In the article, we explain popular myths such as:
- We are a small country, we have no voice in the EU.
- They want to take away our veto power.
- Officials from the Commission, not elected by anyone, manage everything and make decisions about everything.
- We can’t do anything in the EU, we’re just losing our sovereignty.
- Small states have little say, the Germans decide everything.
- The superpowers USA, Russia and China decide.
- Babiš did not approve of the Green Deal.
- We pay expensive energy because of the EU and the European market.
“We are a small country, we have no voice in the EU”
Paradoxically, the Czech Republic, on the other hand, is among the top ten of the 27 EU countries in terms of population; specifically, with almost eleven million inhabitants, we are the ninth largest country.
At the same time, the number of inhabitants is key to the position in the EU, because this is what is decisive for the possible weight in voting and at the same time for the number of parliamentary mandates in the European Parliament.
The area – the Czech Republic is the fourteenth – on the other hand, has no meaning in this. For example, Sweden is the third largest EU country, yet it has 21 MEPs, just like the Czech Republic, because it has a very similar population.
Size of EU member states by population
| EU countries | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | 84.6 million |
| 2. | France | 68.3 million |
| 3. | Italy | 58.9 million |
| 4. | Spain | 48.6 million |
| 5. | Poland | 38 million |
| 6. | Romania | 19 million |
| 7. | Netherlands | 18.1 million |
| 8. | Belgium | 11.7 million |
| 9. | Czech Republic | 10.9 million |
| 10. | Greece | 10.4 million |
| 11-27: Seventeen other countries follow, including 13th Hungary (9.6 million), 14th Austria (9) and 18th Slovakia (5.5). The last (27th) is Malta (0.5 million inhabitants). | ||
In addition, several aspects are crucial for decision-making in the EU:
- If it is a vote in which it can be used right of veto of a single state, tiny Malta has exactly the same weight as big Germany.
- In the case of voting by a so-called qualified majority, it is precisely the number of inhabitants that matters. The ratio is calculated so that the two largest states, Germany and France, are not enough to override the others. Such a number of states must agree to the proposal that their inhabitants put together at least 65 percent of the EU population and at the same time it must be at least fifteen states of the 27
For example: the five largest countries – Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland – would together make up the necessary 65 percent of the EU’s population, but they would still not be able to implement the proposal, as they would still lack at least ten other states.
(On the contrary, the proposal can be blocked by the blocking minority – more about it below.)
The Czech Republic therefore has an important vote not only in the case in which it could use the right of veto, but also in other cases of voting. As a medium-sized country with a relatively high population, other member states can try to get it into their coalition to push through some specific proposal – and the Czechs can also get various benefits from this. In the same way, the Czech government can also try to form various coalitions to push through its own proposals.
A recent example is the final draft
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Tags: Small insignificant Czech Republic loss veto Brussels deciding biggest myths twenty years
