WRITTEN QUESTION P-2361/00

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(7 July 2000)

Subject: Participation by Community citizens in Belgian local elections

Town council elections are held in Belgium every six years. European Union citizens resident in Belgium are entitled to vote if they are nationals of a Member State, are at least eighteen years old, live in a Belgian commune and are on the Belgian electoral roll. However, not all Belgian local authorities use the same methods to guarantee this right by means of inclusion on the local electoral rolls.

Some local authorities merely send Union citizens residing there the registration form needed for voting, which must be completed by 31 July 2000.

Other local authorities issue invitations to information meetings, which Union citizens residing in the area can attend if they are interested in voting. This procedure makes it more difficult for Community citizens to be included on the electoral roll. There is a suspicion that these different procedures might be determined by political considerations.

Can the Commission confirm that this behaviour constitutes an infringement of the Community law laying down the conditions for the right to vote and stand for election in municipal elections for Community citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals?

Can the Commission ensure that all citizens of the Member States of the Union residing in Belgium have the same opportunities to exercise their right to vote and have equal access to the relevant information, irrespective of which commune they live in?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(28 July 2000)

Article 11 of Council Directive 94/80/EC of 19 December 1994, laying down detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in municipal elections by citizens of the Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals(1) states that the Member State of residence shall inform voters and persons entitled to stand as candidates within the scope of Article 3 in good time and in an appropriate manner of the conditions and detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections in that State.

Replying to written question E-3111/95 from Mr Ullmann and Mr Kreissl-Dörfler(2), the Commission has already stated that the only obligation incumbent on Member States is to inform residents in an appropriate manner whereas the choice of the way in which this information is carried out is left entirely to the discretion of the Member States themselves. Consequently, the fact that the local authorities go about contacting and informing Community nationals in different ways is not in itself contrary to the Directive.

Article 13 of the Directive requires the Commission to report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of the Directive within a year of the holding in all the Member States of the municipal elections organised on the basis of the provisions of the Directive, in this case no later than March 2002. The Member States' information campaigns will be evaluated in this report.

(1) OJ L 368, 31.12.1994.

(2) OJ C 79, 18.3.1996.