Abstaining in a vote on decisions in the area of foreign and security policy of the European Union (Article 31, TEU)

Definition

When abstaining in a vote, any member of the Council may qualify its abstention by making a formal declaration under the present subparagraph.

In that case, it shall not be obliged to apply the decision, but shall accept that the decision commits the Union. In a spirit of mutual solidarity, the Member State concerned shall refrain from any action likely to conflict with or impede Union action based on that decision and the other Member States shall respect its position.

If the members of the Council qualifying their abstention in this way represent at least one third of the Member States comprising at least one third of the population of the Union, the decision shall not be adopted.

Related terms:

Parent term:

Adoption of decisions in the area of foreign and security policy of the European Union (Article 31, TEU)

Sibling terms: