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Qualified majority voting

The rule of qualified majority voting (QMV) in the Council of the European Union applies to the adoption of proposals on the following matters concerning employment and industrial relations (Article 137(1) EC):

• improvement in particular of the working environment to protect workers’ health and safety;
• working conditions;
• informing and consulting with workers;
• the integration of persons excluded from the labour market;
• Equality between women and men with regard to labour market opportunities and treatment at work;
• combating social exclusion;
• the modernisation of social protection systems.

The Treaty of Nice provided that the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission, after consulting the European Parliament, may decide to apply the QMV procedure to three other matters (Article 137(2) EC):

• protection of workers where their employment contract is terminated;
• representation and collective defence of the interests of workers and employers, including co-determination;
• conditions of employment for third country nationals legally residing in Community territory.

In a decision under QMV, votes in the Council are weighted in accordance with the size of population, though adjusted, so that small countries are relatively over-represented in voting. In light of enlargement, the number of votes allocated to the then acceding countries was also decided at Nice. The objective was to ensure that the relative weight of small and medium-sized countries is in proportion to their populations and, in part, to compensate the large Member States for their loss of a second Commissioner. The post-accession weighting was laid down in a Protocol to the Treaty of Nice, which envisaged accession to a total of 27 Member States. After enlargement by 12 countries to 27 Member States, a qualified majority will be 258 out of 345 (74.8%).

Since enlargement to date only encompasses the 10 new Member States (Bulgaria and Romania not being included), the qualified majority in practice is 232 votes out of 321 (72.9%). The allocation of votes for each Member State from November 2004 is as follows:

Following the 2004 enlargement of 10 countries, a qualified majority is 234 votes out of 321 (72.9%). After enlargement to Bulgaria (10 votes) and Romania (14 votes), qualified majority will be 258 out of 345 (74.8%). The Treaty of Nice also amended the formula constituting a qualified majority. This must now satisfy two conditions: a set number of votes (changing as new countries join) and agreement by a majority of Member States. Further, a Member State may request that the qualified majority represents at least 62% of the total population of the Union. If not, the decision is not adopted. It is the voting procedures in the Council of Ministers which will determine the evolution of EU policy in the fields of employment and industrial relations.

The EU Constitution proposes introducing a new voting system in 2009: a double majority will normally consist of 55% of the Member States, representing at least 65% of the EU's population, or 72% of the states and still 65% of the population if an initiative from the Commission is not required.

See also: co-decision procedure; Council of the European Union; Council voting procedure.