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What changed
SHORT JUSTIFICATION
P9_TA(2022)0328
Your rapporteur welcomes the Commission’s proposal to recast Regulation 1141/2014 (the ‘Regulation’) on the statute and funding of European political parties (EUPPs) and European political foundations (EUPFs) in order to improve the legislative framework of the EUPPs and EUPFs ahead of the 2024 elections to the European Parliament. This Regulation will enable EUPPs/Fs to continue building EU political awareness, ensuring political diversity while respecting sound financing management and increasing transparency as regards EUPF/F’s activities and spending.
Statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations ***I
He welcomes the introduction of own resources as new category of revenues as this will capture the EUPPs’ actual sources of revenues and guarantee the completeness of their reporting. He also welcomes the lowering of the co-financing rate for EUPPs from 10% to 5% in line with the current rate applied for EUPFs. He believes that it is necessary to enable countries outside the EU to contribute to EUPPs/Fs but at the same time calls for prudence in order to avoid unwanted political interference. He agrees that funds from the EU budget could be used to finance national referendum campaigns for issues directly related to the European Union.
Committee on Constitutional Affairs
He supports the amendments to strengthen the reporting and controls mechanisms aiming at protecting the financial interest of the EU and ensuring that EUPPs/Fs respect the values on which the EU is funded. He therefore welcomes the new common repository for the disclosures of European political parties, including on political advertising. He advocates that the financing of such repository should be borne by the budget of the Authority and not by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme as indicated by the Commission in its proposal. He calls for prudent budgetary approach when allocating human and financial resources to the Authority during the budgetary annual procedure, while ensuring that it has sufficient resources to fulfil its mission. He agrees with the abolition of the 3-month period between a de-registration decision by the Authority and its entry into force.
PE719.606
He believes that a direct link between the names of the EUPPs and later their names as a group in the European Parliament during the European political campaigns, including referendum, is necessary to ensure that the visibility obtained by the promotion and branding of the EUPPs at national level is kept at the European Parliament’s level. He believes that in the context of European Parliament elections both the name and logo of EUPP is equally important as the name and logo of EUPP political group in the European Parliament (in case they are different). The Regulation should allow using either logos and names of both EUPP and its group or one of each at the EUPP discretion during the European Parliament election campaign. The usage of EUPP or groups name and logo during the European Parliament election campaign should be allowed to be equally financed by the party. This approach would promote awareness and engagement.
Amendments adopted by the European Parliament on 15 September 2022 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) (COM(2021)0734 – C9-0432/2021 – 2021/0375(COD))
Furthermore, he would like to highlight that, while Member States establish the rules regarding financing of political campaigns, the Commission should engage in aligning the rules amongst Member States, so EUPPs are not discriminated and face equal access to the public in every Member State. It is crucial that national member parties according to national regulation are not affected by these campaigns, neither from accountancy point of view, nor with respect to any other limits or constraints. EUPP campaigns should not be linked with national member parties’ activities, booking, accountancy or spending limits.
(Ordinary legislative procedure – recast)
Finally, he believes annual spending limits per EUPP per Member States should be introduced based on a per capita approach in order to prevent EUPP to intervene in Member States’ domestic issues with non-proportional, excessive spending.
AMENDMENTS
The Committee on Budgets calls on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, as the committee responsible, to take into account the following amendments:
Amendment 1
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 2 a (new)
Justification
The recast expands and clarifies the Authority's responsibilities and thus leads to a need of the Authority to have adequate human resources.
Amendment 2
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 123 a (new)
Justification
To concretize the requests from paragraphs 19 and 33 of the European Parliament resolution of 11 November 2021 on the application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations and allow specific and sui generis type of research partnerships, like for instance with internationally wide known researchers not acting on behalf of any organization.
Amendment 3
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 34
Recital 12 a (new)
Justification
A 0% co-financing rate during an election year could proof to have a detrimental impact on midterm financial planning of parties, in particular the year 2025, as they might underestimate the efforts to ensure a 5% co-financing the following year.
Amendment 4
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3723
Justification
Amendment 144
The proposal to add an income source category called association fees for partners allows for a distinction between members and partners outside the Union, ensures legal certainty and creates transparency about the different types of payments. Not all countries members of the Council of Europe share the EU values, which is even more important during elections campaigns to avoid unwanted political interference. Monitoring and control by the Authority for EUPP/F is needed to prevent, dissuade and sanction foreign interference.
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 30
Amendment 5
Recital 38
Justification
The amendment wishes to clarify the type of revenue EPP/Fs can generate to establish transparency.
Amendment 6
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 40 a (new)
Recital 39
Justification
This change aims at aligning the names of European political parties with the names of political groups of the European parliament during the European political campaigns. This will avoid that funds spent for the visibility of the European political parties during the European political campaigns is lost in case the name of that political party changes after being elected to the European Parliament. It should also aim at the increased participation of the citizens in the decision-making.
