Lex Austria

Article 7 of the Treaty of Nice can be used to suspend the voting rights of an EU member state if the other members find that it has breached human rights.

According to Art. 7 TEU, four-fifths of the Member States can warn against a breach of common principles with the support of an absolute majority of members in the EU Parliament. At present, this entails that 12 out of 15 countries have to support a warning, whereas, after the enlargement in 2004 20 out of 25 countries must be in support.

Voting rights may then be suspended if approved by a qualified majority in the Council and a two-thirds majority in the EU Parliament (also representing an absolute majority of members).

Links