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DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION
on the proposal for a Council directive laying down detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament for Union citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals (recast)
(COM(2021)0732 – C9-0021/2022C90021/2022 – 2021/0372(CNS))
(Special legislative procedure – consultation – recast)
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the Council draft (09789/2024),
– having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2021)0732),
– having regard to Article 22(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C9-0021/2022),
– having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 28 November 2001 on a more structured use of the recasting technique for legal acts,
– having regard to the letter of 8 November 2022 from the Committee on Legal Affairs to the Committee on Constitutional Affairs in accordance with Rule 113(3)110(3) of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to Rules 113110 and 8482 of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs,
– having regard to the report of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (A100000/2025),(A9-0297/2022),
A. whereas, according to the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the Commission proposal does not include any substantive amendments other than those identified as such in the proposal and whereas, as regards the codification of the unchanged provisions of the earlier acts together with those amendments, the proposal contains a straightforward codification of the existing texts, without any change in their substance;
1. Approves the CouncilCommission draftproposal as adapted to the recommendations of the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission;Commission and as amended below;
2. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;
2. Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, in accordance with Article 293(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;
3. AsksCalls on the Council to consultnotify Parliament again if it intends to substantiallydepart amendfrom the text approved by Parliament;
4. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.
4. Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the Commission proposal substantially;
5. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.
Amendment 1
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2
Amendment 2
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2 a (new)
Amendment 3
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4
Amendment 4
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Amendment 5
Proposal for a directive
Recital 6
Amendment 6
Proposal for a directive
Recital 6 a (new)
Amendment 7
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Amendment 8
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8
Amendment 9
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9
Amendment 10
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11
Amendment 11
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11 a (new)
Amendment 12
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Amendment 13
Proposal for a directive
Recital 13
Amendment 14
Proposal for a directive
Recital 16
Amendment 15
Proposal for a directive
Recital 17
Amendment 16
Proposal for a directive
Recital 20
Amendment 17
Proposal for a directive
Recital 20 a (new)
Amendment 18
Proposal for a directive
Recital 21
Amendment 19
Proposal for a directive
Recital 22
Amendment 20
Proposal for a directive
Recital 23
Amendment 21
Proposal for a directive
Recital 24
Amendment 22
Proposal for a directive
Recital 26
Amendment 23
Proposal for a directive
Recital 27
Amendment 24
Proposal for a directive
Recital 28
Amendment 25
Proposal for a directive
Recital 29
Amendment 26
Proposal for a directive
Recital 29 a (new)
Amendment 27
Proposal for a directive
Recital 29 b (new)
Amendment 28
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a
Justification
Necessary for internal coherence and in accordance with the principle of non-discrimination. It is specifically linked to recital 29, which falls under the recast procedure and where it is stated that in European Parliament elections due regard should be had to the needs of citizens with a disability. It is inextricably linked, because it further defines how Member States should ensure there is due regard for the needs of citizens with a disability in European Parliament elections.
Amendment 29
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1
Justification
In line with AM26 of the rapporteur. Necessary for the internal coherence. The conditions governing registration and participation should be clarified in order to make sure that the non-national Union citizens have the final say in its electoral roll.
Amendment 30
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1
Amendment 31
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 5
Amendment 32
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Amendment 33
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 2 b (new)
Amendment 34
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Amendment 35
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – point c a (new)
Amendment 36
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 4
Amendment 37
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Amendment 38
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 1
Amendment 39
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 3
Amendment 40
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 4
Amendment 41
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 1
Amendment 42
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new)
Amendment 43
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Amendment 44
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 45
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 46
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 4
Amendment 47
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Amendment 48
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Amendment 49
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 1
Amendment 50
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1
Amendment 51
Proposal for a directive
Article 16
Amendment 52
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 a (new)
Amendment 53
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – title
Amendment 54
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 1
Amendment 55
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Amendment 56
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 1
Amendment 57
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 3
Amendment 58
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 6
Amendment 59
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – row 4 a (new)
Amendment 60
Proposal for a directive
Annex II – paragraph 4
Justification
Necessary to ensure coherence in the text.
