If national vetoes are to be allowed in Europe, a way must be found to stem their abuse
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskBut not included in the rulebook’s 600-plus articles is a mention of an edict that arguably holds sway over allbusiness. Some say it does not exist anymore, others that it never really did; Eurocrats speak of it in hushed tones, as if mindful not to wake a monster. The Luxembourg Compromise holds that any national government can single-handedly derail anymeasure if it feels its “vital interests” are threatened.
The existence of any national vetoes enrages federalists who fret that selfish local politicians stand in the way of a functional European superstate. Those complaints can mostly be ignored. Vetoes are seldom a real problem. They often reflect legitimate gripes and accommodating them improvespolicies in the end. Abolishing them would cause too much power to seep away from national leaders, whose democratic legitimacy far outweighs that of little-knowns or commissioners.
As with the original compromise, there is no need to codify the Reverse Luxembourg in any treaty. More efficient would be to punish the use of flagrantly abusive vetoes with cuts inmoney sent to countries that deploy them. Such threats work: Hungary is currently scrambling to update its anti-graft laws to avoid losing up to €7.5bn of funding from Brussels. Theregularly comes up with new spending programmes, for example the €750bn pandemic-relief fund set up last year.
for 26 countries instead of 27: similar workarounds were once deployed to get around Britain in its most cantankerous years as a member of the club. Hungary is currently not receiving any of the pandemic cash, specifically because of its rule-of-law shortcomings.
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