European Parliament legislative resolution on the Council common position for adopting a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a single Community framework for the transparency of qualifications and competences (Europass) (12242/1/2004 — C6-0158/2004 — 2003/0307(COD))
Date: 2004-12-14
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: administrative transparency, apprenticeship, professional experience, professional qualifications, vocational training

C 226 E/68

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

15.9.2005

Tuesday 14 December 2004

Accordingly, the dispute should be considered unfounded pursuant to Article 12 of the 1976 Act.

Mr Tadeus ANDZEJEVSKI, Lithuanian, candidate in the elections, objects to the way in which the Euro-
pean Parliament seats have been allocated in Lithuania. He complains in particular that the list ‘Together we
are strong’, representing a coalition of regional parties of the Polish and Russian minorities, was not allo-
cated a single seat, despite exceeding the 5 % threshold for the allocation of seats laid down by Lithuanian
electoral law, whereas Lithuania's 13 seats were divided up among six other lists. He maintains that the
allocation of seats made by the Central Electoral Commission was in breach of Article 3 of the 1976 Act
according to which, ‘Member States may set a minimum threshold for the allocation of seats. At national
level this threshold may not exceed 5 % of votes cast’.

In addition to Article 3, it should be pointed out that Article 1(1) of the Act stipulates that the election,
using the list system or the single transferable vote, must be based on proportional representation. This is
binding as regards the Member States laws, although they may introduce a minimum threshold for the
allocation of seats (up to 5 % of the votes cast at national level) in order to avoid fragmentation of the
electorate. However, it does not seem possible to interpret Article 3 of the Act as meaning that any list
which exceeds the 5 % threshold should be automatically allocated at least one seat, since in the case of
Member States with a small number of seats (fewer than 20, as is the case for Lithuania), the mere fact of
exceeding the minimum threshold does not imply, for simple arithmetical reasons, the automatic obtaining
of a seat.

In the final analysis and in the light of the documentation submitted, the complaint cannot be seen as
justified and there are no grounds for not validating the mandate of the Members whose election has been
notified by Lithuania.

The dispute should therefore be considered unfounded pursuant to Article 12 of the 1976 Act.

P6_TA(2004)0095

Framework for the transparency of qualifications and competences (Euro-
pass) ***II

European Parliament legislative resolution on the Council common position for adopting a decision
of the European Parliament and of the Council on a single Community framework for the trans-
parency of qualifications and competences (Europass) (12242/1/2004 — C6-0158/2004 — 2003/
0307(COD))

(Codecision procedure: second reading)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Council common position (12242/1/2004 — C6-0158/2004),

— having regard to its position at first reading (1) on the Commission proposal to Parliament and the

Council (COM(2003)0796) (2),

— having regard to Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty,

— having regard to Rule 67 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the recommendation for second reading of the Committee on Culture and Education

(A6-0056/2004),

(1) Texts Adopted, 22.4.2004, P5_TA(2004)0362.
(2) Not yet published in OJ.

15.9.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 226 E/69

Tuesday 14 December 2004

1.

2.

Approves the common position;

Notes that the act is adopted in accordance with the common position;

Instructs its President to sign the act with the President of the Council pursuant to Article 254(1) of

3.
the EC Treaty;

4.
Instructs its Secretary-General to sign the act, once it has been verified that all the procedures have
been duly completed, and, in agreement with the Secretary-General of the Council, to have it published in
the Official Journal of the European Union;

5.

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.