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Pursuant to Article 20(2)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), Article 22(2) TFEU and Article 39 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU), EU citizens residing in an EU Member State other than their own are entitled to vote and stand as candidates in European and municipal elections, under the same conditions as nationals. Detailed provisions on the political rights granted under EU citizenship are set out in Council Directive 93/109/EC regarding the participation of non-national Union citizens in European Parliament elections in their country of residence.
Nearly 13.7 million EU citizens – of whom about 11million are of voting age – reside in a Member State other than that of their nationality. Detailed provisions on the political rights granted under EU citizenship are set out in Council Directive 93/109/EC regarding the participation of non-national Union citizens in European Parliament elections in their country of residence.
There is an estimated 13.3 million non-national Union citizens of voting age (post-Brexit data), which equals, when aggregated, the voting population of a medium-sized Member State. Nevertheless, voter turnout among non-national Union citizens remains low compared to nationals, despite the fact that all Member States have successfully transposed directive 93/109/EC. Similarly, the percentage of candidates standing for European elections made up of non-nationals is extremely limited (slightly over 1 % in the 2019 elections).
DespiteIt thus becomes clear that despite the arrangements under Directive 93/109/EC, non-national Union citizens still face certainmany obstacles in exercising their electoral rights in elections to the European Parliament. TheseIn concernparticular, for the accessibilityexercise of information, the registrationright processes,to thevote, effectsmajor ofobstacles deregistrationappear into be the Memberdifficulties Statein ofaccessing origincorrect and thetimely exchangeinformation ofon informationhow betweento Membervote Statesand withstand as candidate, complicated voter registration processes, and the aimeffect of preventingderegistration multiplefrom voting.elections in the Member State of origin.
Your rapporteur thus welcomes the proposed revision of Directive 93/109/EC as provided in the Council draft of 16 September 2024. In his viewpoint, the amended proposal by the Council strikes the right balance between on the one hand mobile voters’ and candidates’ needs for timely information, equal treatment with nationals of Member States - including regarding possibilities of advance voting, postal voting, and electronic and internet voting available in a Member State - and the administrative burden on Member States’ national authorities on the other hand.
For the exercise of the right to stand as a candidate, non-national and national EU citizens still face a great variety of electoral cultures, resulting in a vast range of different electoral systems that often make it impossible to register a party, association of voters or other electoral entities and to stand for elections. This is mainly due to either impedingly high judicial or financial thresholds or disproportionate signature requirements, which make it impossible especially for new political ideas to be represented on ballot lists for both EU and municipal elections.
He is also of the opinion that the Council draft improves at the same time the exchange of necessary information between Members States in order to avoid multiple voting or instances where the same person would stand as a candidate more than once at the same elections, and introduces concrete reporting and data collecting and sharing obligations regarding the application of this Directive in the territory of the Member States thus permitting for the identification of measures necessary to ensure the effective exercise of Union citizens’ electoral rights.
Moreover, there is a lack of public and comparable data. In several countries, registration rates for mobile EU voters are not published. Several Member States do not keep record of the amount of mobile EU citizens standing as a candidate in the elections to the European Parliament. Where data is kept and exchanged, the scope and format of the reporting obligations are inconsistent and vary between Member States, leading to incomparable results.
Your rapporteur would therefore propose that the Council draft be approved with no amendments.
The amendments put forward by the Commission are limited and specific to the Council Directive and only marginally solve the difficulties faced by mobile EU citizens. While the new proposal is intended to update, clarify and strengthen the existing, outdated rules, it does so with limited effect as major issues, such as broadening the scope of the Directive as well as truly improving the accessibility to EU elections have not been addressed sufficiently.
ANNEX: LETTER FROM THE COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AFFAIRS
More ambitious steps have to be taken in order to a) truly ensure a broad and inclusive participation in the 2024 elections to the European Parliament, b) reduce inhibitive and undemocratic registration requirements both for voters and candidates, c) support mobile EU citizens in the exercise of their rights and d) protect the integrity of elections.
