Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2006:545
Date: 2006-09-12
Language of the case: Dutch
Court formation: Grand Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Citizenship of the Union;Provisions governing the Institutions;Overseas countries and territories
Concepts: Association of Overseas Countries and Territories;Parliament;Citizenship of the Union;General;Principle of equality and non-discrimination
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment 1. Citizens of the European Union – Provisions of the Treaty – Scope ratione personae (Arts 17 EC and 299(3) EC) 2. Parliament – Elections – Right to vote and to stand for election – Persons entitled (Arts 19 EC, 189 EC, 190 EC; Act concerning the election of the representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage) 3. Association of Overseas Countries and Territories – Failing express reference, the Treaty’s general provisions do not apply to them (Arts 19(2) EC, 182 EC, 189 EC and 190 EC) 4. Parliament – Elections – Person excluded from participation because of a national provision that is contrary to Community law 5. Community law – Rights conferred on individuals – Breach by a Member State – Duty to make reparation for damage caused to individuals 1. Persons who possess the nationality of a Member State and who reside or live in a territory which is one of the overseas countries and territories referred to in Article 299(3) EC may rely on the rights conferred on citizens of the Union in Part Two of the Treaty. (see para. 29, operative part 1) 2. In the current state of Community law, the definition of the persons entitled to vote and to stand for election to the European Parliament falls within the competence of each Member State in compliance with Community law. Neither Articles 189 EC and 190 EC nor the Act concerning the election of the representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage state expressly and precisely who are to be entitled to vote and to stand for election to the European Parliament. Thus, no clear conclusion can be drawn in that regard from Articles 189 EC and 190 EC relating to the European Parliament which state that it is to consist of representatives of the peoples of the Member States, since the term ‘peoples’, which is not defined, may have different meanings in the Member States and languages of the Union. In addition, the provisions of Part Two of the Treaty relating to citizenship of the Union do not confer on citizens of the Union an unconditional right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament. Article 19(2) EC is confined to applying the principle of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality to that right to vote and stand for election. Consequently, in the current state of Community law, nothing precludes the Member States from defining, in compliance with Community law, the conditions of the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament by reference to the criterion of residence in the territory in which the elections are held. The principle of equal treatment prevents, however, the criteria chosen from resulting in the different treatment of nationals who are in comparable situations, unless that difference in treatment is objectively justified. (see paras 44-45, 52-53, 61, operative part 2) 3. The Overseas Countries and Territories (‘OCT’) are subject to the special association arrangements set out in Part Four of the Treaty (Articles 182 EC to 188 EC) with the result that, failing express reference, the general provisions of the Treaty do not apply to them. It follows that Articles 189 EC and 190 EC relating to the European Parliament do not apply to those countries and territories and that the Member States are not required to hold elections to the European Parliament there. Furthermore, Article 19(2) EC, which applies the principle of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality to the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament, does not apply to a citizen of the Union residing in an OCT who wishes to exercise his right to vote in the Member State of which he is a national. (see paras 44, 46-47, 53) 4. In the absence of Community legislation in respect of disputes relating to the right to vote and to stand for election to the European Parliament, it is for the national law of each Member State to determine the rules allowing legal redress for a person who, because of a national provision that is contrary to Community law, was not entered on the electoral register for the election of the members of the European Parliament of 10 June 2004 and was therefore excluded from participation in those elections. Those remedies, which may include compensation for the loss caused by the infringement of Community law for which the State may be held responsible, must neither be less favourable than those governing rights which originate in domestic law (principle of equivalence) nor render impossible or excessively difficult in practice the exercise of rights conferred by the Community legal order (principle of effectiveness). (see paras 67, 71, operative part 3) 5. The principle of liability on the part of a Member State for damage caused to individuals as a result of breaches of Community law for which it can be held responsible is inherent in the system of the Treaty and a Member State is thus required to make reparation for the damage caused where the rule of law infringed is intended to confer rights on individuals, the breach is sufficiently serious and there is a direct causal link between the breach of the obligation resting on the State and the damage sustained by the injured parties, although this does not mean that the State cannot incur liability under less strict conditions on the basis of national law. Subject to the right of reparation which flows directly from Community law where the conditions referred to in the previous paragraph are satisfied, it is on the basis of rules of national law on liability that the State must make reparation for the consequences of the loss and damage caused, provided that the conditions for reparation of loss and damage laid down by national law are not less favourable than those relating to similar domestic claims and are not so framed as to make it, in practice, impossible or excessively difficult to obtain reparation. (see paras 69-70)