REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statute and funding of the European political parties and the European political foundations
Date: 2019-02-22
Institutions: European Commission, Secretariat-General
Subjects: European legal status, delegated legislation, foundation, freedom of association, freedom of expression, party financing, political parties, powers of the institutions (EU), transfer of competence

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 22.2.2019  COM(2019) 94 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statute and funding of the European political parties and the European political foundations  
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 on the statute and funding of the European political 
parties  and  the  European  political  foundations1  (hereinafter  “the  European  political  parties 
Regulation”) lays  down  the conditions  governing the statute and funding  of political  parties 
and political foundations at European level. In light of this Regulation, the European political 
parties  and  foundations  which  satisfy  a  number  of  conditions  can  become  European  legal 
entities  by  registering  at  European  level,  thereby  obtaining  access  to  European  financial 
support. These conditions include the respect, both in their programme and activities,  of the 
values on which the Union is founded, listed in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union: 
respect  for  human  dignity,  freedom,  democracy,  equality,  the  rule  of  law  and  respect  for 
human  rights,  including  the  rights  of  people  belonging  to  minorities.  An  independent 
Authority for European political parties and foundations (“the Authority”) was created for the 
purpose of registering, monitoring and, if necessary, imposing sanctions on European political 
parties  and  foundations,  including  to  consider  cases  where  such  entities  allegedly  fail  to 
respect these fundamental European values.  

The European political parties Regulation was adopted on 22 October 2014 and entered into 
force on the twentieth day after publication in the Official Journal, i.e. on the 24 November 
2014. This Regulation is applicable for most of its provisions since 1 January 2017. However, 
the Commission was asked to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 7(2) and in point (a) 
of Article 8(3) by no later than 1 July 2015. 

2.  LEGAL BASIS 

The present Report is required by Article 36(2) of the European political parties Regulation. 
Pursuant to this provision, the delegation is conferred on the Commission for a period of five 
years from 24 November 2014 and the Commission is required to make a report in respect of 
the  delegated  powers  not  later  than  nine  months  before  the  end  of  the  five-year  period,  i.e. 
before 24 February 2019. The same Article states that the delegation of power shall be tacitly 
extended  for  periods  of  identical  duration,  unless  the  European  Parliament  or  the  Council 
opposes such extension no later than three months before the end of each period.  

3.  EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION  

According  to  the  European  political  parties  Regulation,  the  Commission  is  empowered  to 
adopt delegated acts in order to:  

a. 

ensure  the  proper  functioning  of  the  Register  of  European  political  parties  and 
foundations concerning (cf. Article 7(2) of the European political parties Regulation): 

i. 

the  information  and  supporting  documents  held  by  the  Authority  for  which  the 
Register  is  to  be  the  competent  repository  (which  shall  include  the  statutes,  any 
other documents submitted as part of the application, any documents received from 
the  Member  State  of  the  seat,  information  on  the  identity  of  persons  who  are 
members  of  bodies  or  hold  offices  that  are  vested  with  powers  of  administrative, 
financial or legal representation);  

1   OJ L 317 of 4 November 2014, p. 1. 

1 

 
                                                 
ii.  materials for which the Register is to be competent to certify legality as established 

by the Authority.  

b. 

c. 

identify  supplementary  information  or  supporting  documents  necessary  to  allow  the 
Authority  to  fully  discharge  its  responsibilities  in  relation  to  the  functioning  of  the 
Register  of  European  political  parties  and  foundations  (cf.  Article  8  (3)(a)  of  the 
European political parties Regulation);  

amend the standard declaration in the annex of the European political parties Regulation 
in respect of the particulars to be filled in by the applicant where necessary, in order to 
ensure  that  sufficient  information  is  being  held  in  relation  to  the  signatory,  his  or  her 
mandate and the European political party or foundation which he or she is mandated to 
represent (Article 8 (3)(b) of the European political parties Regulation). 

The Commission adopted one delegated act based on the Articles 7(2) and 8(3)(a) above, i.e. 
the  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2015/2401  of  2  October  2015  on  the 
content and functioning of the Register of European political parties and foundations.2 

The exercise of this empowerment was essential to specify which information, supplementary 
and supporting documents are to be held in the Register. 

3.1.  DELEGATED  ACT  SUPPLEMENTING  THE  EUROPEAN  POLTICAL 

PARTIES REGULATION 

According  to  Article  7(1)  of  the  European  political  parties  Regulation,  the  Authority  shall 
establish and manage a register of European political parties and foundations (“the Register”). 
This Register is the repository of data, particulars and documents submitted with applications 
for registration as a European political party or a European political foundation, as well as any 
subsequent  data,  particulars  and  documents  submitted  by  a  European  political  party  or 
foundation pursuant to the European political parties Regulation.  

The Delegated Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2015/2401 was adopted based on Article 7(2) 
and 8(3)(a) of the European political parties Regulation. It establishes documents which shall 
be provided by the European political parties and foundations to the Register, such as statutes, 
the  standard  declaration  annexed  to  the  European  political  parties  Regulation;  detailed 
description  of  the  financial,  governance  and  management  structure  and  statements  from 
Member States certifying that the applicant complied with all relevant national requirements 
(where  required).  The  Delegated  Regulation  also  specifies  the  information,  which  shall  be 
kept  up-to-date  in  the  Register,  such  as  inter  alia  the  type  of  the  entity;  the  registration 
number;  the  full  name,  acronym  and  logo;  the  Member  State  where  the  European  political 
party or foundation has its seat; the address of the seat, the date of registration and other.  

The Delegated Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2015/2401 was adopted on 2 October 2015 and 
notified to the European Parliament and to the Council. Neither the European Parliament nor 
the  Council  issued  any  objection  to  the  delegated  act  within  the  period  of  two  months  as 
provided  for  in  Article  36(5)  of  the  European  political  parties  Regulation.  None  of  the 
Institutions  initiated  an  extension  of  the  two-month  period  by  additional  two  months  in 
accordance with the same provision. 

On  the  expiry  of  the  two-month  period,  the  Delegated  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  No 
2015/2401 was published in the Official Journal3 and entered into force on 8 January 2016. 

2   OJ L 333 of 19 December 2015, p. 50. 

2 

 
                                                 
The Commission has not yet adopted delegated acts based on Article 8(3)(b) of the European 
political  parties  Regulation  aiming  to  amend  the  standard  formal  declaration  in  the  annex, 
since the standard declaration annexed to the European political parties Regulation still holds 
and  more  experience  with  the  application  of  the  European  political  parties  Regulation  is 
needed in order to assess the necessity of its amendment. 

4.  CONCLUSION  

The  Commission  has  exercised  the  delegated  powers  conferred  to  it  under  Article 7(2)  and 
8(3)(a) of the European political parties Regulation. The Commission sees the need to extend 
this empowerment to possibly modify or further specify in the future which information and 
supporting  documents  are  to  be  held  in  the  Register  of  European  political  parties  and 
foundations. 

The Commission considers that the delegated powers conferred to it under Article 8(3)(b) of 
the  European  political  parties  Regulation  are  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  amending  the 
standard  declaration  in  the  annex.  More  experience  with  the  application  of  the  European 
political parties Regulation is needed in order to assess the necessity of such arrangements.  

With  this  Report,  the  Commission  complies  with  the  reporting  requirement  under 
Article 36(2) of the European political parties Regulation and invites the European Parliament 
and the Council to take note of this Report.  

3   The Delegated Regulation No 2015/2401 was published in the Official Journal on 19 December 2015.  

3