All decisions of the European Union on foreign policy issues, which include the imposition of sanctions, are taken unanimously until the relevant procedure is changed by a unanimous decision of all EU member states, European External Action Service spokesperson Peter Stano told RIA Novosti
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2022) All decisions of the European Union on foreign policy issues, which include the imposition of sanctions, are taken unanimously until the relevant procedure is changed by a unanimous decision of all EU member states, European External Action Service spokesperson Peter Stano told RIA Novosti.
On Tuesday, a meeting of the EU General Affairs Council was held, which discussed the issue of changing the decision-making mechanism in the EU from unanimous to majority voting, which should deprive member states of the opportunity to use the right of veto, including in matters of imposing and lifting sanctions. Czech EU Affairs Minister Mikulas Bek, who chaired the meeting, said at the final press conference that he was not optimistic about rapid progress in moving away from unanimous decision-making in the EU in favor of majority voting.
"Foreign policy decisions are subject to unanimity, unless the member states decide otherwise by unanimity. So far such a decision was not made and all foreign policy decisions continue to be made by unanimity," Stano said.
Earlier, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, spoke in favor of decision-making by a simple majority on foreign policy issues. He explained, in particular, that the accession of new countries to the EU would require abandoning the principle of unanimous decision-making. According to Borrell, the conflict in Ukraine showed that the EU must make "strategic decisions" fast. The European Parliament also supported the idea of moving to majority voting on issues related to foreign policy.
