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Double majority

Double majority means that two different votes are needed to reach a decision. The system of “double majority” is the core in decision making in the Lisbon Treaty. The Commission would still have the monopoly to propose a law, but the Council would first need 55% of all member states where the member states have one vote each. In the second and more important counting these member states should also represent 65% of the population in the whole EU. In an EU with 27 member states the blocking minority would be 13 of the 27 member states since a decision would require the support of 15 member states. A decision could also be blocked by member states with a little more than 35% of the EU population on condition that they represent at least 4 of the 27 member states. This voting by size would move the power in the Council towards the biggest member states. Three big states can block a decision with the support from a small state even if a decision is wanted by 23 of the 27 member states. When the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, the new system would apply from 2014 or eventually 2017. The Treaty of Nice had introduced a possibility for voting by size. Member states with 38% of the EU population can ask for a second counting of the weighted votes in the Council. A decision will then need support from member states representing 62% of the population in the whole EU. The number of citizens for each country is decided each year by means of a regulation from the EU.  The need for 65% of the population is increased to 72% when the EU decides without a proposal from the Commission. This is known as a super qualified majority. It requires the support from 22 of the 27 member states. This majority is required, for example, when the heads of states appoint the Commission president and the members of the Commission. 

Notes 

The Democracy Forum and the SOS Democracy intergroup in the European Parliament have proposed a different system of double voting where a decision requires the support of 75% of the member states in the Council and a simple majority in the European Parliament.  * In the US a decision requires a majority in the House of Representatives where participating states are represented according to size, and then a decision in the Senate, where states have 2 senators each, independent of size. This is also a kind of double majority.

See also Voting in the Council and Blocking minority 

Links

Scadplus: Double majority  http://europa.eu/scadplus/glossary/double_majority_en.htm