EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 286/30

Wednesday 16 December 2009

Verification of credentials

P7_TA(2009)0109

European Parliament decision of 16 December 2009 on the verification of credentials (2009/2091(REG))

2010/C 286 E/08

The European Parliament,

having regard to the Act of 20 September 1976 (1) concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage,

having regard to Rules 3, 4 and 9 of, and Annex I to, its Rules of Procedure,

having regard to the official notifications from the competent authorities of the Member States concerning the results of the elections to the European Parliament,

having regard to the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs (A7-0073/2009),

A. whereas Article 7(1) and (2) of the Act of 20 September 1976 sets out the offices that are incompatible with the office of Member of the European Parliament,

B. whereas, in particular, as from the beginning of the current legislative term, the office of Member of the European Parliament shall be incompatible with that of member of a national parliament of any Member State, including the United Kingdom, since the temporary derogation granted by Article 7(2), second subparagraph, second indent, of the said Act is no longer applicable,

C. whereas the United Kingdom authorities accordingly adopted the ‘European Parliament (House of Lords Disqualification) Regulations 2008’, under which Members of the House of Lords holding the office of life peer are disqualified from sitting or voting in the House of Lords or in a committee thereof at any time during which they remain Members of the European Parliament, and no writ of summons can be issued to them while they are disqualified under the terms of those Regulations,

D. whereas, under Rule 9 of, and Annex I to, the Rules of Procedure, Members are required to make a detailed declaration of their professional activities and any other remunerated functions or activities,

E. whereas all of the Member States have notified the European Parliament of the names of the elected candidates, although some have still not forwarded – or have done so belatedly – the lists of any substitutes together with their ranking in accordance with the results of the vote, as required under Rule 3(4) of the Rules of Procedure,

F. whereas in some cases Member States provided partial notification of elected candidates and forwarded further details subsequently,

G. whereas in some Member States objections to the election of some Members of Parliament are being considered in accordance with national legislation and whereas these procedures could result in the annulment of the election of the Members concerned,

H. whereas, pursuant to Article 12 of the Act of 20 September 1976, the European Parliament is required to rule on any disputes concerning the validity of the mandate of its Members only where these relate to breaches of the provisions of the abovementioned Act, and not in the case of breaches of the national electoral provisions to which the Act refers,

1. Declares valid, subject to any decisions by the competent authorities of Member States in which the election results have been disputed, the mandate of the Members of the European Parliament listed in the annex to this decision whose election has been notified by the competent national authorities and who have made the written declarations required on the basis of Article 7(1) and (2) of the Act of 20 September 1976 and Annex I to the Rules of Procedure;

2. Repeats its request to the competent national authorities not only promptly to notify the European Parliament of all the names of the elected candidates but also to forward the names of any substitutes together with their ranking in accordance with the results of the vote;

3. Calls on the competent authorities of the Member States to complete as soon as possible the examination of the objections submitted to them and to inform the European Parliament of the outcome;

4. Calls on the Commission to check whether the European Parliament (House of Lords Disqualification) Regulations 2008, and especially regulation 4 thereof, are entirely compatible with the Act of 20 September 1976 and, should this not be the case, to initiate any appropriate procedure;

5. Instructs its President to forward this decision to the competent national authorities and the parliaments of the Member States, and to the Commission.

(1) OJ L 278, 8.10.1976, p. 5.