The unanimity rule is paralysing the EU’s ability to act. Instead, it should rely more on the “enhanced cooperation” mechanism, writes Bernard Spitz.
Confronted with a series of crises – Covid, Ukraine, the U.S trade war – Europe has paradoxically shown both agility and paralysis. Even before the setback on customs tariffs, the fate of the Draghi and Letta reports was telling: an unassailable diagnosis, a clear consensus, and yet failed execution.
None of this is surprising when 27 member states are bound by unanimity rules that stall decision-making and account for Europe’s chronic delays in financing, research, and industrial policy. Breaking this stalemate requires a two-speed Europe: safeguarding the extraordinary political project that brought lasting peace within the continent and created a market of 450 million consumers, while recognising an uncomfortable truth.
As in Orwell’s Animal Farm. A Fairy Story, while all member states are equal, some are more equal than others. The most developed, the most populous, and the largest contributors are also the best equipped to guarantee Europe’s sovereignty—political, economic, digital, and even health-related. It is around them that a two-speed Europe must take shape.
The Technical Route
Treaty reform is not the answer – it would take forever, when what is needed are swift decisions. The alternative lies in a more pragmatic path: the underused mechanism of “enhanced cooperation.” This allows a smaller group of countries to move ahead in a specific area without waiting for all 27 to agree.
Enshrined in Article 20 of the Treaty on European Union and Articles 326 to 334 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, enhanced cooperation requires at least nine states to launch a joint initiative in an EU policy area. Approval is granted by the Council through qualified majority voting and by the European Parliament.
Without touching the treaties, this tool could bypass the unanimity requirement and enable rapid action. Until now, it has only been applied to relatively minor issues—patent protection, cross-border marriages, fraud prevention. That piecemeal approach no longer suffices. What Europe needs today is a comprehensive and coordinated package of enhanced cooperation agreements in critical areas—taxation, digital transformation, industrial policy, immigration, and social policy—aligned with the ambitions of the Draghi report.
Membership could vary by issue, but a core group would need to be involved across the board to ensure political, economic, and legal coherence, as well as to maintain the necessary, and often complex, ties with the Commission and Parliament.
A Core Bloc
Who should anchor this central bloc? Above all, the Franco-Italian-German strategic triangle, without which no European balance is possible. Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria could join as well. Non-eurozone countries such as Poland, Sweden, and Denmark present different cases, as do Ireland and Luxembourg when tax matters are concerned.
Such a bloc would accelerate European integration where consensus among 27 remains elusive. It would cut through bureaucracy, streamline decision-making, and create a ripple effect, even in areas formally reserved for unanimity or the internal market. A Draghi-compatible bloc could be the missing link Europe needs to assert itself against the U.S, China, and the Global South – and to counter Russian imperialism.
But that will require political will from the “three Ms” – Meloni, Merz, and Macron. By 2027, Europe must seize this chance to reset the game and restore confidence in its future.
September 2025
Bernard Spitz is President of BS Conseil