European Commission seeks to strengthen the position of pan-European political parties, February 2003

The European Commission adopted a proposal on 19 February 2002 for a Regulation on the statute and financing of European political parties, which seeks to strengthen the position of pan-European political parties in the European Union, enabling European elections to be contested on European issues rather than national issues.

The role of European political parties has been expressly acknowledged in the treaties since the introduction Article 191 in the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 stating:

'Political parties at European level are important as a factor for integration within the Union. They contribute to forming a European awareness and to expressing the political will of the citizens of the Union'.

In January 2001, following an inquiry by the European Court of Auditors in 2000 which questioned the allocation of funds between the European Parliament's political groups and the actual corresponding parties, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on a statute for European political parties and rules on their funding. The proposal outlined how to give the five pan-European parties represented in the European Parliament greater access to European funds, giving them greater independence and increasing democratic control and overall accountability in the European Union. The Council of the European Union had been unable to reach a unanimous decision on the proposal but the entering into force of the Nice Treaty on 1 February 2003 should enable progress to be made. The Treaty of Nice changes the decision-making basis for the regulations governing political parties from unanimity to qualified majority voting and provides the European Parliament with co-decision powers.

On this basis, the European Commission decided to present a further proposal on the rules and funding of European political parties. Under the proposed regulation, the rules governing the parties would be as follows:

• To qualify as a European political party, the party in question must be present in at least 3 Member States and must have participated in European elections or must have expressed formally the intention to do so.

• The European Parliament will be responsible for handling the registration of a European political party

• The statute of a European political party shall contain the party's objectives and define the bodies responsible for political and financial management. The parliament will render these statutes public.

• All parties must respect the principles of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The European Parliament, assisted by an independent committee, will be responsible for verifying this by a majority of its members.

In order to ensure relative autonomony from private donations, the European Commission is also proposing that qualified European political parties should receive public funding. To be eligible for financing from the European budget, a party should be represented by elected members in the European Parliament, or in the national or regional Parliaments of at least one third of the member States, or have received at least 5% of the votes cast at the most recent European elections in at least one third of the Member States. Even 'Eurosceptic parties' will be eligible for funds since no policy conditions are attached to the proposed Regulation. All parties that receive funding from the EU will be required to publish its revenue and expenditure as well as the nature and source of its donations. The European Commission is proposing to allocate an annual amount of €8.4 million for the funding of the European political parties although it is hard to see how this will provide parties with more independence since the Socialists, the second largest group in the European Parliament, spent over €10 million alone in 2001.

There are currently seven pan-European parties in the European Parliament: the Christian democrat/conservative (EPP-ED), the Socialists (PSE), the Liberal Democrats (ELDR), the Greens (Verts/ALE), the leftists (GUE/NGL), the group for Europe (UEN) and the eurosceptics (EDD). All the parties have recognised the need for a Regulation on the rules and funding of European political parties and the majority agreed that the latest European Commission proposal is 'reasonable' in its scope. The Chairman of the European People's Party - the largest party - Hans-Gert Poettering, welcomed the proposed statute saying, 'it is an important step in acknowledging the role of European political parties and ensuring transparency in their actions'. However, the parties criticised the European Commission for failing to study previous party budgets to give their budget allocation a realistic figure.

The European Commission proposal will now be subject to approval by the European Parliament and the Member States of the European Union.

Links:
European Commission:
	19.02.03:	Press Release: Commission proposes rules on statute and financing of European political parties [IP/03/260]
	25.01.01:	Press Release: Commission proposes statute for European political parties[IP/01/106]
	Proposal for aCouncil Regulation on the statute and financing of European political parties [COM(2000)898]
European Parliament:
	Report on the proposal for a Council regulation on the statute and financing of European political parties [A5-0167/2001]
	Political Groups Online
European Sources Online: Financial Times:
	18.02.03:	EU plans finance for pan-European parties
European University Institute:
	European parties: the most ignored democratic potential in the European Union [May 2002]
European Integration Online Papers:
	Political Representation and Political Integration in Europe: is it possible to square the circle [September 1999]
University of Amsterdam: Department of Political Science:
	European integration and the survival of political parties [May 2002]
European Sources Online: Topic Guides
	European Parliament

Helen Bower

Compiled: Thursday, 20 February 2003

Background and reporting on the week's main stories in the European Union and the wider Europe.