History tells us that when it comes to pushing for EU treaty reform, the European Parliament almost always leads the way, writes Benjamin Fox.

Benjamin Fox is EURACTIV’s political editor.

Therefore, Thursday’s (9 June) resolution urging EU leaders to formally launch the EU treaty review process should not have come as a surprise, although a vote of 355 to 154 in in favor of the resolution is in fact much less decisive than it appears, representing just over half of Parliament. Their wishlist content, which is nothing ambitious, shouldn’t be either.

The wish list contains no surprises: the removal of national vetoes on sanctions policies and emergencies, the replacement of unanimous decision-making by qualified majority voting in all areas, and the new powers of the EU in health and cross-border health threats, the completion of the Energy Union, defense policy and social and economic policies.

For good measure, MPs also want the right to initiate, amend and revoke laws and have more control over the EU budget.

Meanwhile, at last week’s congress of the liberal political family, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, delegates endorsed a similar wish list.

So what happens next?

The next summit of EU leaders will take place in two weeks and Clément Beaune, the French Minister for European Affairs, has promised that the last summit organized by his government before the rotating presidency is handed over to the Czech Republic will deal with the issue of treaty reform.

But while momentum for reform is undoubtedly building, it’s hard to imagine we’re going to see a decisive move towards starting an intergovernmental conference anytime soon.

For the foreseeable future, the EU will face interrelated crises. The war in Ukraine, the overhaul of the bloc’s energy and food security policy, and the broader cost-of-living crisis are more than enough to keep leaders busy.

In this context, the idea that the conclusions of the June 23-24 summit will include anything other than “noting” Parliament’s request for a Treaty change is rather far-fetched.

For the moment, the largest states in Europe; Germany, France and Italy are open to the idea of ​​reopening the treaties – but there is a significant blocking minority. 13 member states, mostly smaller states in northern Europe and the Baltics, “do not support reckless and premature attempts to start a process of treaty change”.

The Czech Presidency is unlikely to push the subject over the next six months, since it is part of the group of skeptics. Neither does Sweden, also a member of the Group of 13, which will take over the presidency in January 2023.

However, over the last thirty years of European integration, Parliament has been a driving force. The same is true for the larger Member States and the European Commission. They are all in favor of treaty change and usually end up getting what they want.