European Parliament would revoke Member States veto

“This week the European Parliament once more demonstrated that it only supports democracy as long as it's serving their interests,” said Member of the European Parliament Ernő Schaller-Baross. The initiative to amend the European Union’s founding treaties was on the agenda of the plenary session which consisted of none other than dismantling the last bastion of Member States – their right of veto – under the guise of reforming the EU.

Schaller-Baross Ernő szerint a nemzeti érdekérvényesítés utolsó bástyáit is lerombolhatják (Fotó: Európai Parlament) Forrás: Európai Parlament

“The European left intends to manipulate the basic treaties of the EU integration for its own political goals: they intend to put an end to unanimity in the European Council. Currently, full unanimity is required in the Council for affairs concerning common foreign and security policy as well as EU finances, tax-related legalities and other fields. Now, the German coalition government is most committed to dismantling this. According to them, the European Union must take united action to effectively address international challenges – thus, foreign policy decisions should not be unanimous decisions, but based on a qualified majority,” explained Ernő Schaller-Baross.

He added that, according to the proposal, the so-called Article 7 procedure could be launched with support from a fifth of the Member States. In other words, only a simple majority would be necessary to start the procedure – instead of a unanimous vote, a qualified majority would be enough to “condemn” a state.

“As of now, such proceedings are pending against Hungary and Poland, and left-wing European parties believe that this has not been voted upon yet in the Council because Hungary and Poland would just veto it for each other,”

– explained the MEP. He believes this all shows that the EP intends to adjust means to meet their political goals; in other words, putting the horse before the cart.

Sidestepping governments

Ernő Schaller-Baross also pointed out that the initiative would give the European Parliament unrestricted right of initiative, regardless of policy, and extend its budgetary powers.

“The point is here that the EU Member States would no longer have the right of veto while some form of this right would be established for the EP,” he explained.

As he said, all this was done by the left-wing-led EP following the series of conferences on the future of Europe which was their reference for this latest initiative. However, those conferences did not end in consensus at all, rather with a deepened gap between sides. For example, conservative, far-right, and EU-sceptic groups of the European Parliament completely rejected the results of the conferences; certain EPP delegations also opposed the results along with the Fidesz EP delegation. The EP, under the illusion that it is the custodian of the EU’s legitimacy, is trying to forcefully pass the aforementioned proposals, while forgetting the EU’s mandate is in reality, based on the Member States.

“Even if the EP manages to proclaim of the constitutional convention, any amendment to the EU’s founding treaties will require the consensus of all countries in the EU. Achieving this via the basic treaties is not realistic.

Just remember that in 2005, the French and Dutch referendums on the EU were rejected by a large majority of citizens. In the recent conferences on the future of the EU, 13 Member States indicated their opposition to any reckless, premature attempts to changing the basic treaties. In this form, this is not a realistic situation, but rather a political game from the left and a federalist dream,” emphasized Ernő Schaller-Baross.

Economic intimidation

Doing away with Member States’ right of veto could only be done by circumventing EU institutions’ basic treaties, thus bypassing Member States. One potential tool for ending the foreign policy veto could be the European Commission’s proposal last December. The aim of this was none other than to put an end to the economic coercive measures that non-EU countries take or try to take against the EU.

Example of economic intimidation include: certain countries openly using coercive market-protection measures against the EU, selectively controlling imports from a certain EU country, or boycotting products from a given country.

– listed the MEP. According to Ernő Schaller-Baross, the European Commission committed itself to a unique path with this measure, however the indirect aim of the proposal goes far beyond that.

Last year’s conflict between Lithuania and China made the proposal more urgent, however the EU was only triggered once the German automotive industry became involved. “The situation has deteriorated to the point where Chinese machinery and parts imports and the sale of Lithuanian products to China have come to a stop, disrupting the global supply chain. This is how the rule against coercive economic measures landed in the Commission last December,” explained the MEP.

Foreign Policy veto in the crosshairs

Ernő Schaller-Baross said the key to the proposal is that, according to the basic treaties, the EU has exclusive competence in common commercial policy and Member States cannot take measures independently. Additionally, Council votes would not require unanimity but rather a qualified majority. According to the proposal, interfering in the legitimate, sovereign decisions of the EU or a Member State qualifies as economic coercion. If the EU were to exact a trade policy response to a provocation by a third-party country, it would thereby be a matter of exclusive EU competence. This means that the EU decides the appropriate sanctions and a Member State cannot take independent measures.

These regulations may be interpreted in quite unusual ways if we examine recent foreign policy developments, including the sanctions imposed on Russia as those primarily fall under foreign and security policy yet also relate strongly to energy, investment and trade policy,

– Ernő Schaller-Baross highlighted. The MEP believes it is no question that Russia’s actions meet the criteria of economic coercion outlined in the proposal. Thus, Brussels could introduce rulings to enforce its will on Member States by circumventing the right of veto. “This would be a grave violation of the rule of law,” he said.

“Meanwhile, the EU institutions are not even respecting each other’s decisions,” said the MEP in reference to the European liberals group announcing this past week that they would blackmail the European Commission with a motion of censure *** due to the year-long process of finally allowing Poland to access their legally allotted funds. “Brussels’ abuse of its role is historically unprecedented,” announced Ernő Schaller-Baross.

“We Hungarians believe that the key to our continent’s successful future lies in our nations. The Hungarian government along with the Fidesz-KDNP EP delegation was elected to work to establish a freer and more democratic Europe, while respecting national sovereignty,” said the MEP in conclusion.

Photo: Ernő Schaller-Baross (European Parliament)