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Lithuania Pushes EU Toward More Flexible Decision-Making
(MENAFN) Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys calls for changes to the European Union’s approach to foreign and security policy decisions, saying member states should have more flexibility instead of relying on unanimity in every case.
“It is clear that applying unanimity to all common foreign and security policy discussions is not appropriate; we should be more flexible,” Budrys says, according to reports.
He argues that countries should continue to hold veto powers when decisions directly affect their core national security interests. However, less critical matters, such as official declarations and procedural decisions, could instead be approved through qualified or simple majority voting.
Budrys points to the EU enlargement process as an example of where decision-making could be streamlined. He questions whether every individual step in lengthy membership negotiations needs unanimous approval.
“Take enlargement, for example. Opening and closing negotiations certainly require unanimity, but do we really need it for all of the more than 130 additional steps?” he says.
“We could likely move faster with simpler decision-making.”
A similar position has previously been put forward by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, who supports qualified majority voting during intermediate stages of EU accession talks while keeping unanimity for the final decision on admitting a new member.
“It is clear that applying unanimity to all common foreign and security policy discussions is not appropriate; we should be more flexible,” Budrys says, according to reports.
He argues that countries should continue to hold veto powers when decisions directly affect their core national security interests. However, less critical matters, such as official declarations and procedural decisions, could instead be approved through qualified or simple majority voting.
Budrys points to the EU enlargement process as an example of where decision-making could be streamlined. He questions whether every individual step in lengthy membership negotiations needs unanimous approval.
“Take enlargement, for example. Opening and closing negotiations certainly require unanimity, but do we really need it for all of the more than 130 additional steps?” he says.
“We could likely move faster with simpler decision-making.”
A similar position has previously been put forward by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, who supports qualified majority voting during intermediate stages of EU accession talks while keeping unanimity for the final decision on admitting a new member.
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