Donald Tusk, who is likely to return to power in Poland after 8 years of conservative government, said on Wednesday that he does not support the abolition of the EU member states’ veto on important issues, Euractiv reports.

His comments came as the European Parliament is due to vote later on Wednesday on a report on amending EU treaties, including removing unanimity among member states on key issues.

Tusk announced that all MEPs from the Civic Coalition party he leads would vote against the report, while noting that it did not illustrate any form of Euroscepticism, but doubts about some of the proposals and the pace of change.

“Europe needs to be fixed in many ways,” Tusk said, but warned that the “stupidest way” to do that would be to fall into the naïve “Euro-enthusiasm” that he said was one of the reasons Britons voted to leave. EU.

“The project prepared by the European Parliament certainly does not correspond to what, from my point of view, represents the spirit of the time and the real needs of the EU,” explained Tusk.

Donald Tusk, on the same side of the barricade as the Polish conservatives

“Never before have we needed a stronger and more capable European Union in the face of threats, in the face of war that is right next to us. But the document that will be voted on, instead of satisfying this need, weakens the European community,” said Andrzej Galicki, one of the MEPs from the Civic Platform.

The current conservative Polish government, led by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, strongly opposed the abolition of the member states’ right of veto. Moravetskii’s Law and Justice party won the October elections, but is unable to form a new government due to a lack of allies in parliament.

Thus, Tusk is likely to become Poland’s next prime minister, a role he held from 2007-2014, although Polish President Andrzej Duda initially suggested that Morawiecki try to form a new government through parliament.

Despite the fact that discussions on this matter have been going on for a long time, Germany and eight other member states of the European Union in early May presented an initiative aimed at reforming the EU’s decision-making process in matters of defense and foreign policy, demanding the abolition of the right of veto.

Countries that proposed to abolish the right of veto in the EU

The nine countries gathered in the “group of friends” – Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Spain and the Netherlands – advocate the introduction of qualified majority voting in the field of the EU’s common foreign policy and security. policy, instead of the unanimous vote that is currently in place.

In a statement released in Berlin, the nine countries say the proposal is aimed at “increasing the efficiency and speed of the decision-making process” of European diplomacy.

“In the context of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and growing challenges at the international level, the members of the Group of Friends are convinced that the decision-making procedure should be adjusted,” the signatories note.

Similar attempts were made in the past, but without success.

Small states in the Union, in particular, fear that their voice will no longer matter if they lose their veto power. These states believe that they could lose if all decisions were taken by a qualified majority, as is currently used for most EU affairs, with the exception of some areas such as foreign and security policy.

This type of vote requires the consent of 15 of the 27 states, provided they represent more than 65% of the Union’s 450 million inhabitants.