ADMISSION OF EUROPEAN-FREE-TRADE-ASSOCIATION STATES TO THE EUROPEAN-COMMUNITY - EFFECTS ON VOTING POWER IN THE EUROPEAN-COMMUNITY-COUNCIL-OF-MINISTERS

Several member states of the European Free Trade Association have appl ied for admission into the European Community (EC). Paradoxically, enl arging the EC in this way will expand the voting power of Luxembourg, the smallest EC member state, in the EC Council of Ministers but dimin ish the power of the other states. In an EC with more members, voting by unanimity increasingly becomes an impractical decision-making proce dure. As the Single European Act and possibly also the Treaty on Europ ean Union are being implemented, the distribution of EC council voting power takes on growing importance, since the range of issues to be de cided by qualified majority votes increases considerably. Moreover, th ere are tendencies within the EC to render decision making more transp arent and to publish member states positions taken in majority votes. Thus, the distribution of voting power will increasingly be a crucial aspect for the EC.