Amendment 7
Recital 41
Justification
Individual members and staff of political parties and foundations should unrestrictedly participate in party events and educational events. European political parties and foundations shall have the option to organise joint events with clear financial accountability and transparency between national and European parties.
Amendment 8
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4950
Amendment 9
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5061
Justification
This change aims at aligning the recital with Annex II - paragraph 1 - indent 2 regarding the disclosure of the actual amounts. In addition, other own resources are a new source of funding and should be reported, along with contributions, association fees, donations and benefits in kinds. The proposed terms “association fees” and “other own resources” apply throughout the text. Adopting the amendment will necessitate corresponding changes throughout.
Amendment 10
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 55
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 1 – point b
Justification
In order to facilitate processes within the Authority, documents submitted to the Authority shall be easy to process.
Amendment 11
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 61
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3
Justification
Regular meetings will help strengthening cooperation between Member States and the Authority and contribute to a better flow of information at European level.
Amendment 12
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point d7
Justification
To concretize the requests from paragraphs 19 and 33 of the European Parliament resolution of 11 November 2021 on the application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations and allow specific and sui generis type of research partnerships, like for instance with internationally wide known researchers not acting on behalf of any organization.
Amendment 13
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 78
Justification
Bank transfer is the most common way to transfer donations and contributions to a EUPP/F. The introduction of a new category "association fees" requires its listing under Article 2 and creates transparency by listing all transfers from a partner (party or organisations associated to a EUPP/F, which have their seat outside the Union). The term "own resources" is misleading and should be replaced by “other own resources” throughout the text.
Amendment 14
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8 a (new)
Justification
Bank transfer is the most common way to transfer donations and contributions to a EUPP/F.
Amendment 15
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8 a (new)9
Justification
The introduction of a new category "association fees" requires its listing under Article 2 and creates transparency by listing all transfers from a partner (party or organisations associated to a EUPP/F, which have their seat outside the Union).
Amendment 16
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 910
Justification
The term "own resources" is misleading and should be replaced by “other own resources”. This amendment applies throughout the text. Adopting it will necessitate corresponding changes throughout.
Amendment 17
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 1016
Justification
Individual members and staff of political parties and foundations should unrestrictedly participate in party events and educational events. Membership in the party should not lead to additional payment obligations as a result of election or appointment to a public position. European political parties and foundations shall have the option to organise joint events with clear financial accountability and transparency between national and European parties.
Amendment 18
Proposal for a regulation
Article 52 – paragraph 21 – point 17
Amendment 19
Proposal for a regulation
Article 82 – paragraph 1 – point 18
Justification
This change is to ensure that contrary to what the Commission proposes, funds to procure a pilot of the Repository wont be financed by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, but will be made available in the dedicated budgetary line of the Authority, under Title 5 of the European Parliament’s budget.
Amendment 20
Proposal for a regulation
Article 133 – paragraph 1 – point d
Justification
The proposal wants to ensure that the Authority does not conduct political work, but instead increases transparency by releasing the report in its entireness.
Amendment 21
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – title
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point e
Justification
Amendment to update the wording following the new proposal for income source category "association fees" and replacement of the term own resources by “other own resources”.
Amendment 22
Proposal for a regulation
Article 233 – paragraph 2 – introductorypoint partc
Justification
The rules shall apply to any income beyond donations such as association fees and other own resources to create the highest possible level of transparency.
Amendment 23
Proposal for a regulation
Article 233 – paragraph 52 – introductorypoint partd
Amendment 24
Proposal for a regulation
Article 234 – paragraph 91 – point i
Justification
Amendment 131
Not all countries members of the Council of Europe share EU values, which is even more important during elections campaigns to avoid foreign interference. Adding an income source category "association fees" for partner political parties and foundations would allow for a distinction between members and partners outside the Union, ensure legal certainty and create transparency about the different types of payments. The proposed terms “association fees” and “partners” apply throughout the text. Adopting the amendment will necessitate corresponding changes throughout.
Amendment 25
Proposal for a regulation
Article 234 – paragraph 101 – introductorypoint partj
Justification
Not all countries members of the Council of Europe share EU values, which is even more important during elections campaigns to avoid foreign interference. Adding an income source category "association fees" for partner political parties and foundations would allow for a distinction between members and partners outside the Union, ensure legal certainty and create transparency about the different types of payments. The proposed terms “association fees” and “partners” apply throughout the text. Adopting the amendment will necessitate corresponding changes throughout.
Amendment 26
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 13
Article 4 a (new)
Justification
The proposal shall ensure consistency of the approach to name such revenue "other own resources".
Amendment 27
Proposal for a regulation
Article 245 – paragraph 2
Amendment 28
Proposal for a regulation
Article 255 – paragraph 13
Justification
The proposal seeks to ensure that funding of European political parties cannot be used to finance activities of entities or individuals based outside of the Union.
