Compromise by Ioannina

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The Ioannina Compromise (also known as the Ioannina Formula ) is a regulation for the protection of minorities that can be applied to votes in the Council of the European Union . It stipulates that a minority of member states whose number of votes is not sufficient to form a blocking minority in majority decisions and thus to prevent a decision can at least force further negotiations and thus delay the decision-making process or change the proposed resolution.

If the outvoted minority together have at least 55% of the number of votes or population required for a blocking minority, each of the outvoted member states can demand renewed negotiations on the subject of the decision and thus "slow down" the process. According to the Lisbon Treaty, this regulation will apply from April 2017. If a double majority has already been voted in accordance with the EU rules , a quota of 75% applies.

The compromise formula goes back to an informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the Member States of the European Union on March 29, 1994 in the Greek provincial town of Ioannina .

Development of blocking minorities

Maastricht Treaty

The distribution of votes based on the Maastricht Treaty of 1993 gave Member States between 2 and 10 votes for qualified majority decisions . In the then 12 member states, the qualified majority was 54 votes out of a total of 76 votes. The blocking minority, with which a resolution could be prevented, was achieved with 23 votes. With the accession of Finland, Austria and Sweden on January 1, 1995, the number of votes increased to 87, the blocking minority should increase accordingly to 26 votes. Some member states, including the UK and Spain, asked to keep the blocking minority of 23 votes.

The Council of Foreign Ministers in Ioannina decided on a new rule for majority decisions in the EU: if Council members who have between 23 (former blocking minority) and 26 (new blocking minority) vote signal that they reject a majority decision by the Council, the Council will do everything possible in order to arrive at a satisfactory solution within a reasonable period of time, which can be approved with at least 68 votes out of 87.

The Ioannina Compromise was a gentlemen's agreement that has practically only been applied once since 1994. A British threat in 1995 in connection with agricultural compensation payments immediately changed the proposal.

After the votes in the Council of Ministers were redistributed in the Treaty of Nice of February 26, 2001, the Ioannina clause was temporarily inapplicable.

Constitutional treaty

During the negotiations at the Intergovernmental Conference in 2003 on the EU Constitutional Treaty , in which resolutions were agreed for many areas with a double majority of member states and citizens of these states, minority protection was agreed again in accordance with the Ioannina formula. The "Declaration on Article I-25" in the annexes to the treaty stipulates that the introduction of the voting principle of the double majority instead of the voting weights of the Nice Treaty (planned for November 1, 2009) is accompanied by increased minority protection, at least would apply until 2014.

The decision stipulated that the Council would continue to seek a solution with broader agreement if at least 75% of the Member States required for a blocking minority under Article I-25 (2) of the draft Constitutional Treaty (or Member States representing 75% of the necessary population ) refuse to vote on a proposal with a qualified majority. The decision would have remained in force until at least 2014, after which the Council could have decided to repeal it.

Lisbon Treaty

The anchoring of the Ioannina clause in primary Community law was made in 2007 by the Polish government a condition for approval of the Lisbon Treaty . However, this did not happen, as initially requested, directly in the founding contracts, but only in an additional declaration (declaration no. 7); however, this can only be changed unanimously.

In terms of content, the compromise formula has been added to the constitutional treaty in such a way that from April 1, 2017, a declaration by 55% (instead of 75%) of the states required for a blocking minority or by member states that represent at least 55% of the population is sufficient for discussion to request the disputed matter by the Council. The deadline for the Council to work out a solution has not been regulated, it simply has to be "reasonable" according to Article 5 of the Declaration; While the majority of the member states understand it to be about three months, Poland spoke of two years during the negotiations. Between November 1, 2014 and March 31, 2017, the "braking mechanism" still needs 75% of the blocking minority. However, in accordance with Article 3 (2) of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions (No. 36), a member of the Council can request during this transitional period to vote in accordance with the modalities of the Nice Treaty.

The declaration containing the Ioannina clause refers to Article 16 (4) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Article 238 (2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Background: Agreement on the “Ioannina Mechanism”  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. rga-online from Oct. 20, 2007.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.rga-online.de  
  2. ↑ Christian Ehler MEP, Europamail Spezial ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of November 15, 2007) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.christian-ehler.de
  3. ↑ Constitutional Treaty of October 29, 2004 (PDF; 1.3 MB) Declaration on Article I-25, p. 396f.

See also

literature

  • Ulrich Everling: Majority vote in the Council of the EU under the Constitutional Treaty. Return to Luxembourg and Ioannina? In: Europe and its constitution. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2005, ISBN 3-8329-1219-3 , pp. 158-175.
  • Gisbert Poensgen : The Paradox of Ioannina. Considerations for a Council Decision. In: Ole Due (Hrsg.): Festschrift for Ulrich Everling. Volume 2, Nomos, Baden-Baden 1995, ISBN 3-7890-3741-9 , pp. 1133-1140.

Web links

  • The EU decision-making process - on the “Ioannina Compromise” see under “Special transitional clause in the event of a narrow majority” (presentation includes the declaration on the Constitutional Treaty)
  • Ioannina Compromise (representation ends with Nice Treaty)
  • Michal Deja, Heike Baddenhausen: The Lisbon Treaty and the Ioannina Clause. German Bundestag, Scientific Services. Analyzes No. 29/07 (23 October 2007) (PDF, 132 kB, detailed history up to the Lisbon Treaty)