Published
Update
Video length: 2 min
TRUE OR FALSE. Has France lost its right of veto within the European Union?
TRUE OR FALSE. Has France lost its right of veto within the European Union?
(France 2)
Some Internet users claim that France has lost its right of veto within the European Union, due to a resolution adopted in 2023 by the European Parliament. In reality, this is not binding and does not entail any change.
On social networks, Internet users assure that France has lost its right of veto within the European Union. However, this is false. Most of the time, the EU council, which brings together ministers from different countries, votes by qualified majority. A proposal is adopted if 55% of member states vote “for”. But in certain sensitive areas, such as foreign policy or taxation, the vote is unanimous. The proposal is therefore rejected if a state votes “against”. In other words, all member states have a sort of veto power.
So how did this rumor spread? It is a resolution adopted in 2023 by the European Parliament which has been extrapolated by certain Internet users. This resolution proposes to increase “considerably the number of areas in which actions are decided by qualified majority voting”. Clearly, there would be fewer unanimous votes, and therefore less possibility for a single European state to block a text. But this resolution is absolutely not binding and does not entail any change in the facts.
