German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says the European Union can no longer afford to allow individual member states to have veto power over the bloc's actions if it wants to maintain a leading role in the determination of global policy.
Scholz said in an article published on July 17 by the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that Russia's war in Ukraine made European unity more urgent and raised the need for an end to "selfish blockades" of European decisions by individual states.
"We simply can no longer afford national vetoes, for example in foreign policy, if we want to continue to be heard in a world of competing great powers," he added.
"Permanent disunity, permanent dissent between member states weakens us," Scholz warned.
"That is why Europe's most important response to the change of times is: Unity. We absolutely must maintain it and we must deepen it."
Policy decisions within the European Union must be approved unanimously by all 27 members.
Scholz has faced criticism from Kyiv, Western allies, and some national figures that claim Germany has not taken a political leadership position in regard to the Ukraine war, assertions Scholz has denied.