Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has called on the EU to abandon its demand for unanimity in foreign policy decisions as the bloc struggles with security and economic challenges following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to the European Parliament on Tuesday, Draghi said the EU needs to improve its decision-making capacity to respond effectively to the threat from Russia, whose actions he says are a direct attack on the EU’s greatest achievement: ensuring peace in continent.
His call for the EU to abandon what was one of the bloc’s most targeted principles comes as member states discuss this week whether to impose new sanctions on Russia, including an oil embargo.
Such a change would allow the EU to overcome lonely holders, such as Hungary, who oppose tighter coordinated sanctions against Russia – something Italy has sometimes been accused of in the past.
“We need to overcome this principle of unanimity, which leads to a cross-veto logic, and move to decisions taken by qualified majority,” Draghi said. “Europe, capable of making timely decisions, is Europe [that] is more reliable with regard to its citizens and the world. “
Although the 2009 Lisbon Treaty allows the EU to make majority decisions in many areas, sensitive topics – such as taxes, social protection, the accession of new Member States, the common foreign and security policy and police cooperation – require unanimity. of all Member States.
Although Italy has called for such reforms in the past, they are unlikely to take effect – given that they will require unanimity to be adopted.
However, Draghi also said Europe could improve its defense co-ordination to help provide maximum protection for its security spending.
Although the combined defense spending of EU member states is about three times higher than that of Russia, he said the EU manages a total of 146 defense systems – compared to only 34 in the United States.
Such fragmented defense spending, he said, is “deeply inefficient allocation of resources that hinders the building of a genuine European defense.”
To address this issue, he called on the EU to convene a conference to streamline and optimize defense spending by member states.
Draghi, meanwhile, reiterated Rome’s strong support for Ukraine and its accession to the EU, although he said Italy hoped for a truce that would pave the way for negotiations.
“In an aggressive war, there can be no equivalence between those who invade and those who resist,” he added. “Defending Ukraine means defending ourselves and the security and democracy project we have been building together for 70 years.
Draghi also reaffirmed Italy’s support for the EU’s rapid enlargement to other members, with the immediate start of accession talks with Albania and northern Macedonia, boosting negotiations with Serbia-Montenegro and paying more attention to the “legitimate expectations” of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
“We are for the entry of all these countries,” he said. “We have to follow the entrance road that we have drawn, but we have to move as fast as possible.
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