Qualified majority voting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voting weights from 1 January 2007:
Country	Votes	Pop. (mill.)

Germany	29	82.1
France	29	61.4
UK	29	60.5
Italy	29	58.0
Spain	27	44.7
Poland	27	38.1
Romania	14	21.7
Netherlands	13	16.5
Greece	12	11.1
Portugal	12	10.6
Belgium	12	10.4
Czech R.	12	10.3
Hungary	12	10.0
Sweden	10	9.1
Austria	10	8.3
Bulgaria	10	7.7
Slovakia	7	5.4
Denmark	7	5.4
Finland	7	5.2
Ireland	7	4.2
Lithuania	7	3.4
Latvia	4	2.3
Slovenia	4	2.0
Estonia	4	1.3
Cyprus	4	0.8
Luxembourg	4	0.5
Malta	3	0.4


Total votes	345
Qualified majority	255
Blocking votes	91

Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) is a voting procedure employed in the Council of the European Union for some decisions. According to the procedure, each member state has a fixed number of votes. The number allocated to each country is roughly determined by its population, but progressively weighted in favour of smaller countries.

To pass a vote by QMV, all three of the following conditions must apply:

the proposal must be supported by 255 votes from a total of 345 - about 74% of the votes;
the proposal must be backed by a majority of member states;
the countries supporting the proposal must represent at least 62% of the total EU population.

If the new Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe comes into force, the conditions for passing a vote will be simplified. In this case, a QMV decision will require a 'double majority' of 55% of the members of the Council and representing Member States comprising at least 65 % of the population of the Union. In addition, a blocking minority must consist of at least 4 Member States. Under the new rules, it will be more difficult for a minority of countries to block a decision.

[edit] Use of QMV vs unanimity

At present, QMV is used to pass certain legislation while others require unanimity among all Council members. Under the proposed Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe, which has to be ratified by all member states before it can enter into force, decisions in about 20 more policy areas would have been taken using QMV, leaving only key, sensitive issues to be decided unanimously (including tax, social policy, defence, foreign policy and treaty revision).

Supporters argue this change will be necessary in order to streamline decision-making and prevent gridlock in a newly enlarged European Union. Others see the change as a loss of sovereignty from individual member states, as it effectively abolishes the national veto in many areas.