Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the statute and financing of European political parties
Date: 2003-02-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European party, economic support, financing method, legal status, party financing

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 19.2.2003
COM(2003) 77 final

2003/0039 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the statute and financing of European political parties

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Article 191 of the Treaty as modified by the Treaty of Nice states:

Political parties  at European  level are  important as  a  factor  for integration  within
the Union. They contribute to forming a European awareness and to expressing the
political will of the citizens of the Union.

The Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251,
shall lay down the regulations governing political parties at European level and
in particular the rules regarding their funding.

Article  191  recognises  the  important  role  that  European  political  parties  can  play  in
developing political debate at the European level, thereby enhancing the quality of democracy
and improving the functioning of the institutions of the Union.

It also recognises that in order to perform the role that the Treaty wishes to assign to them, it
will be necessary that they should be at least partially financed from the Community budget.

Article  191,  as  amended,  now  provides  for  the  adoption  of  the  appropriate  legislative
framework by the codecision  procedure. This new proposal builds on  the  constructive  work
already carried out in the three institutions on the interim proposal based on Article 308 and
integrates the areas of consensus achieved in the course of that process.

The  purpose  of  the  proposal  is  to  give  concrete  effect  to  the  intent  expressed  in  the  first
paragraph of Article 191 by establishing a solid, clear  and transparent long-term framework
for the European parties and their financing from the Community budget.

The  Commission  considers  that  it  would  be  inappropriate  to  establish  intrusive  or  over
prescriptive  political  requirements  for  the  registration  of  European  political  parties,  but
considers it essential to lay down minimum standards of democratic conduct for such parties.

Accordingly,  Article  2  (dealing  with  the  definition  of  a  party)  and  Article  3  (dealing  with
registration) lay down that to be registered by the European Parliament a party must:

– 

– 

– 

have  participated  or  declared  their  intention  to  participate  in  elections  to  the
European Parliament;

have clearly defined bodies responsible for financial management;

ensure that the statute and activities of the European political party respect the basic
purposes  of  the  Union  with  regard  to  freedom,  democracy,  human  rights,
fundamental freedoms and the rule of law.

Article 4 establishes a procedure for verification of respect for these obligations contained in
the third indent above and would enable the European Parliament to deregister a party which
no longer satisfies the conditions for registration.

To ensure transparency, Article 3 requires the publication of the Statutes.

Thus,  the  registration  procedure  laid  down  in  Article  3  represents  a  first,  necessary  but  not
sufficient  step  to  obtain  financing.  A  party  must  first  register  its  statute  and  then  meet  the
specific  additional  conditions  set  out  in  Article  5  before  it  can  obtain  financing.  Registered

2

parties  would  make  application  for  funding  to  Parliament  which  would  decide  within  two
months.

The  award  of  Community  financing  must  be  reserved  for  parties  that  are  reasonably
representative,  either  in  the  European  Parliament  or  in  a  number  of  Member  States.  In  this
context,  the  reference  in  Article  5  of  the  Regulation  to  regional  parliaments  should  be
interpreted  in  each  Member  State  in  the  light  of  its  internal  constitutional  principles.  The
following  criteria  are  proposed:  elected  members  in  the  European  Parliament  or  national  or
regional Parliaments in at least of third of the Member States, or to have obtained at least five
percent of the votes at the most recent European elections in at least one third of the Member
States of the Community. The parties must also commit themselves not to accept certain kinds
of donations defined in Article 5(d).

Parties would then be eligible for financing from the Union budget in compliance with Article
191  and  at  the  same  time  with  the  subsidiary  principle.  This  financing  is  not  intended  to
replace the autonomous financing of the European parties which must represent at least 25%
of the budget of each party.

The  distribution  between  parties  eligible  for  financing  is  based  on  objective  factors.  Each
party would receive a flat-rate basic grant plus a second component based on the number of
elected representatives  in  the  European Parliament. The two  components  would  account  for
15% and 85% of the appropriations respectively.

The  proposed  budgetary  allocation  has  been  revised  to  take  into  account  the  forthcoming
increase in the population of the Union resulting from enlargement.

Obviously,  the  finances  of  a  political  party  which  obtains  financing  from  the  Community
budget  must  be  transparent.  European  political  parties  would  be  required  to  publish  their
accounts and declare their sources of finance (excluding donations not exceeding € 100) from
whatever  source.  Standard  reporting,  accounting  and  audit  procedures  are  laid  down  in
accordance with the Financial Regulation.

