That is misleading, it's a eu parliament thing, it hinges on MEPs votes not countries. At the council level i.e intergovernmental, every one has veto powers, 4 would be enough to stop this for practically ever.
Does governments have any say in this? If not then most MEPs of mentioned countries are too in favor of Chat Control. This is what it says when you click on one of the 4 countries.
EU law 101: (1) EU Commission (i.e. the executive) proposes a law; (2) EU Parliament signs off on it; (3) EU Council (i.e. the equivalent of a senate, comprising national governments) puts the final stamp on it.
The complicating factor being that a given law may or may not require unanimity at the final EU Council stage.
The Council of the European Union (what you probably mean by EU Council) isn't a senate. Its meetings are theoretically attended by ministers related to a specific topic area, so an agricultural law might be attended by agricultural ministers, but in practice that often doesn't happen and functionaries are rubber stamping laws without reading or debating them. Almost all the "votes" pass unanimously or with a single abstention / no vote.
One issue is that there are so many such laws that they are hardly ever reported in local media, so people just don't know about them and governments themselves don't try to inform anyone either. Then governments blame the EU once a law is already passed and tell citizens that it's now impossible to change because the EU Commission would refuse to propose a repeal or amendment.
It's often hypothesized that governments love this process because it lets them pass laws they know voters will hate without taking direct blame for it.
The EU council is not like the senate. It's the council of the executives of the member states i.e. the meeting of the governments of the states, summit meetings happen between prime ministers and presidents.
Chat control though will definitely not make it to a summit meeting, and almost definitely does not warrant unanimity, it's probably a simple majority issue, i.e not foreign relations, defense, etc.
The EU is predicated on the pooled sovereignty of its constituent countries, as exercised thought the EU Council. Apart from a limited number of certain matters, any EU country can veto any decision made by the EU Commission, or indeed the EU Parliament.
That is misleading, it's a eu parliament thing, it hinges on MEPs votes not countries. At the council level i.e intergovernmental, every one has veto powers, 4 would be enough to stop this for practically ever.
Does governments have any say in this? If not then most MEPs of mentioned countries are too in favor of Chat Control. This is what it says when you click on one of the 4 countries.
EU law 101: (1) EU Commission (i.e. the executive) proposes a law; (2) EU Parliament signs off on it; (3) EU Council (i.e. the equivalent of a senate, comprising national governments) puts the final stamp on it.
The complicating factor being that a given law may or may not require unanimity at the final EU Council stage.
In general, the governments have the final word.
The Council of the European Union (what you probably mean by EU Council) isn't a senate. Its meetings are theoretically attended by ministers related to a specific topic area, so an agricultural law might be attended by agricultural ministers, but in practice that often doesn't happen and functionaries are rubber stamping laws without reading or debating them. Almost all the "votes" pass unanimously or with a single abstention / no vote.
One issue is that there are so many such laws that they are hardly ever reported in local media, so people just don't know about them and governments themselves don't try to inform anyone either. Then governments blame the EU once a law is already passed and tell citizens that it's now impossible to change because the EU Commission would refuse to propose a repeal or amendment.
It's often hypothesized that governments love this process because it lets them pass laws they know voters will hate without taking direct blame for it.
1 reply →
The EU council is not like the senate. It's the council of the executives of the member states i.e. the meeting of the governments of the states, summit meetings happen between prime ministers and presidents.
Chat control though will definitely not make it to a summit meeting, and almost definitely does not warrant unanimity, it's probably a simple majority issue, i.e not foreign relations, defense, etc.
1 reply →
The EU is predicated on the pooled sovereignty of its constituent countries, as exercised thought the EU Council. Apart from a limited number of certain matters, any EU country can veto any decision made by the EU Commission, or indeed the EU Parliament.
There's a lot of flip-flopping. I'm surprised Italy changed their mind when they were very in favour until recently.
I guess that’s how it eventually goes through. When, at random, enough flippers flop or floppers flip that it tips the balance.
And once it’s done it’s done. The relentlessness does not continue into, “are you sure?”, it’ll be over.
For the record, I’m in the EU and do not want this to pass.