Germany’s likely incoming government—comprising the nominally liberal-centrist CDU and the socialist SPD—has set its sights on ramping up EU enforcement against member states accused of rule-of-law breaches.
Their plan? Push Brussels to wield harsher punitive measures, including cutting off EU funds and even stripping countries of their voting rights within the European Council, effectively removing their veto power.
While the EU has previously frozen funds for Hungary and Poland under infringement procedures, the proposed measures take things further. The goal is to make every type of EU funding contingent on so-called rule-of-law compliance and, more alarmingly, to introduce an unprecedented move: suspending a member state’s voting rights. Historically, EU nations have avoided this drastic step, fearing it could one day be used against them. But Germany’s next leadership seems ready to break that precedent.
According to the draft coalition agreement between CDU and SPD:
“Existing protective instruments, from infringement proceedings and the withholding of EU funds to the suspension of membership rights such as voting rights in the Council of the EU, must be applied much more consistently than before.”
Though Hungary is not explicitly named, the reference is unmistakable. The conservative Hungarian government currently has approximately €20 billion in frozen EU funds due to alleged violations of the bloc’s fundamental rights, including policies on LGBT issues and illegal immigration enforcement.
The selective nature of these enforcement tools exposes the political motivations behind them. These mechanisms serve as leverage to strong-arm conservative governments into adopting progressive policies—or to coerce their citizens into voting for a more EU-aligned leadership. The hypocrisy is stark: when Poland’s conservative PiS government was ousted in favor of Donald Tusk’s liberal administration, EU funds were unfrozen almost immediately, despite no legal reforms being implemented. Meanwhile, Tusk’s government has engaged in blatant rule-of-law violations against the opposition without so much as a reprimand from Brussels.
Beyond targeting Hungary, the draft agreement reveals an even more ambitious goal: dismantling the power of national vetoes. The proposal advocates for
“an expansion of qualified majority voting in the Council of the EU, particularly on certain issues of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), such as the imposition of sanctions.”
This shift would strip individual nations of their ability to block EU decisions, instead requiring only a majority consensus to push measures through. Under this system, legislation would need the backing of just over half of EU member states, representing at least 65% of the population—effectively sidelining smaller nations and conservative governments.
Once considered a radical notion, Germany’s endorsement of qualified majority voting could turn this into a reality, bringing the EU a significant step closer to becoming a centralized superstate. With this door opened, the long-term consequences for national sovereignty across Europe could be profound and irreversible.
