Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and vice-president of the European Commission, believes that unanimous decision-making in the EU (veto) should be changed. This is because, according to him, with unique countries that block important decision-making, the credibility of the European Union is being seriously violated. This attitude of Mr. Borrel comes days after the European Council failed to get Bulgaria to lift its veto on North Macedonia, which also penalized Albania. Immediately after this decision, it was Prime Minister Rama who asked to change the way the EU took decisions.

Borrell in his article today, published on the official website of the European Commission, says that after 2 and a half years of experience facing such situations, it is time to review the decision-making process.

“Over the years, we have seen many cases where member states were divided on foreign policy issues. And in principle it is normal that we have different views to begin with, given our differences in history, geography and strategic political culture. But what matters in political life is not how a discussion starts, but how it ends. The strength of the EU system has always been to somehow turn divisions into agreements. And here it matters a lot whether a decision is taken unanimously or by a qualified majority of votes. If countries know in advance that the final decision can be taken by a qualified majority vote, they have a strong incentive to negotiate and form consensus. “If they know they can block everything, they have no incentive to invest in a healthy compromise.”

“We have seen similar dynamics in the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, with a country that blocks what everyone else can agree on – again with negative consequences for the EU’s credibility and influence,” his writing follows.

According to Commissioner Borrell, the countries of the Western Balkans have rightly demanded that their membership process be judged on their own merits.

It has been almost 20 years since the EU declared in Thessaloniki that “the future of the Western Balkans is within the EU”, so a certain degree of impatience on their part, to say the least, is understandable. EU enlargement with those countries that are willing and able to meet the conditions is not a “favor” or a concession. It is in our strategic interest “, writes Joseph Borrell, among others.

/Klara Ruci/