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Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) is a voting procedure employed in the Council of the European Union for some decisions. According to the procedure, each member state has a fixed number of votes. The number allocated to each country is roughly determined by its population, but progressively weighted in favour of smaller countries.

To pass a vote by QMV, all three of the following conditions must apply:

• the proposal must be supported by 255 votes from a total of 345 - about 74% of the votes;
• the proposal must be backed by a majority of member states;
• the countries supporting the proposal must represent at least 62% of the total EU population.

If the new Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe comes into force, the conditions for passing a vote will be simplified. In this case, a QMV decision will require a 'double majority' of 55% of the members of the Council and representing Member States comprising at least 65 % of the population of the Union. In addition, a blocking minority must consist of at least 4 Member States. Under the new rules, it will be more difficult for a minority of countries to block a decision.

At present, QMV is used to pass certain legislation while others require unanimity among all Council members. Under the proposed Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe, which has to be ratified by all member states before it can enter into force, decisions in about 20 more policy areas would have been taken using QMV, leaving only key, sensitive issues to be decided unanimously (including tax, social policy, defence, foreign policy and treaty revision).

Supporters argue this change will be necessary in order to streamline decision-making and prevent gridlock in a newly enlarged European Union. Others see the change as a loss of sovereignty from individual member states, as it effectively abolishes the national veto in many areas.

• This entry is related to, but not included in the elections and voting series. Other related articles can be found at the Politics Portal.
• Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe
• Enlargement of the European Union
• Supermajority
• Voting

• euireland.ie: Enlargement and institutional changes (voting schemes)
• drcwww.kub.nl: Introduction with details and links
• BBC: Background on the voting weights discussion
• Analysis and history of voting weights in the Council
• New winners and old losers. A priori voting power in the EU25
• Article at EUABC
• europa.eu.int: Full text of the Constitution - Title IV article I-25
• Completion of the 5-th enlargement and institutional changes (votes in Council and European Parliament including Bulgaria's and Romania's from 1 Jan 2007)