No possibility the Council of EU to change voting process on enlargement in near future - German ambassador

Skopje, 13 April 2011 (MIA) - The principle of unanimous decision-making regarding the enlargement issue remains in the Council of EU with the Treaty of Lisbon and it is unrealistic to expect that it might change in the near future, German Ambassador to Macedonia Ulrike Maria Knotz stated on Wednesday.

"The Council of EU is an institution that reaches decisions on EU's positions in the foreign policy and those decisions are reached with a consensus, which means that a member country is able to block a decision. Personally, I don't believe that the principle of making decisions with a majority of votes in the Council of EU could be introduced in the foreseeable future. It means that bilateral disputes will keep on being an obstacle in the enlargement process in the future," Knotz said at a panel discussion, which took place during a promotion of the "Europe after the Lisbon Treaty" collection in Skopje's American College University.

She noted the stance of EU and Germany that Western Balkan countries should join the Union once they meet the membership criteria. The European perspective, said Knotz, has no alternative in the region and the Treaty of Lisbon in this regard is a good news for Western Balkans. "The role played by national parliaments and that of the European Parliament, which is crucial, is not an obstacle in the process, instead they will assist by creating public awareness for support," the Ambassador noted.

The Treaty of Lisbon envisages decisions to be reached with a majority, which is a general rule, because consensus as a decision-making tool of the Council of 27 member countries is, by its nature, paralyzing. However, the rule of unanimity still applies for certain areas such as foreign policy, thus the enlargement process and the Union's tax policy.

The Lisbon Treaty, which was adopted in the capital of Portugal in December 2007 and entered into force two years later after being ratified by all EU members, is a response to two key challenges - how to enable EU to function normally with 27 countries having oftentimes different interests and how to ensure increased democratic legitimacy of the European policy covering almost every aspect of the lives of its citizens.

Nowadays, EU primarily focuses on actions to tackle the financial crisis and to address issues imposed by globalisation, according to Ambassador Knotz.

Wednesday's panel discussion was organised by American College University in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Foundation.