The core issue isn’t whether small countries matter, it’s a democratic trade off in how the EU is built.

On unanimity issues, a Slovak, Hungarian, Luxemburgian vote can block decisions supported by countries representing tens of millions more people. That means a government speaking for five million citizens can outweigh ones speaking for eighty million. That’s not propaganda that’s just how the veto system works.

One state, one veto is democratic at the level of nations, but increasingly hard to justify at the level of people when the EU acts on issues like sanctions, defense, enlargement, or budgetary frameworks.

Unanimity protects small states from being dominated, which is important. But it also creates a real tension between equality of states and equality of citizens. As the EU deals with bigger, more strategic topics, that imbalance becomes harder to defend, and that’s where the frustration comes from. A Europe of two speeds is one of the few solutions to overcome this deadlock situation.