Draghi Urges EU Member States to Give Up Foreign Policy Vetoes
Draghi Calls for Tighter EU Integration to Face War, Energy Gaps
(Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called for a swift rethink of European Union mechanisms and an end to member states’ vetoes over foreign policy to allow the bloc to face the unprecedented challenges arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The institutions set up by our predecessors in previous decades have served European citizens well, but are inadequate to the current reality we are now facing,” Draghi said in an address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg Tuesday. “We should overcome the unanimity principle which creates a dynamic of opposing vetoes, and move to decisions taken with a qualified majority.”
He dubbed his vision for a new EU a form of “pragmatic federalism” that would include joint decision-making for sectors including the economy, energy, defense and foreign policy.
“If this requires starting a process to change EU treaties, we should embrace it,” Draghi said.
Italy, one of the founding members of the union, would support the accession process of new countries including Albania, North Macedonia and Ukraine into the bloc.
Crises facing the bloc “require an acceleration in the European integration process” Draghi said, calling for coordinated defense and foreign policy decisions. France, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, has made bolstering the EU’s defense coordination a top priority this year.
Unity Challenge
The bloc’s unity has faced its strongest challenge since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with Vladimir Putin’s demand to buy gas in rubles and an EU push to ban Russian oil, with member states splintering over how to proceed. Hungary has indicated it would be ready to veto oil sanctions if the measures restricted its ability to import energy too much, while Poland, whose gas supplies were cut by Russia last week, wants to move faster.
On Monday, Draghi called for more clarity from the European Commission on whether completing payments in rubles would be a violation of sanctions. He reiterated that Italy will follow the EU guidance on the matter. The EU’s energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, said Monday that the bloc would issues clarifying guidance in the coming days.
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