In  order  to  avoid  an  inappropriate  confusion  of  functions,  it  is  necessary  to  provide  for  an
external and independent auditing of the accounts of the parties.

Finally, it  has  been  proposed  to  finance  the  action  as  specific  administrative  expenditure  of
the  Parliament  (section  I  of  the  budget),  in  accordance  with  the  provision  for  an  article
entitled “Contribution to European Political Parties” made by the Budgetary Authority in the
Parliament’s budget for 2002 and 2003.

The  provisions  of  Articles  66,  76  and  116  of  the  Financial  Regulation1  concerning  the
responsibility  of  the  authorising  officer  require  that  the  same  authorising  officer  decides  on
the subsidies allocated and makes the corresponding budgetary and legal commitments.

1 

OJ L 248 of 16.09.2002.

3

                                                
2003/0039 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the statute and financing of European political parties

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  and  in  particular
Article 191 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission2,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty3

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

2

3

It  is  necessary  to  make  provision  for  a  statute  for  European  political  parties  and  to
ensure that they respect fundamental rights and principles of democracy and the state
based  on  the  rule  of  law,  in  accordance  with  the  Treaty  and  the  Charter  of
Fundamental  Rights  of  the  European  Union,  and  that  they  have  their  own  managing
bodies.

Provision should be made for the financing of European political parties so as to cover
part  of  their  operating  costs.  In  accordance  with  Declaration  No  11  annexed  to  the
Treaty  of  Nice,  the  financing  may  not  be  used  to  fund,  either  directly  or  indirectly,
political parties at national level.

The conditions laid down by this Regulation should be applied on the same basis to all
their  actual
European  political  parties,  but  account  should  be 
representativeness in the European Parliament.

taken  of 

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.

The  nature  of  the  expenditure  that  can  be  financed  under  this  Regulation  should  be
defined.

The appropriations allocated to  financing parties  should  be  determined  in  the  annual
budgetary procedure.

OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].

4

                                                
(7)

(8)

The  appropriations  allocated  to  financing  parties  will  be  classified  as  specific
administrative  expenditures  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  execution  will  be
under its responsibility as authorizing officer.

It  is  necessary  to  ensure  adequate  transparency  and  financial  control  of  European
political parties financed from the general budget of the European Communities,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

This Regulation establishes rules on the statute and financing of European political parties.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

1. 

"political party" means an association of citizens

– 

– 

pursuing political objectives, and

either  recognised  by  or  established  in  accordance  with  the  legal  order  of  at
least one Member State;

2. 

"alliance  of  political  parties"  means  structured  cooperation  between  at  least  two

political parties;

3. 

"European political party" means a political party or alliance of political parties with a
statute  registered  with  the  European  Parliament  in  accordance  with  the  conditions
and procedures laid down in this Regulation.

Article [3]

Statute

1.

Any  political  party  or  alliance  of  political  parties  may  register  a  statute  with  the
European Parliament subject to the following conditions:

(a)

(b)

the  political  party  or  the  alliance  of  political  parties  is  present  in  at  least
three Member States;

the  political  party,  alliance  of  political  parties,  or  the  components  of  the
alliance must have participated in elections to the European Parliament, or have
expressed  their  intention  to  do  so  by  filing  a  written  declaration  with  the
European Parliament;

5

2.

3.

The statute shall contain a programme setting out the objectives of the political party
or  of  the  alliance  of  political  parties,  and  shall  define  in  particular  the  bodies
responsible  for  political  and  financial  management  as  well  as  the  bodies  or  natural
persons  holding,  in  each  of  the  Member  States  concerned,  the  power  of  legal
representation,  in  particular  for  the  purposes  of  the  acquisition  or  disposal  of
movable or immovable property and of being a party to legal proceedings.

The statute and activities  of  the political party  or  of the  alliance  of political  parties
must  respect  the  principles  of  freedom  and  democracy,  human  rights  and
fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

Any  amendement  to  a  statute  already  registered  shall  be  subject  to  a  request  for
registration  addressed  to  the  European  Parliament.  The  European  Parliament  shall
within  three  months  of  receiving  any  such  request  register  any  statute  or  any
amendment  of  a  statute  already  registered.  The  European  Parliament  shall  verify
regularly that the conditions set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this article continue to
be met by registered parties.

4.

