<sod>  It will try to decide by unamity whenever it can(abstentions do not break it).
 
 On November 1st 2004, a change in the Treaty which was adoped by the
[[Treaty of Nice]] comes into effect which replaces the current voting weights with a scheme called [[double majority voting]].
 
''see also:'' [[Enlargement of the European Union]], [[European Constitution]]
 
 [[de:Rat der Europäischen Union]]
 [[it:Consiglio dell'Unione Europea]]
 
 ==External links==
 *[http://ue.eu.int Council of the European Union website]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3562405.stm BBC article with good background on voting weights discussion]
*Analyis and history of voting weights in the Council ([http://www.clingendael.nl/cli/publ/occ.pdf/smaller_states.pdf pdf]) <eod> <sod> It will try to decide by unamity whenever it can(abstentions do not break it).
 
 On November 1st 2004, a change in the Treaty which was adoped by the
[[Treaty of Nice]] comes into effect(has been rescheduled from January 1st 2005 by the [[Treaty of Accesson 2003]]) which gives new voting numbers and offers
a possibility to require the agreement of member states which represent at 62% of the population(called double majority).
 
''see also:'' [[Qualified Majority Voting]], [[Enlargement of the European Union]], [[European Constitution]]
 
 [[de:Rat der Europäischen Union]]
 [[it:Consiglio dell'Unione Europea]]
 
 ==External links==
 *[http://ue.eu.int Council of the European Union website]
*SCADplus glossary: [http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/cig/g4000c.htm#c33 Council of the European Union] <eod>