The British Government’s minority report: UK opposes most frequently in EU Council votes, especially on budget, agriculture and foreign policy

As the UK General Elections were getting close on the 7 May 2015 and the EU-UK relations were one of the main topics of the electoral campaign, VoteWatch Europe looked into the decisions of the Council of the European Union to see, factually, what exactly divides the UK and the other Member States and to what extent this impacts on EU policy making.

VoteWatch Europe found that the opposition to the appointment of Jean Claude Juncker as Commission President was no single event: in fact, the British government has voted against the common position in the EU Council much more frequently than any other Member: it has stayed in opposition in 85 out of 680 votes it participated in. Next in line, though far behind, are Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Despite this, the policymaking in the EU has been able to work due to the extension of the qualified majority voting in Council votes, which prevents deadlocks when only one (or very few) countries oppose. This analysis is based on the study of the voting behaviour of all EU Member States’ Governments between July 2009 and March 2015.

The British delegation found itself the most often in minority on policy areas related to budget, agriculture and foreign and security policy.

• Primary Source

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

---