The European Parliament shall publish registered statutes.

Article [4]

Verification

1.

2.

At  the  request  of  one  quarter  of  its  members,  representing  at  least  three  political
groups  in  the  European  Parliament,  the  European  Parliament  shall  verify,  by  a
majority  of  its  members,  that  the  condition  laid  down  in  Article 3  (2),  second
sentence, continues to be satisfied by a European political party. Before carrying out
such  verification  the  European  Parliament  shall  hear  the  representatives  of  the
European  political  party  concerned  and  ask  a  committee  of  independent  eminent
persons to give an opinion on the subject within a reasonable time.

If the European Parliament finds, by a majority of its members, that the condition is
no  longer  satisfied,  the  statute  of  the  European  political  party  in  question  shall  be
removed from the register.

The committee of independent eminent persons shall consist of three members, with
the  European  Parliament,  the  Council  and  the  Commission  each  appointing  one
member.  The  secretariat  and  financing  of  the  committee  shall  be  provided  by  the
European Parliament.

6

Article [5]

Financing

2.

3.

(a)

(b)

1.

(a)

To  be  eligible  for  financing  charged  to  the  general  budget  of  the  European
Communities,  a  European  political  party  shall  demonstrate  that  is  has  legal
personality in the Member State in which its seat is located and shall:

be represented by elected members in the European Parliament or the national
Parliaments or regional Parliaments or regional assemblies in at least one third
of the Member States, or

(b)

have  received  at  least  five  per  cent  of  the  votes  cast  at  the  most  recent
European elections in at least one third of the Member States.

To  obtain  financing,  a  European  political  party  shall  file  an  application  with  the
European Parliament, which shall adopt a decision on the matter within two months
and authorise and manage the corresponding appropriations.

A European political party which receives financing shall:

publish  its  revenue  and  expenditure  and  a  statement  of  its  assets  and  liabilities
annually;

declare  its  sources  of  finance  by  providing  a  list  specifying  the  donors  and  the
donations  given  by  each  donor,  with  the  exception  of  donations  not  exceeding
EUR 100;

It shall not accept

– 

– 

– 

– 

(a) anonymous donations,

(b)  donations  from  the  budgets  of  political  groups  in  the  European
Parliament,

(c) donations from legal bodies in which the State holding exceeds 50%
of their capital,

(d)  donations  exceeding  EUR  5  000  per  year  and  per  donor  from  any
natural or legal person other than the legal bodies referred to in point (c)
the previous indent and without prejudice to the third subparagraph.

Donations from a political party forming part of the European political party shall be
admissible.

7

Article [6]

Prohibition of financing

The  financing  of  European  political  parties  from  the  general  budget  of  the  European
Communities or from any other source may not be used for the direct or indirect financing of
national political parties.

Article [7]

Nature of expenditure

Funds received from the general budget of the European Communities in accordance with this
Regulation may be used only to meet expenditure directly linked to the objectives set out in
the statute. They may not be used to finance election campaigns.

Expenditure includes administrative expenditure and expenditure linked to logistical support,
meetings, studies, information and publications.

Article [8]

Implementation and control

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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

The  valuation  of  buildings,  inventory  and  their  depreciation  shall  be  carried  out  in
accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 2909/20004.

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

Control shall also be exercised on the basis of an annual certification by an external
and  independent  audit.  This  certification  shall  be  transmitted,  within  six months  of
the end of the financial year concerned, to the European Parliament and the Court of
Auditors.

Funds improperly received by European political parties from the general budget of
the European Communities shall be refunded.

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

4

OJ L 336, 30.12.2000, p.75.

8

                                                
Where  expenditure is committed by European political  parties  jointly  with  national
parties  and  other  organisations,  evidence  of  the  financial  outlay  incurred  by  the
European political parties shall be made available to the European Court of Auditors.

6.

Funding of European political parties as organisations of general European interest,
is not subject to the provisions to article 113 of the Financial Regulation relating to
the degressivity of such funding.

Article [9]

Distribution

1.

Available appropriations shall be distributed annually as follows:

(a)

(b)

15% shall be distributed in equal shares among the European  political parties
which satisfy the conditions set out in Article 5;

85% shall be distributed among the European political parties which satisfy the
conditions  set  out  in  Article 5  and  have  elected  members  in  the  European
Parliament, in proportion to the number of elected members.

