The decision-making mechanism in the European Union is extremely cumbersome, said political commentator Ion Tăbârță. According to him, the veto right of each EU member state significantly complicates the functionality of the European Union. In the same connection, Romanian journalist Cristian Tudor-Popescu said that Bucharest supports the initiative to exclude the veto right within the EU, in favor of taking decisions with a qualified majority, IPN reports.
The political commentator noted that the geopolitical situation and the less encouraging results of the Ukrainian counteroffensive made the European Council to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and the European Union. The European Council’s decision was taken by 26 votes out of 27 member states, after Prime Minister Victor Orban (who left the meeting hall when the matter was put to the vote, e.n.) announced that Hungary does not want to share responsibility for this ‘irrational’ choice.
“The geopolitical situation required the European Union to take such a favorable decision for Ukraine and Moldova. If we follow what is happening in Ukraine, we see that the signals are not encouraging for the evolution of hostilities on the frontline. This is not what Russian propaganda portrays, that Ukraine is close to defeat, but it is clear that the situation in Ukraine is not the projected one. There were big expectations of the counteroffensive. That’s why Ukraine now needed a moral injection. If the EU had not taken a decision favorable to Ukraine, it would have been a severe blow to the Ukrainian people. At the same time, this would have given water to the Russian propaganda mill. The decision-making mechanism in the European Union is very cumbersome. We have the situation when a state like Hungary or Austria can block very important decisions,” Ion Tăbârță stated in the talk show “Secrets of Power” on JurnalTV channel.
Currently, decisions in the European Council are taken by a unanimous vote, but European leaders are already considering the possibility of revising this mechanism.
“Democracy does not work unanimously. Democracy works by majority. Romania has already given its consent to renounce the veto right of each member state. Romania has publicly communicated that it agrees with this initiative. And the qualified majority, not the simple majority, seems absolutely appropriate to me. Otherwise, we resort to means when someone is taken out of the hall or stuck in the elevator. Are these solutions to make the European Union work? Before demanding reforms from Moldova, Ukraine and other candidates, the European Union must be able to reform itself,” said Romanian journalist Cristian Tudor-Popescu.
In November, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that contained several proposals for the EU reform, including taking a higher number of decisions in the Council by qualified majority voting instead of unanimity.
