Qualified Majority Voting in Common Foreign and Security Policy – A Cost of non-Europe Report

By Daniel Fiott and Giulia Tercovich

28.08.2023

Common foreign and security policy (CFSP) has a particular status in the EU legal framework, part of which is the unanimity rule within the Council. This report analyses decision-making rules in CFSP from a ‘cost of non-Europe’ perspective. It identifies CFSP challenges and the extent to which they could be attributed to unanimity. This allows us to identify the current ‘cost of unanimity’. The report also analyses possible alternatives to unanimity decision-making in CFSP, such as a switch to qualified majority voting (QMV), including their costs and benefits. The study develops several policy options, including options within the current legal framework, options requiring Treaty change, and options requiring a departure from the intergovernmentalism in CFSP.

Read now