THE VOTING SYSTEM IN THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN-UNION - THE BALANCE BETWEEN LARGE AND SMALL COUNTRIES

There is no foundation for the view that the balance between small and large member countries has changed through the successive enlargement s of the EU. In most cases, the share of votes of the large countries is about 75 percent of what it would have been if the votes had been d istributed in proportion to their population, and this figure has chan ged very little over the years. The great exception is Germany, which is due to the reunification. The effects of the enlargements and of a greater share of small and overrepresented countries have been borne t o the same extent by all member countries. The relationship between th e over/underrepresentation of small and large countries has not change d since 1958. The share of the total population needed for a decision by qualified majority has, however, fallen, particularly with the acce ssion of Spain and Portugal and the German reunification, and the majo rity has in a way become ''less qualified.'' This will continue with t he coming enlargements, but the widespread belief that the small count ries could outvote countries with a majority of the population is erro neous. This article examines the changes in the system that were sugge sted during the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference. A change of the sam e magnitude as these could be achieved through a simple formula based on objective criteria and would also eliminate the inconsistencies of the present system and the need for new negotiations at each enlargeme nt.