EU’s inability to make unified decisions reveals systemic paralysis, Politico says

Europe’s mounting foreign policy failures, from struggling to fund Ukraine to its fragmented response to the Iran war, are fueling calls for a root-and-branch overhaul of how the bloc conducts diplomacy, Politico writes, referring to nine EU diplomats, officials, lawmakers and experts.

As noted, the EU’s inability to take unified decisions exposes a systemic paralysis.

With conflict escalating in the Middle East, Russia’s war in Ukraine grinding on and transatlantic relations under strain, diplomats say the EU risks sidelining itself at a moment when geopolitical decisions are moving faster than its system can handle.

Frustration at the deadlock is spilling into the open, with a growing group of countries led by Germany and Sweden pushing to severely limit — or totally scrap — national vetoes that allow a single capital to block action.

“We should abolish the unanimity principle in the EU in foreign and security policy before the end of the current legislative period so as to be better capable of acting internationally and to be truly grown-up,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Saturday, according to the German Funke Group. “All the experience that we have gained over recent weeks with aid for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia indicate this.”