Foreign ministers have not reached an agreement on the use of qualified majority voting in the implementation of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell said on Thursday 19 November.
The High Representative explained that he had proposed to Ministers to use qualified majority voting for actions to implement this plan, which was adopted unanimously the same day. “The Member States did not agree”, he told the media.
“When you have to make decisions to defend human rights and democracy, you cannot wait six months or a year. You cannot accept these decisions being blocked by a Member State. If they are in line with the action plan that has been approved, then the implementation of the plan should not be a major problem”, he explained.
The High Representative indicated that he would continue to discuss the issue with the EU27, which he would insist on. He felt that things were moving forward and that he would come to a decision to that effect.
According to the conclusions linked to the plan, adopted on the same day, the pandemic has had a negative impact on all human rights, democracy and the rule of law. See the conclusions: https://bit.ly/2HheBXF (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)