It was suggesting a unanimous vote on certain financial-services issues, rather than the qualified majority vote.

WSJ: Fiction of the EU Summit's Accepted 'Facts'

In theory, lots of EU financial regulations could be decided by qualified majority vote.

ECONOMIST: European politics

Under the treaty, applicants will be chosen next spring at a summit, by qualified majority vote of all existing members of the Union.

ECONOMIST: One currency, no countries?

But having failed to get anywhere with its proposal for voting weights based on the square root of a country's population, Poland is now talking about ways of making it more difficult for large countries to block a qualified majority vote.

BBC: NEWS | Europe | Poles in war of words over voting

Friday's vote is the first time a commission proposal on GM crops has been defeated through qualified majority voting among ministers.

BBC: NEWS | UK | UK Politics | GM crop bans survive Euro votes