Small countries

: Currently "small countries" have three votes in the European Council, but will soon have seven. (Photo: Notat)

Small countries

Under the Treaty of Nice the voting system changed. Small countries like ireland and Denmark had 7 votes in the Council instead 3, while the bigger states' votes ncreased from 10 to 29, as a compensation for their loss of a second commissioner.

From 1 November 2014 the Lisbon Treaty will establish a radical change in the voting strength in the Council. A country like Ireland will go from 2 to 0,89% of the voting strength while Germany will double its power.

When Ireland and Denmark joined the EU in 1973 Germany had 3 1/3 times the Irish vote. When the Lisbon Treaty is adopted Germany will have 18 times the vote of Ireland and 15 times the vote of Denmark.

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