Amendment 29
Proposal for a regulation
Article 255 – paragraph 26
Justification
Amendment 133
As a matter of coherence, the exceptions introduced by the European Commission to the benefit of European political foundations or relating to the common interest, in the articles 2(4)b and 2(10) respectively, should also apply to European political parties.
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – point i a (new)
Amendment 134
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 a (new)
Amendment 30
Proposal for a regulation
Article 267 – paragraph 12 – introductorysubparagraph part2
Justification
In order to streamline processes and manage the human resources capacities of the Authority, data readability must be facilitated.
Amendment 31
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 4 – point b10 – paragraph 15
Justification
The application shall include go beyond donations and contributions to ensure consistency with the introduction of additional categories.
Amendment 32
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3210 – paragraph 3 a (new)6
Justification
The proposal wishes to strengthen the relations between the Authority and Member States to ensure a common understanding at EU level.
Amendment 33
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3211 – paragraph 4title
Justification
In order to avoid conflicting situations and avoid overlapping responsibilities, thus taking into account staff capacity, the Authority shall take decisions on sanctions alone.
Amendment 34
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3611 – paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
Justification
Transparency rules must apply to every category of revenue including other own resources.
Amendment 35
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3611 – paragraph 1 – point f b (new)2
Justification
Transparency rules must apply to every category of revenue including association fees.
Amendment 36
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4511 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
Justification
Amendment 37
The proposal intents to ensure that any previously taken decision or ongoing procedure remains applicable and is not impaired by the recast.
Proposal for a regulation
PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
Amendment 38
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3
Amendment 39
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 4
Amendment 40
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 5
Amendment 41
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 42
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 43
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 3
Amendment 44
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 4
Amendment 45
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 5
Amendment 46
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 6
Amendment 47
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 a (new)
Amendment 48
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 b (new)
Amendment 49
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 2
Amendment 50
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 4
Amendment 51
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 5
Amendment 52
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Amendment 53
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 1
Amendment 54
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 2
Amendment 55
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 3
Amendment 56
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 4
Amendment 57
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 1
Amendment 58
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 59
Proposal for a regulation
Article 20 – paragraph 5
Amendment 60
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1
Amendment 61
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 2
Amendment 62
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 3
Amendment 63
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 4
Amendment 64
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 5
Amendment 65
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 7
Amendment 66
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – title
Amendment 67
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 68
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 69
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 3
Amendment 70
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 71
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 72
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 6 – point a
Amendment 73
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 6 – point d
Amendment 74
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 8
Amendment 75
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 9
Amendment 76
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 9 a (new)
Amendment 77
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 10 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 78
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 10 a (new)
Amendment 79
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 12
Amendment 80
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 13
Amendment 81
Proposal for a regulation
Article 24 – paragraph 2
Amendment 82
Proposal for a regulation
Article 25 – paragraph 1
Amendment 83
Proposal for a regulation
Article 25 – paragraph 2
Amendment 84
Proposal for a regulation
Article 26 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 - introductory part
Amendment 85
Proposal for a regulation
Article 26 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 - point c
Amendment 86
Proposal for a regulation
Article 26 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 87
Proposal for a regulation
Article 27 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 88
Proposal for a regulation
Article 27 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Amendment 89
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 1
Amendment 90
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 2 – point a – point ii
Amendment 91
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 2 – point a – point ii a (new)
Amendment 92
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 2 – point a – point ii b (new)
Amendment 93
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 2 – point a – point ii c (new)
Amendment 94
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 2 – point a – point viii
Amendment 95
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 2 – point a – point ix
Amendment 96
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 2 – point b – point i
Amendment 97
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 4 – introductory part
Amendment 98
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 4 – point b – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
Amendment 99
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 4 – point b – subparagraph 2
Amendment 100
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 5 a (new)
Amendment 101
Proposal for a regulation
Article 33 – paragraph 1
Amendment 102
Proposal for a regulation
Article 33 – paragraph 2
Amendment 103
Proposal for a regulation
Article 33 – paragraph 3
Amendment 104
Proposal for a regulation
Article 34 – title
Amendment 105
Proposal for a regulation
Article 34 – paragraph 1
Amendment 106
Proposal for a regulation
Article 34 – paragraph 2
Amendment 107
Proposal for a regulation
Article 34 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Amendment 108
Proposal for a regulation
Article 34 a (new)
Amendment 109
Proposal for a regulation
Article 36 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Amendment 110
Proposal for a regulation
Article 36 – paragraph 1 – point f
Amendment 111
Proposal for a regulation
Article 36 – paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
Amendment 112
Proposal for a regulation
Article 36 – paragraph 1 – point f b (new)
Amendment 113
Proposal for a regulation
Article 36 – paragraph 2
Amendment 114
Proposal for a regulation
Article 37 – paragraph 8
Amendment 115
Proposal for a regulation
Article 44 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Amendment 117
Proposal for a regulation
Annex II – Part 2 – indent 5 a (new)