For the application of these provisions, a  Member of the European  Parliament may
be a member of only one European political party.

2.

Financing  charged  to  the  general  budget  of  the  European  Communities,  including
that  provided  for  in  this  Regulation,  shall  not  exceed  75%  of  a  European  political
party's  budget.  The  burden  of  proof  shall  rest  with  the  European  political  party
concerned.

Article [10]

Technical support

All technical support from the European Parliament to political parties shall be based on the
principle  of  equal  treatment,  shall  be  granted  on  conditions  no  less  favourable  than  those
granted to other external organisations and associations that may be accorded similar facilities
and shall be supplied against invoice and payment.

9

Article [11]

Entry into force

This  Regulation  shall  enter  into  force  three  months  following  its  publication  in  the  Official
Journal of the European Communities.

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

Done at Brussels,

For the Council
The President

10

LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Policy area(s): European Political Parties

Activit(y/ies):

TITLE OF ACTION: STATUTE AND FINANCING OF EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES

1.

BUDGET LINE(S) + HEADING(S)

Budget line 3710 in section I (Parliament) of the budget entitled “Contribution to the
European Political Parties”.

2.

OVERALL FIGURES

2.1.

Total allocation for action (Part B): € million for commitment

2.1.

2.2.

8.4 Mio annually.

Total allocation for action (Part B): € million for commitment

Period of application:

Indefinite. Annual setting of appropriations.

2.3.

Overall multiannual estimate of expenditure:

(a)

Schedule  of  commitment  appropriations/payment  appropriations 
intervention) (see point 6.1.1)

(financial

€ million (to three decimal places)

Year
[n]

8.4

7.56

Commitments

Payments

[n+1]

[n+2]

[n+3]

[n+4]

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

[n+5
and
subs.
Years
]
8.4

8.4

Total

-

-

(b)

Technical and administrative assistance and support expenditure(see point 6.1.2)

Commitments

Payments

Subtotal a+b

Commitments

Payments

8.4

7.56

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

-

-

8.4

8.4

11

(c)

Overall  financial  impact  of  human  resources  and  other  administrative  expenditure
(see points 7.2 and 7.3)

0.018

0.018

0.018

0.018

0.018

0.018

Commitments/
payments

TOTAL a+b+c

Commitments

8.418

8.418

8.418

8.418

8.418

8.418

Payments

7.578

8.418

8.418

8.418

8.418

8.418

2.4.

Compatibility with financial programming and financial perspective

[X] Proposal is compatible with existing financial programming.

2.5.

Financial impact on revenue:5

-

-

-

[X] Proposal  has  no  financial  implications  (involves  technical  aspects  regarding

implementation of a measure)

3.

BUDGET CHARACTERISTICS

Type of expenditure

New

EFTA
contribution

Contributions
form applicant
countries

Heading in
financial
perspective

Non-comp

Diff

YES

NO

NO

No [3]

4.

LEGAL BASIS

Article 191 of the EC Treaty.

5.

5.1.

DESCRIPTION AND GROUNDS

Need for Community intervention 6

Article 191 mandates the legislator to regulate the statute and financing of European
political  parties.  The  aim  of  this  Regulation  is  create  a  stable,  transparent  and
legitimate framework for the financing of European political parties. There is a clear
need  to  provide  partial  financing  of  parties  from  the  Community  budget  to  enable
them to meet the objectives asssigned by the Treaty and to do so in a way which will
meet  the  criticism  levelled  at  the  existing  financing  through  the  budgets  of  the
political groups by the Court of Auditors.

5

6

For further information, see separate explanatory note.
For further information, see separate explanatory note.

12

                                                
5.2.

Action envisaged and budget intervention arrangements

Beneficiaries  will  be  the  registered  European  political  parties  that  meet  the
conditions laid down in  the Regulation  so as  to  enable them  to  meet the objectives
assigned to them by Article 191 of the Treaty.

5.3.

Methods of implementation

EUR  8.4  million.  This  figure  represents  an  estimate  of  the  maximum  amount  that
could  be  received  by  the  European  parties,  having  regard  to  their  existing  own
resources and the need to respect the provisions of Article 9 of the Regulation which
lays  down  that  Community  funding  cannot  exceed  75%  of  the  total  budget  of  any
party.

