The famous Roman law, which existed in Ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire for more than a thousand years from the VIII BC to the VIII century AD, formed the basis of the legal systems of European states. One of the indispensable attributes of Roman law is the veto, which differs into “strong” and “weak”.
With a weak veto, the parliament / international organization is only required to reconsider the bill. A strong veto is by definition more difficult to overcome, and this power is usually enjoyed by presidents in developed countries (USA, Germany, and others).
History of law
The history of the veto dates back to the era of ancient Rome, when tribunes were created to defend the rights of the lower strata of the population - the plebeians. Translated from Latin, veto means "I forbid". Therefore, as the name implies, this is the right to restrict something. The legal system of the Roman Empire formed the basis of many European legal systems, so the use of restrictive rights is logical.
The meaning of the veto
Such a right provides an opportunity for one person or group of persons to unilaterally block the adoption of certain written and oral decisions. That is, for example, if 30 people voted for the adoption of a draft (resolution, resolution and similar decisions) and only one voted against, imposing a veto, then the draft is not accepted and a new voting date is set.
It is noteworthy that any of the participants in the discussion, meeting, committee has the right to veto an unlimited number of times. Therefore, the adoption of a common decision can be delayed for many years, and ultimately not even be accepted. The veto is actively used by international organizations when making decisions of any importance.
You can often hear that, for example, at some of the meetings of the UN (NATO, European Parliament and other international organizations), a representative of one of the countries used the right of veto, and the adoption of the document was blocked.
Among the vivid examples of the long-term use (to some extent on the verge of permanent) of such a restrictive right, one can note the position of Greece in relation to Turkey's intentions to join the European Union. For the past 14 years, largely thanks to the Greek veto, the Turkish Republic has not taken advantage of the obvious and perceived benefits of joining Europe.
Also worth noting is the "fresh" example of vetoing. This is the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution regarding the legality of the referendum in Crimea. To be more precise, in the rejection of an international document due to its blocking by the Russian Federation as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It is noteworthy that the representatives of the People's Republic of China abstained from voting, which to some extent guarantees a lengthy discussion of the resolution.
