{"id":463699,"date":"2026-09-02T11:23:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/02\/unita-contro-unanimita-lue-rilancia-il-dibattito-sulle-decisioni-in-politica-estera\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T12:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T10:03:14","slug":"unity-versus-unanimity-eu-reopens-debate-on-foreign-policy-decision-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/02\/unity-versus-unanimity-eu-reopens-debate-on-foreign-policy-decision-making\/","title":{"rendered":"“Unity versus unanimity”: EU reopens debate on foreign policy decision-making"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013No decisions can be taken, given the informal nature of the meeting. The foreign ministers gathered in Ireland<\/a>, however, are discussing how to make decisions on a common foreign policy going forward. The debate over moving away from unanimity resumes, driven by 11 countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and Sweden) that have signed a letter calling for a change in decision-making.<\/p>\n

An initiative that cannot be ignored and that inevitably forces a reckoning. \u201cWe will talk about our internal issues, European foreign policy as such – how we can be more effective in this regard?\u201d said the EU\u2019s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas<\/strong>, before the beginning of proceedings. <\/p>\n

There is a contrast at play, which Kallas defines and sums up as \u201cunity versus unanimity,\u201d<\/strong> and which the High Representative suggests she understands and even supports. \u201cwe have to be more agile\u201d in responses to crises, she continues. Several participants around the table share the same need, as outlined in the letter drafted during the informal meeting, which served as an appropriate forum for reflection and discussion. <\/p>\n

Spain, France and Romania insist that faster decisions are needed and that overcoming the unanimity rule remains the priority in this regard. The foreign ministers of these countries reiterated this once again upon their arrival. It will not be easy, but there is the possibility \u2013 which is, incidentally, not new in a debate that began some time ago \u2013 of examining the legal and procedural options provided for in the treaties to move in this direction. <\/p>\n

Compared with the past, there seems to be a whole new sense of urgency, felt more widely \u2013 probably due to an international context that has deteriorated and is far more unpredictable than before. The EU is giving it a go, whilst waiting for the appropriate forums to decide whether to take a different approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The issue of moving beyond the 27-vote system was raised at the Foreign Ministers\u2019 meeting in Ireland. Kallas urges to discuss how to be more agile and effective<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":459749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[33830,35564,33394,32386],"class_list":["post-463699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-kaja-kallas","tag-maggioranza-qualificata","tag-ue","tag-unanimita-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463700,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463699\/revisions\/463700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}