Decision of the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations

of 26 November 2020

not to register Alliance for Peace and Freedom ASBL

(Only the English text is authentic)

(2020/C 448/01)

THE AUTHORITY FOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND EUROPEAN POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (1), in particular Article 9 thereof,

Having regard to the submissions received from Alliance for Peace and Freedom ASBL,

Whereas:

(1) The Authority for European political parties and European political foundations (the ‘Authority’) received submissions from Alliance for Peace and Freedom ASBL (‘APF’) for registration as a European political party on 12 and 26 August 2020.

(2) Those submissions appeared to rely on APF’s prior registration as a European political party under Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 (2).

(3) On 27 August 2020, the Authority recalled that APF had been removed from the Register by decision of 13 September 2018 (3), and therefore it had to submit an application for registration pursuant to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 to obtain a new registration.

(4) On 4 September 2020, APF submitted a set of documents that appeared to be the same as those already provided on 12 and 26 August.

(5) On 8 September 2020, the Authority received a membership form originating from Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Germany).

(6) On 10 September 2020, the Authority reiterated that APF had to submit an application to obtain registration as a European political party.

(7) On 18 September 2020, APF lodged a further submission (together with the previous submissions hereinafter referred to as the ‘application’), including, among other things, membership forms from Falange Española de las JONS (Spain) and E.LA.SYN. (Greece).

(8) On 19 October 2020, the Authority informed APF that the application was incomplete and, in addition, noted that the provision of three membership forms for three Member States only was in any event manifestly insufficient to obtain registration.

(9) On 26 October 2020, the Authority adopted a preliminary assessment addressed to APF, whereby it set out its preliminary view that the application did not meet at least one of the conditions laid down in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014.

(10) In particular, APF did not prove that it meets the condition laid down in point (b) of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 (the ‘minimum representation requirements’).

(11) According to that provision, registration as a European political party is contingent upon an applicant proving that its member parties are represented by, in at least one quarter of the Member States, members of the European Parliament, of national parliaments, of regional parliaments or of regional assemblies, or that it or its member parties received, in at least one quarter of the Member States, at least three per cent of the votes cast in each of those Member States at the most recent elections to the European Parliament.

(12) With regard to representation of member parties, the documentation in APF’s application that could potentially be retained related to three Member States only: (i) Germany; (ii) Greece; and (iii) Spain, and such a level of representation is not sufficient for meeting the minimum representation requirements, which demand representation in at least seven Member States.

(13) In addition, APF did not submit documentation that would prove that it or its member parties received, in at least seven Member States, at least three per cent of the votes cast in each of those Member States at the most recent elections to the European Parliament, and in any event the same considerations set out in recital 12 would apply mutatis mutandis.

(14) Through the preliminary assessment, the Authority invited APF to provide any written observations it wished to submit by 10 November 2020 and also reiterated that the application was in any event incomplete.

(15) APF did not provide any observations or comments in reply to the preliminary assessment.

(16) In this light, there is no need for the Authority to assess the merits of the rest of the application,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1 The application lodged by Alliance for Peace and Freedom ASBL for registration as a European political party is hereby rejected.

Article 2 This Decision shall take effect on the day of its notification.

Article 3 This Decision is addressed to Alliance for Peace and Freedom ASBL Rue Abbé Cuypers 3 1040 Bruxelles/Brussel BELGIQUE/BELGIË

Done at Brussels, 26 November 2020. For the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations The Director M. ADAM

(1) OJ L 317, 4.11.2014, p. 1.

(2) Decision of the Authority of 9 February 2018 to register Alliance for Peace and Freedom (OJ C 193, 6.6.2018, p. 9).

(3) Decision of the Authority of 13 September 2018 to remove Alliance for Peace and Freedom from the Register (OJ C 417, 16.11.2018, p. 11).