It is one thing for a dog’s
tail to lead; even worse is the situation in which the tail refuses to let the
dog walk or run. The staying power of the principle of unanimity in the
European Council and the Council of the E.U. enables any one of the state
governments to block federal policy and law. Such a blockage makes the tyranny
of a minority look tame. In contrast, qualified-majority voting ensures that
enough of a majority—a “super-majority”—is in place that the resulting minority
should lose. The notion that every state government must be “on board”
for the E.U. to enact a policy or law is misplaced because governmental sovereignty
in that Union is “dual” because both the E.U.’s federal level and the state
governments have at least some sovereignty. The same is true of American
federalism. Neither the E.U. nor the U.S. is a confederation of sovereign
states; only in such a federation does the principle of unanimity fit.
The full essay is at "Hungary Blocks €90 billion E.U. Loan for Ukraine."