Specifically, in order to make access to voting and standing as candidate in EP elections as easy as possible for non-national Union citizens, Member States should ensure that information on mobile citizens’ rights to vote or stand as candidates should be available in all Union languages and should reach marginalised groups, especially disabled people. Additionally, obstacles accessing voting booths and polling stations should be addressed, the possibility for postal, proxy, advance and electronic voting should be revisited. Minimum residence requirement for non-national Union citizens should be abolished, where still existent, and civil society organisations should play an important role in assisting the designated authorities in Member States to reach out to citizens through appropriate information campaigns, encouraging non-national Union citizens to proactively seek information about their voting and candidacy rights in European Parliament elections.
Moreover, recent developments in reforming the European elections should be taken into account in the recasting of this Directive. The new proposed rules can, if adopted and ratified by Member States, have a truly Europeanising effect that can change the way mobile EU citizens perceive EU democracy. Consequentially, the direction taken in this Directive should, as much as legally possible, reflect these developments.
8.11.2022
ANNEX: LETTER FROM THE COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AFFAIRS
Mr Salvatore De Meo
ANNEX: OPINION OF THE CONSULTATIVE WORKING PARTY OF THE LEGAL SERVICES OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE COMMISSION
THE COMMISSION
Proposal for a Council directive of the Council laying down detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament for Union citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals (recast)
COM(2021)0732COM(2021)732 of 25 November 202225.11.2021 – 2021/0372(CNS)
Having regard to the Inter-institutional Agreement of 28 November 2001 on a more structured use of the recasting technique for legal acts, and in particular to point 9 thereof, the Consultative Working Party consisting of the respective legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission met on 1 February 2022 for the purpose of examining, among others, the aforementioned proposal submitted by the Commission.
Jurisconsult Jurisconsult Director-General
26.10.2022
OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
for the Committee on Constitutional Affairs
on the proposal for a Council directive on the proposal for a Council directive laying down detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament for Union citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals (recast)
(COM(2021)0732 – C90021/2022 – 2021/0372(CNS))
Rapporteur for opinion: Domènec Ruiz Devesa
AMENDMENTS
The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs calls on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, as the committee responsible, to take into account the following amendments:
Amendment 1
Proposal for a directive
Recital 1 a (new)
Amendment 2
Proposal for a directive
Recital 1 b (new)
Amendment 3
Proposal for a directive
Recital 1 c (new)
Amendment 4
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2
Amendment 5
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3
Amendment 6
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4
Amendment 7
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Amendment 8
Proposal for a directive
Recital 6
Amendment 9
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Amendment 10
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8
Amendment 11
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9
Amendment 12
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11
Amendment 13
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11 a (new)
Amendment 14
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Amendment 15
Proposal for a directive
Recital 13
Amendment 16
Proposal for a directive
Recital 16
Amendment 17
Proposal for a directive
Recital 17
Amendment 18
Proposal for a directive
Recital 20
Amendment 19
Proposal for a directive
Recital 21
Amendment 20
Proposal for a directive
Recital 22
Amendment 21
Proposal for a directive
Recital 23
Amendment 22
Proposal for a directive
Recital 24
Amendment 23
Proposal for a directive
Recital 26
Amendment 24
Proposal for a directive
Recital 27
Amendment 25
Proposal for a directive
Recital 29
Amendment 26
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Amendment 27
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Amendment 28
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1
Amendment 29
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 5
Amendment 30
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 1
Amendment 31
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Amendment 32
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – point a
Amendment 33
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – point c a (new)
Amendment 34
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 4
Amendment 35
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 1
Amendment 36
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 3
Amendment 37
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 4
Amendment 38
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 1
Amendment 39
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point c a (new)
Amendment 40
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new)
Amendment 41
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
Amendment 42
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 4
Amendment 43
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Amendment 44
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 1
Amendment 45
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1
Amendment 46
Proposal for a directive
Article 16
Amendment 47
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 1
Amendment 48
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 1
Amendment 49
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 2
Amendment 50
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 3
Amendment 51
Proposal for a directive
Article 20 – paragraph 6
Amendment 52
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – paragraph 4 a (new)
Amendment 53
Proposal for a directive
Annex II – paragraph 4
Amendment 54
Proposal for a directive
Annex II – paragraph 4 a (new)
PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE
FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE