Sittings · Document

DRAFT OPINION (COM(2021)0734 – C90432/2021 – 2021/0375(COD)) 2022-02-14

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)

Committee on Budgets · Rapporteur: Nils Ušakovs

SHORT JUSTIFICATION

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.

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 and the lowering to 0% during the year of the elections to the European Parliament that will safeguard the pluralism of EUPPs. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 12 a (new)

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
	(12a) In order to allow for more flexibility and to facilitate freedom of research, different levels of affiliation and in particular a specific category of ‘research partner’ should be recognised for European political foundations.

Or. en

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 2

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 37

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
(37) In order to enhance cooperation with long-standing members sharing EU values, contributions from member parties having their seat in a country outside the Union but in the Council of Europe, should be allowed. However, such contributions should be subject to a cap in relation to total contribution, to limit the risk of foreign interference.	(37) In order to enhance cooperation with long-standing members sharing EU values, contributions should be allowed from member parties having their seat in a former Member State, in a country member of the European Economic Area (EEA), in EU candidate countries and in Eastern Partnership countries with which the EU has concluded comprehensive and enhanced partnership agreements. However, such contributions should be subject to a cap in relation to total contribution, to limit the risk of foreign interference.

Or. en

Justification

Not all countries that are members of the Council of Europe fully share the EU values; this is even more important during the elections campaigns to avoid unwanted political interference.

Amendment 3

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 40 a (new)

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
	(40a) In order to ensure that the funds used the European political party for the elections to the European Parliament are spent effectively during European political campaigns, the names of the European political parties should be aligned to the names of the corresponding European political group represented in the European Parliament. During the European Parliament election campaign, a European political party should therefore be allowed to use either the logos and names of both the EUPP and its group or one logo from either the EUPP or its group and one name from either the EUPP and its group, depending on what the EUPP decides. It should be also possible for the European political party to finance the cost associated with its use of the name and logo of the EUPP or its group during the European Parliament election campaign.

Or. en

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.

Amendment 4

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 41

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
(41) European political parties should not fund, directly or indirectly, other political parties and, in particular, national parties or candidates. European political foundations should not fund, directly or indirectly, European or national political parties or candidates. The prohibition of indirect funding should however not prevent European political parties from publicly supporting and engaging with their member parties in the Union on issues of relevance for the Union, or to support political activities in the common interest, to be able to fulfil their mission under Article 10(4) TEU. Moreover, European political parties and their affiliated European political foundations should only finance activities in the context of national referendum campaigns when they concern the implementation of the TEU and the TFEU. These principles reflect Declaration No 11 on Article 191 of the Treaty establishing the European Community annexed to the Final Act of the Treaty of Nice.	(41) European political parties should not fund, directly or indirectly, other political parties and, in particular, national parties or candidates. European political foundations should not fund, directly or indirectly, European or national political parties or candidates. The prohibition of indirect funding should however not prevent European political parties from publicly supporting and engaging with their member parties in the Union on issues of relevance for the Union, or to support political activities in the common interest, to be able to fulfil their mission under Article 10(4) TEU. Moreover, European political parties and their affiliated European political foundations should only finance activities in the context of national referendum campaigns when they concern issues directly related to the European Union. These principles reflect Declaration No 11 on Article 191 of the Treaty establishing the European Community annexed to the Final Act of the Treaty of Nice.

Or. en

Amendment 5

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 50

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
(50) It is necessary to establish a common repository for the disclosures of European political parties. Given its specific role in the implementation of this Regulation, the Authority should establish and manage such repository as a part of the Registry for European political parties. The information contained in the repository should be transmitted by European Political Parties to the Authority using a standard format and may be automated. European political parties should make available in the Authority’s repository information to enable the wider context of the political advertisement and its aims to be understood. The information on the amount allocated to political advertising in the context of a specific campaign to be included in the repository may be based on an estimated allocation of funding. The amounts to be mentioned in the repository include donations for specific purposes or benefits in kind.	(50) It is necessary to establish a common repository for the disclosures of European political parties. Given its specific role in the implementation of this Regulation, the Authority should establish and manage such repository as a part of the Registry for European political parties. The information contained in the repository should be transmitted by European Political Parties to the Authority using a standard format and may be automated. European political parties should make available in the Authority’s repository information to enable the wider context and objectives of the political advertisement. The information on the amount allocated to political advertising in the context of a specific campaign to be included in the repository may be based on a realistic estimation of funding and the actual amounts, once known. The amounts to be mentioned in the repository regarding information on political advertising, include donations for specific purposes, benefits in kind, contributions and own resources.

Or. en

Justification

This change aims at aligning the recital with Annex II - paragraph 1 - indent 2 regarding the disclosure of the actual amounts. Own resources are a new source of funding and should be reported, along with contributions, donations and benefits in kinds.

Amendment 6

Proposal for a regulation

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point d

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
(d) serving as a framework for national political foundations, academics, and other relevant actors to work together at European level;	(d) serving as a framework for national political foundations, academics, and other relevant actors to work together at European level, including at different levels of affiliation and as ‘research partners’,;

Or. en

Justification

Amendment 7

Proposal for a regulation

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 10

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
(10) ‘indirect funding’ means funding from which the member party derives a financial advantage, even where no funds are directly transferred; this should include cases which allow the member party to avoid expenditure which it would otherwise have had to incur for activities, other than political activities in the common interest, organised for its own and sole benefit;	(10) ‘indirect funding’ means funding from which the member party derives a financial advantage, even where no funds are directly transferred; this should include cases which allow the member party to avoid expenditure which it would otherwise have had to incur for activities, other than activities organised to promote EU political awareness.

Or. en

Amendment 8

Proposal for a regulation

Article 8 – paragraph 1

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
1. The Authority shall establish and manage a Register of European political parties and European political foundations. The register shall include a repository for the information to be provided by European political parties pursuant to Article 5(2). Information from the Register shall be available online in accordance with Article 36.	1. The Authority shall establish and manage a Register of European political parties and European political foundations. The register shall include a repository for the information to be provided by European political parties pursuant to Article 5(2). Funds to set up this repository should be available as part of the specific budgetary title for the Authority. Information from the Register shall be available online in accordance with Article 36.

Or. en

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 9

Proposal for a regulation

Article 23 –paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
For all donations the value of which exceeds EUR 3000, European political parties and European political foundations shall request donors to provide the necessary information for their proper identification. European political parties and European political foundations shall transmit the information received to the Authority upon its request.	For all donations the value of which exceeds EUR 10 000, European political parties and European political foundations shall request donors to provide the necessary information for their proper identification. European political parties and European political foundations shall transmit the information received to the Authority upon its request.

Or. en

Justification

The proposed threshold would put on the European Political Parties and Foundations an excessive administrative burden.

Amendment 10

Proposal for a regulation

Article 23 – paragraph 9

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
9. Contributions from members of a European political party that have their seat in, or are citizens of, a Member State or from member parties that have their seat in a country belonging to the Council of Europe shall be permitted. The total value of contributions from members shall not exceed 40 % of the annual budget of a European political party. The value of contributions from member parties that have their seat in a country outside the Union shall not exceed 10% of the total contributions from members.	9. Contributions shall be permitted from members of a European political party that have their seat in, or are citizens of, a Member State or from member parties that have their seat in a former Member State, in a country member of the European Economic Area (EEA), in EU candidate countries and in Eastern Partnership countries with which the EU has concluded comprehensive and enhanced partnership agreements. The total value of contributions from members shall not exceed 40 % of the annual budget of a European political party. The value of contributions from member parties that have their seat in a country outside the Union shall not exceed 10% of the total contributions from members.

Or. en

Justification

Not all countries that are members of the Council of Europe fully share the EU values; this is even more important during the elections campaigns to avoid unwanted political interference.

Amendment 11

Proposal for a regulation

Article 23 – paragraph 10 – subparagraph 1

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
Contributions from members of a European political foundation that have their seat in, or are citizens of, a Member State or from member organisations that have their seat in a country belonging to the Council of Europe, and from the European political party with which it is affiliated, shall be permitted. The total value of contributions from members shall not exceed 40 % of the annual budget of a European political foundation and shall not derive from funds received by a European political party pursuant to this Regulation from the general budget of the European Union. The value of contributions from member organisations that have their seat in a country outside the Union shall not exceed 10% of the total contributions from members.	Contributions shall be permitted from members of a European political foundation that have their seat in, or are citizens of, a Member State or from member organisations that have their seat in a former Member State, in a country member of the European Economic Area (EEA), in EU candidate countries and in Eastern Partnership countries with which the EU has concluded comprehensive and enhanced partnership agreements, and from the European political party with which it is affiliated,. The total value of contributions from members shall not exceed 40 % of the annual budget of a European political foundation and shall not derive from funds received by a European political party pursuant to this Regulation from the general budget of the European Union. The value of contributions from member organisations that have their seat in a country outside the Union shall not exceed 10% of the total contributions from members.

Or. en

Justification

Not all countries that are members of the Council of Europe fully share the EU values; this is even more important during the elections campaigns to avoid unwanted political interference.

Amendment 12

Proposal for a regulation

Article 24 – paragraph 2

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
2. The funding of European political parties and European political foundations from the general budget of the European Union or from any other source may be used to finance referendum campaigns when those campaigns concern the implementation of the Treaties of the Union.	2. The funding of European political parties and European political foundations from the general budget of the European Union or from any other source may be used to finance referendum campaigns when those campaigns concern issues directly related to the European Union.

Or. en

Amendment 13

Proposal for a regulation

Article 25 – paragraph 1

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendment
1. Notwithstanding Article 24(1), the funding of European political parties from the general budget of the European Union or from any other source shall not be used for the direct or indirect funding of other political parties, and in particular national parties or candidates. Those national political parties and candidates shall continue to be governed by national rules.	1. Notwithstanding Article 24(1), the funding of European political parties from the general budget of the European Union or from any other source shall not be used for the direct or indirect funding of other political parties, and in particular national parties or candidates other than political activities in the common interest of European and national parties and capacity building to support the formation of future political leadership in the Union. Those national political parties and candidates shall continue to be governed by national rules.

Or. en

Justification

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.