EU should vote by qualified majority and prevent “new Orban” – MEP

The European Union should more widely apply the procedure of decision-making by qualified majority, as the abuse of veto power by individual member states significantly undermines the EU’s effectiveness. This has become particularly evident in the case of Hungary.

This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by Member of the European Parliament Petras Austrevicius.

“I think the issue is long overdue,” Austrevicius said commenting on the idea of qualified majority vote. “For too long it’s been a hanging issue of inefficiency of the European Union. I do commend the statement by von der Leyen – but I'm looking forward to hearing such a statement from European Council President Antonio Costa.”

In the Austrevicius’s view, a silence from the European Council shows that “probably there is no big appetite to step in and do something.”

At the same time, he noted that it is the member states themselves who must first agree on such a reform.

“This is a complex issue, and there are too many things on the table, from simplification to EU enlargement. It would be great if these developments served as enough of an argument to push the reform through, but politicians tend to forget things very quickly as other pressing issues come up on the agenda,” Austrevicius said.

He believes the EU must act to “prevent any new Orban from coming on stage and again taking the whole European Union hostage.”

As reported earlier, Austrevicius also said that the history of the European Union shows that all member states have economically benefited from their neighbors joining the bloc, and in this context Hungary should support Ukraine’s European integration aspirations.