European Union

Eighty percent. That's how often the EU Council of Ministers achieved consensus from 2010 to 2024, despite qualified majority voting being available for most decisions. Then came 2023: consensus dropped to 30%. In 2024: 50%. Reported vetoes totaled 45 between 2011 and 2025—one-third in the last 18 months alone.

The EU demonstrates mutualism at civilizational scale: formerly independent organisms voluntarily transferring sovereignty to create a higher-order entity. Like lichen where algae and fungi achieve capabilities neither could alone, member states share metabolism—trade policy, competition law, monetary policy for eurozone members—while retaining distinct identities.

This requires elaborate quorum-sensing and coalition-formation. The Lisbon Treaty (2009) expanded QMV to 80% of legislation. But path-dependence keeps unanimity for foreign policy, enlargement, and treaty changes. Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria voted no or abstained most frequently in recent years. Network-effects that made integration attractive now make exit costly—Brexit demonstrated what credibility-collapse looks like for a departing member.

The cooperation-enforcement mechanisms are sophisticated but incomplete. The European Commission proposes; Parliament and Council co-decide; the Court of Justice interprets. But enforcement depends on member willingness. When Hungary and Poland discovered veto power, they used it—demanding concessions on unrelated issues before releasing cooperation.

Coral polyps build reefs that shelter diverse species; the EU's regulatory apparatus (GDPR, Digital Markets Act) became a global standard-setter sheltering European firms from unregulated tech competition. But coral bleaches under stress. Commission President von der Leyen called for abolishing foreign policy vetoes in September 2025: "It is time to free ourselves from the shackles of unanimity." The paradox: unanimity is required to abolish unanimity.

Enlargement to 35+ members (Ukraine, Western Balkans) requires 33 unanimous decisions per candidate. The biological question: can a symbiotic organism scale indefinitely, or does complexity eventually exceed coordination capacity?