Constitutional Affairs Committee of MEPs decided yesterday to revise rules on founding and funding of EU political parties in order to improve visibility, transparency and effectiveness.
As Marietta Giannakou (EPP, EL), the rapporteur responsible for the proposal stated: “This new legislation will strengthen the actual involvement of EU citizens in the EU affairs. For EU citizens, a European political party with a legal personality is a strong representative body of EU citizens' interests. Citizens can be more actively involved in political life. We are now starting the trilogue with the European Commission and the Council to have the new rules in force on time, before the elections of 2014."
According to the new legislation, European political parties and their affiliated foundations need to be established according to EU law as to ensure transparency and accountability. In addition, European parties will be eligible for EU funds only if they have at least one elected MEP.
Moreover, donation limits are increased from €12,000 to €25,000, while any donation above 1,000€ would have to be publicly disclosed.
Furthermore, stricter sanctions will be imposed on those parties breaching EU laws. In specific, in case of law violation, an EU party would be deleted from the register and all its unspent EU funds would be seized. Also, fines will be at least the double the financial advantage gained through the infringement.
The European Parliament would be in charge of monitoring and assessing compliance with these rules and would also be responsible for deciding on any sanctions. However, a committee of independent leading figures will also provide its input in the whole process.
Finally, the use of EU public money to fund national candidates or political campaigns would remain prohibited. However, the Committee allows the use of EU funds for referenda on EU legislation or to ratify an EU Treaty change.
