like removing vetoes and reducing the number of commissioners are “especially difficult for smaller countries” as they fear losing their voice within the EU.
Ireland has traditionally strongly opposed removing national vetoes, particularly in the area of taxation.
Ms Baerbock said compromises could be found to assuage such fears, suggesting as an example that instead of having national vetoes in taxation and foreign policy decisions, countries could deploy a “yellow card” that would trigger continued negotiations to try to reach a compromise.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought the idea of expanding the EU back to life after years of stagnation, by illustrating why it is important not to disappoint countries that strive towards European integration.
North Macedonia foreign minister Bujar Osmani said there was great public “frustration” about the country’s lack of progress “despite being the best student in the class for years and years in our region”.
North Macedonia applied for EU membership in 2004, but accession negotiations have still not started even though it changed its name in the hope of advancing the process.
There was now, however, an “unprecedented awakening and awareness” within the EU that enlargement affects its geopolitical and security interests, Mr Osmani said. “I cannot go back and say to the people of North Macedonia after 24 years of struggle that the rules have changed.”
