Qualified Majority Voting

HC Deb 12 February 2001 vol 363 c47W

Mr. Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if those matters in the councils of the European Union that will be added to decision making by qualified majority vote after the coming into effect of the Treaty of Nice are within the categories of shared, or exclusive competence, of the Community and Union and its member states. [149183]

Mr. Vaz

Of those areas which will move to qualified majority voting after the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice, three are within the exclusive competence of the community. They are Articles 111(4) and 123(4) of the EC Treaty concerning monetary policy, and Article 133(5) of the EC Treaty which extends the Common Commercial Policy to trade in some services and the commercial aspects of intellectual property, subject to unanimity in certain situations. All of the remaining areas which will move to qualified majority voting fall either within the shared competence of the Community and the member states or come within the intergovernmental pillars of the Treaty on the European Union where the concept of shared and exclusive competence is not relevant.