Qualified majority voting, QMV
A simple majority requires more than 50% of the given votes.
An absolute majority requires more than 50% of all members, irrespective of the number of those voting.
Decision by qualified majority in the Council of Ministers currently requires 255 out of 345 votes. The votes of the Member States are weighted.
Notes
- In normal voting procedures, every member has one vote. In the Council they normally vote with weighting votes.
- Qualified majority voting is the most common form of voting in the EU Council of Ministers.
The future
The Lisbon Treaty imposes a new system, where each memberstate also vote according to their population.
In the Lisbon Treaty a system of double majority is proposed. This means that there shall be 55 % of the member states representing 65% of the population of the EU to adopt an act. At least 4 countries are needed to block a decision while at least 15 countries must back up a decision for it to come into force. Including the population factor mainly benefits the bigger countries while the "one country one vote" element benefits the smaller countries. This system makes it easier to take decisions. 72 % of the member states and 65 % of the population is required when the proposal does not need a Commission initiative.
Links
See also Voting in the Council.
