Statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations
The European Parliament adopted by 446 votes to 162, with 35 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (recast).
Parliament adopted its position at first reading by amending the proposal as follows:
Conditions for registration
The amended text specifies that a political alliance may apply to register as a European political party provided that its member parties respect, in particular in their programmes and activities, the values on which the Union is founded, as set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, and that its member parties or their individual members are not subject to restrictive measures adopted pursuant to Article 215(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The statutes of a European political party should ensure that:
- all votes shall gather the support of a majority of members who have their seat in, or are citizens of, the Union in order to pass;
- votes cast by associated member parties shall not be decisive towards a majority;
- associated member parties cannot, individually or collectively, impose a course of action against, or block, a majority of the voting citizens of the Union or members of the European political party concerned;
- representatives of associated member parties cannot receive executive powers by delegation in the governing bodies.
Transparency obligations
Each European political party must: (i) ensure that its member parties publish on their website the political programme of the European political party and display the logo of the European political party on their website; (ii) publish on its website information on the gender balance among its candidates and Members of the European Parliament. Member parties established in the Union must also publish this information on gender balance on their own websites.
European political foundations must publish their internal rules on gender balance as well as the rules governing the rights and obligations of associated member organisations within the governance structures and decision-making processes of the European political foundation, so as to provide adequate safeguards against foreign interference.
Transparency obligations
Each European political party should: (i) ensure that its member parties publish on their website the political programme of the European political party and display the logo of the European political party on their website; (ii) publish on its website information on the gender balance among the candidates in the elections to the European Parliament. Member parties from the Union must also publish on their websites information on the gender balance.
European political foundations must publish their internal rules on gender balance as well as the rules governing the rights and obligations of associated member organisations within the governance structures and decision-making processes of the European political foundation, so as to provide adequate safeguards against foreign interference.
Requirements for gender balance rule
Governing bodies of European political parties and European political foundations should be gender-balanced. European political parties and European political foundations should have: (i) internal mechanisms in place promoting gender balance and encouraging the active participation of women in all their activities; (ii) a protocol in place to prevent, detect and work continuously against sexual harassment as well as discrimination on the basis of gender.
Verification of the registration conditions relating to the values upon which the Union is founded
The European Parliament, acting on its own initiative or following a reasoned request from a group of citizens, or the Council or the Commission, may submit a request to the Authority for it to verify whether a specific European political party or European political foundation complies with the conditions relating to the values on which the EU is founded. In such cases, the Authority will inform the party or foundation concerned, invite it to submit its observations and give it the opportunity to introduce measures to remedy the situation within one month of receipt of the information.
After receiving the observations, the Authority will forward the file to a committee of independent eminent persons, who will issue an opinion within two months.
The Authority may decide to remove a party or foundation in the event of a manifest and serious violation of fundamental values. This decision must be communicated to the European Parliament and the Council. It will only enter into force if it has not given rise to any objection by the European Parliament and the Council within three months of the communication of this decision to these two institutions. In the event of an objection by the European Parliament and the Council, the party or foundation will remain registered.
Any objection to a decision of the Authority to remove a European political party or European political foundation from the Register should be duly reasoned and should be made public.
If a European political party or a European political foundation has seriously failed to fulfil relevant obligations under national law applicable pursuant to Article 19(2), first subparagraph, the Member State of the seat of the European political party or European political foundation may submit to the Authority a request for removal from the Register. That request should be duly reasoned.
Conditions applicable to financing, donations, self-generated resources
Financial contributions or grants from the general budget of the Union must not exceed 95% of the annual reimbursable expenditure indicated in the budget of a European political party and 95% of the eligible costs incurred by a European political foundation.
European political parties and European political foundations will be able to accept donations from individuals or legal entities, with a maximum value of EUR 18 000 per year per donor.
Parties and foundations must submit to the Authority each year a detailed list of donors and their donations, including the nature and value of the contributions. This also applies to contributions from member parties and member organisations established in the Union, to contributions exceeding EUR 1 500 made by individual members of European political parties and European political foundations, and to self-generated resources of European political parties and European political foundations.
For donations and contributions from natural persons the value of which exceeds EUR 1 500 per year and per donor but is below or equal to EUR 3 000, the European political party or European political foundation concerned will indicate whether the corresponding natural persons have given their prior written consent to the publication.
The value of the self‑generated resources of a European political party or of a European political foundation will not exceed 3% of the annual budget of that European political party and 5% of the annual budget of that European political foundation.