Proposal for a  Council Regulation on the statute and financing of European political parties
Date: 2001-02-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Union, party financing, party organisation, politics

29.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 154 E/283

Proposal for a Council Regulation on the statute and financing of European political parties

(2001/C 154 E/28)

COM(2000) 898 final (cid:151) 2001/0011(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 13 February 2001)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(9) This Regulation should expire at the end of the second

financial year following its entry into force,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 308 thereof,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas:

(1) Article 191 of the Treaty acknowledges that political parties
at European level are important as a factor for integration
within the European Union and that they contribute to
forming a European awareness and to expressing the
political will of the citizens.

(2) It is necessary to make provision for a statute for European
political parties and to ensure that
funda-
mental rights and principles of democracy and the State
based on the rule of law, in accordance with the Treaty,
and that they have their own managing bodies.

they respect

(3) Provision should be made for the financing of European
political parties so as to cover part of their operating costs
and the cost of promoting democracy in the countries
applying for accession.

(4) The conditions laid down by this Regulation should be
applied on the same basis
to all European political
parties, but account should be taken of their actual repre-
sentativeness in the European Parliament.

(5) In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, financing
should be given solely to parties that are sufficiently
representative at European level so as to avoid financing
purely national parties, or parties to which financing has
been refused at national level on the grounds that they do
not respect democratic principles. This financing should
not replace autonomous financing of the parties.

(6) The nature of the expenditure that can be financed under

this Regulation should be defined.

(7) The appropriations allocated to financing parties should be

determined in the annual budgetary procedure.

Article 1

Statute

Any European political party or union of such parties may
register a statute of a European political party (hereinafter
referred to as (cid:145)statute(cid:146)) subject to the following conditions:

(a)

it must be established in the European Union;

(b) it must have established itself as a political group in the
European Parliament, or intend to establish one or to
participate in an existing group;

(c)

its programme and its activities must respect the funda-
mental principles of democracy, respect for fundamental
rights and the State based on the rule of law, established
by the Treaty on European Union.

The statute shall define in particular the bodies responsible for
the party’s political and financial management.

Article 2

Independent review by eminent persons

The European Parliament
shall decide on any dispute
concerning compliance with the conditions referred to in
Article 1 in accordance with the opinion of an (cid:145)independent
committee of eminent persons(cid:146) appointed every five years by
agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and
the Commission.

Article 3

Financing

the
Financing may be charged to the general budget of
European Communities for European political parties that
have registered a statute and satisfy one of
the following
conditions:

(8) Implementation of the measures provided for by this Regu-
lation contributes to the achievement of the objectives of
the Union. The Treaty does not provide, for the adoption of
this Regulation, powers other than those under Article
308.

(a) the party or its national components are represented by
the
least

elected members
in the European Parliament or
national Parliaments or regional Parliaments in at
five Member States; or

C 154 E/284

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

29.5.2001

information required by the Court of
Any document or
Auditors in order to carry out its task shall be supplied to it
at
receiving payments
charged to the budget.

its request by the political parties

Article 6

Distribution

In application of Articles 1 and 3, financing shall be distributed
annually as follows:

(a) 15 % of the annual amount shall be distributed in equal
shares among the parties that satisfy the conditions and
make a duly substantiated request;

(b) 85 % shall be distributed among European parties which
have elected members in the European Parliament,
in
proportion to the number of elected members.

Financing charged to the general budget of
the European
Communities, including that provided for in this Regulation,
may not be given to a European political party unless it can
prove that it receives at least 25 % of its budget from sources
other than the general budget of the European Communities.

Article 7

Report

The Commission will report to the European Parliament and to
the Council within eighteen months of the entry into force of
this Regulation.

Article 8

Entry into force and expiry

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

It shall expire at the end of the second financial year following
its entry into force.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
applicable in all Member States.

(b) the party or its national components received at least five
per cent of the votes at the most recent European elections
in at least five Member States.

Parties satisfying those conditions shall publish their budgets
and their accounts annually.

Article 4

Nature of expenditure

Financing granted under this Regulation may only be
is intended to achieve an
the European political

1.
used to meet expenditure that
objective set out
party concerned.

in the statute of

Expenditure may include, among other things, administrative
expenditure,
logistical support, meetings, studies, information
and publications directly linked to the objectives set out in the
statute.

The

valuation

2.
depreciation shall be
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2909/2000 (1).

buildings,
carried out

of

inventory
their
in accordance with

and

Article 5

Implementation and control

Appropriations for financing parties shall be determined in
accordance with the budgetary procedure and shall be imple-
mented in accordance with the Financial Regulation applicable
to the general budget of the European Communities.

Control of financing granted under this Regulation shall be
excercised in accordance with the Financial Regulation and
its implementing rules.

Control shall also be exercised on the basis of an annual certifi-
cation by an external and independent audit. This certification
shall be transmitted to the European Parliament and the Court
of Auditors.

The services concerned may carry out any on-the-spot checks
they may consider necessary to verify that the financing has
been used in a lawful and regular manner. In carrying out their
tasks,
supporting and accounting
all
documents and any other documents they consider relevant
and may request any information they consider necessary to
carry out their checks.

they may inspect

(1) OJ L 336, 30.12.2000, p. 75.