Decision-Making and the Constitutional Treaty: Will the IGC discard Giscard? CEPS Policy Brief No. 37, August 2003

Baldwin, Richard and Widgren, Mika. (2003) Decision-Making and the Constitutional Treaty: Will the IGC discard Giscard? CEPS Policy Brief No. 37, August 2003. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

[Introduction]. The EU’s draft Constitutional Treaty proposes the most radical reform of EU institutions ever put forward – more radical than those in the Single European Act, the Maastricht and Nice Treaties combined. Many of the changes have been debated, but little notice has been paid to what is perhaps the most critical reform: the change in the EU’s decision-making procedures. Decision-making rules are the heart of any constitution and the EU is no exception. Most EU laws are adopted on the basis of majority voting. These laws are binding in all member states, including those that had opposed them. Consequently, nations should take great care when crafting such rules. Nations should also be very alert to changes in their power shares in the decision-making process, since this share has a big influence on how often they will end up having to adopt laws that they voted against in the EU institutions.

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