old post but just to clarify the emergency brake procedure is better described as qualified majority with emergency brake it is a procedure used only for legislative proposals relating to the free movement of workers art judicial co operation in criminal matters art and the approximation of definitions of criminal offences art the procedure basically allows one member state on the council to refer the proposal to the european council if the m s thinks that the proposal affects fundamental elements of its legal system it is a very specific procedure and i'm not sure if it is worth detailing in the article