Christian Anton Hofreiter, a Green politician focused on European affairs, criticized Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul’s proposal-to abolish the principle of unanimity in EU foreign policy-calling it “naive”. Speaking to reporters from Funke-Mediengruppe, the chair of the Bundestag’s European Committee noted that any end to such a principle would itself have to be agreed upon by all member states. Hofreiter added, “The notion that everything will henceforth be decided by qualified majorities is naive. Even small countries, those that are pro-European, would never agree to that”.
Wadephul had previously argued that in order for the EU to be a truly functional and “mature” international actor, the unanimity requirement in foreign and security policy should be removed, proposing instead a system based on qualified majorities. He pointed to recent experiences concerning aid for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia as evidence supporting this view, particularly in light of Poland’s blocking stance regarding Hungary.
As an alternative to abolishing unanimity, Hofreiter proposed that the veto power remain in place, but only if a minimum of four countries invoked it on the same issue.
