{"id":639,"date":"2026-05-16T15:42:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T15:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=639"},"modified":"2026-05-16T15:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T15:42:21","slug":"eu-not-very-relevant-on-global-stage-ex-foreign-policy-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=639","title":{"rendered":"EU \u2018not very relevant\u2019 on global stage \u2013 ex-foreign policy chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bloc must drop its unanimity principle and forge a new core group for decision making, Josep Borrell has said<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sloppy decision-making and an inability to agree on key issues have rendered the EU effectively irrelevant on the global stage, the bloc\u2019s former foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has argued.<\/p>\n

The former top diplomat made the remarks in an interview with Belgian broadcaster RTBF on Friday, somewhat echoing the stance of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The top official, who has been in power since 2019, has repeatedly urged the bloc to remove individual member states\u2019 veto powers and move to qualified majority voting on foreign policy and defense issues.<\/p>\n

The bloc\u2019s decision-making process has become inadequate in its ability to react to the ever-shifting global situation, Borrell has said, arguing the EU \u201cwas not designed for the world in which we live today\u201d<\/em> in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision-making rules are not compatible with the acceleration of history. We continue to want to decide unanimously on events that are happening too fast and are very important, and we almost never reach an agreement,\u201d<\/em> he said, adding that the current system makes the bloc \u201cnot very relevant to international politics.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Von der Leyen\u2019s power grab angers EU officials \u2013 Bloomberg<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Unlike von der Leyen with her majority voting approach, Borrell called for the creation of a new core group within the bloc to advance the EU\u2019s positions on the global stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to build a union within the union. A union within the union means that with 27 members, even with unanimity, we won\u2019t go any further. We\u2019re held back. With 27, we won\u2019t accomplish much. So we need to find another core group. Not the 27,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n

The former top diplomat, however, did not outline the exact criteria for the potential members of said group, stating it should be composed of the \u201cfew who truly want to move forward with political, economic, and military integration\u201d<\/em> and those \u201cwho want to go further, faster.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Last week, the idea to abandon the EU\u2019s unanimity principle was backed by Berlin, with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arguing that a switch to a qualified majority voting would \u201cmake the EU capable of acting in areas where it currently has to remain at a standstill.\u201d<\/em> The initiative has already been backed by at least 12 EU member states, according to Wadephul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bloc must drop its unanimity principle and forge a new core group for decision…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}