Debate: Negotiations on the European Electoral Law
Date: TUESDAY, 13 JUNE 2023
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

By saying what I said at the beginning, that the Commission has no formal role, it does not mean that the Commission is passive. But I think that, especially for the electoral system for the European elections, it is absolutely crucial that this is the matter decided fully by the European Parliament and the Member States by unanimous vote. What I mean by saying that is that the Commission has not been passive but impartial. But the Commission, of course, is not impartial when it comes to the importance to protect elections in the EU and protect the voters’ rights. I will come to it later because I have a luxurious five minutes. It’s fantastic; I still have some time. I offered many times to the Parliament, also to different presidencies, expertise and support in looking for the most suitable model for the transnational lists. And I remember well, we were discussing very concrete parameters of such a system, such as number of seats, mechanisms of setting up the candidate lists so that there are no losers in that game, so that the small countries are not put in a disadvantaged position. Also, how the campaigning would be done and, something which is very important for me, how the contact between the elected Members of Parliament and their constituency would be guaranteed because we speak about the Members of Parliament from another country maybe speaking different language. So the Commission proposed many times and offered the expertise. We worked on it with constitutional lawyers and mathematicians, and I am offering it today as well, such expertise. But you are right by saying that this is mainly the discussion between Parliament and the Council on the procedure. Why I said that the Commission is not impartial: we want to have our elections in the EU being protected against different kinds of new risks. We also want to encourage the voters to come to cast their independent and autonomous vote and so to increase the turnout. So, we keep pushing on the electoral directive. I hope that the upcoming presidency will make progress. Also on political advertising, we are hopefully progressing. We don’t want any hidden manipulation of the voters’ will. That’s why we find it very important to have this legislation adopted. Also the defence of democracy package, which we are still working on. There should be a recommendation to the Member States to take all the necessary measures to protect the elections against different kinds of risks, to increase the turnout, to invite young people to cast their vote, and to remove barriers for the citizens with different kinds of disabilities to access the elections. So, the Commission is doing many, many things. But when it comes to the electoral system for the European elections, I only want to thank you for this discussion and wish you good luck in continuation of the discussions between the Parliament and the Council. We heard from the Minister Roswall that the Swedish Presidency is currently working towards identifying the elements of the proposal that could achieve unanimity. So, I wish you good luck and we will be helping and assisting to the extent which is allowed to us according to the Treaty.