France and Germany back push to speed up EU foreign policy decisions
France and Germany joined nine other EU states in urging faster, more efficient foreign policy decision-making, citing gridlock caused by Hungary's repeated vetoes. A letter to Kaja Kallas outlines five steps, including wider use of qualified majority voting.
France and Germany have lent their support to a push for making the European Union's foreign and security policy decision-making faster and more efficient. According to a letter seen by Politico, 11 EU member states — including France and Germany — have written to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas proposing changes to how the bloc handles common foreign and security policy (CFSP) decisions.
The letter was also signed by Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain. It lays out five measures meant to improve the speed and efficiency of CFSP decision-making, including the possibility of expanding the use of qualified majority voting.
Background: Orbán's vetoes
Under current EU rules, CFSP decisions require unanimous approval from all 27 member states. That requirement produced serious bottlenecks when former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán repeatedly vetoed decisions supported by the other 26 capitals. Germany has long pushed for shifting from unanimity to qualified majority voting on CFSP matters, while France has traditionally resisted such a change.
The letter states that the signatories will keep striving for consensus, but warns that a culture of consensus must not be allowed to block common action.
Five proposed steps
The letter calls for reinforcing the principle of "sincere cooperation" among member states, favoring "constructive abstentions" over outright vetoes, banning the linking of unrelated national demands to decisions under discussion, encouraging Kallas to examine treaty-based tools such as the so-called passerelle clause, and requiring countries to clearly justify any veto invoked on grounds of "vital and stated reasons of national policy."
The letter is set to be discussed this week when foreign ministers meet informally in Wicklow, Ireland, in the Gymnich format. Those talks are also expected to touch on reforming the European External Action Service, including a proposal to make Kallas an executive vice president of the European Commission.
