The European Commission has proposed changes to the way in which secondary legislation is adopted in the EU.

The current system allows countries to abstain from voting on controversial issues. When voting fails to reach the qualifying majority for or against, the matter goes to an appeal committee. If Member States experts still cannot agree it then falls to national ministers, in the appeals committee and then in the EU Council to reach a decision. If it is still not possible to achieve the required majority the Commission has to decide whether to adopt a proposal or not.

They are therefore proposing that voting by Member States should be made public and that only positive or negative votes should count towards the qualified majority.