Subsidies  to  each  of  the  five  existing  European  political  parties.  Each  party  will
receive a subsidy that may not exceed 75% of the party's total budget. This subsidy
can be made up of two parts:

(i)

all qualifying parties can receive an equal part of 15% of the total budget;

(ii)

the  parties  that  are  represented  in  the  European  Parliament  can  receive  an
amount  based  on  the  number  of  MEPs  that  this  party  has.  This  would  be
assessed by the formula:

Subsidy for each party = total budget x 0.85 x MEPs from party x
total no. MEPs from all qualifying parties

6.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

6.1.

Total financial impact on Part B - (over the entire programming period)

(The method of calculating the total amounts set out in the table below must be explained by
the breakdown in Table 6.2. )

6.1.1.

Financial intervention

Commitments (in € million to three decimal places)

Breakdown

[Year
n]

[n+1]

[n+2]

[n+3]

[n+4]

Total

[n+5
and
subs.
Years]

Action 1

Action 2

etc.

-

-

TOTAL

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

8.4

13

6.1.2.

Technical  and  administrative  assistance,  support  expenditure  and  IT  expenditure
(commitment appropriations)

[Year
n]

[n+1]

[n+2]

[n+3]

[n+4]

Total

[n+5
and
subs.
Years]

1) 
administrative assistance

Technical 

and

Technical 

a) 
offices

assistance

b)  Other 
administrative assistance:

technical 

and

- intra muros:

- extra muros:

of  which  for  construction
and 
of
maintenance 
computerised  management
systems

Subtotal 1

2) Support expenditure

a) Studies

b) Meetings of experts

c) Information and
publications

Subtotal 2

TOTAL

14

6.2.

Calculation  of  costs  by  measure  envisaged  in  Part  B  (over  the  entire
programming period)7

(Where  there  is  more  than  one  action,  give  sufficient  detail  of  the  specific  measures  to  be
taken for each one to allow the volume and costs of the outputs to be estimated.)

Breakdown

Commitments (in € million to three decimal places)

Type
of outputs
(projects, files )

Number of
outputs

Average unit
cost

(total for years
1…n)

Total cost

(total for years
1…n)

1

2

3

4=(2X3)

Action 1

- Measure 1

- Measure 2

Action 2

- Measure 1

- Measure 2

- Measure 3

etc.

TOTAL COST

If necessary explain the method of calculation

7.

IMPACT ON STAFF AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURE

The  human  and  administrative  resources  required  will  be  covered  within  the  staff
allocated to the European Parliament in the budget 2004.

7.1.

Impact on human resources

Types of post

Staff to be assigned to management of the
action using existing and/or additional
resources

Number of
permanent posts

Number of
temporary posts

Total

Officials 
temporary staff

or

A

B

C

0.1 person per year

Other human resources

Total

0.1

Description of tasks deriving from the
action

Implementing  payments  under 
Regulation

the

7

For further information, see separate explanatory note.

15

                                                
7.2.

Overall financial impact of human resources

Type of human resources

Amount (€)

Method of calculation *

Officials

Temporary staff

Other human resources

10,800

0.1 x 108,00

(specify budget line)

Total

10,800

The amounts are total expenditure for twelve months.

7.3.

Other administrative expenditure deriving from the action

Amount €

Method of calculation

Budget line

(number and heading)

Overall allocation (Title A7)

A0701 – Missions

A07030 – Meetings
A07031 – Compulsory committees 1
A07032 – Non-compulsory committees 1

A07040 – Conferences

A0705 – Studies and consultations

Other expenditure (specify)

Information systems (A-5001/A-4300)

Other expenditure – Part A (specify)

Other expenditures – Other Section

8.4 M€

See above

I-3710 (Parliament)

Total

8.4 M€

The amounts are total expenditure for twelve months.

1 Specify the type of committee and the group to which it belongs.

I.

II.

III.

Annual total (7.2 + 7.3)

Duration of action

Total cost of action (I x II)

€10,800

Indefinite

€

8.

FOLLOW-UP AND EVALUATION

The Parliament will keep the operation of the Regulation under permanent review in
the  light  of  the  audits  and  budgets  published  by  the  European  political  parties  and
will  evaluate  the  action  on  an  ongoing  basis  in  the  course  of  the  annual  budgetary
process.

16

9.

– 

ANTI-FRAUD MEASURES

The Regulation requires the European political parties to comply with the provisions
of  the  Financial  Regulation,  to  publish  their  accounts  and  submit  them  to  the
Parliament and the Court of Auditors.

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