European political party

European Union

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A European political party, formally a political party at European level, informally (especially in academic circles) a Europarty, is a type of political party organization operating transnationally in Europe and in the institutions of the European Union. They are regulated and funded by the European Union and are usually made up of national parties, not individuals. Europarties have the exclusive right to campaign during the European elections and express themselves within the European Parliament by their affiliated political groups and their MEPs. Europarties, through coordination meetings with their affiliated heads of state and government, influence the decision-making process of the European Council. Europarties also work closely and coordinate with their affiliated members of the European Commission and, according to the Lisbon Treaty the Europarty that wins the European elections has the right to nominate to the European Council its candidate for President of the European Commission.

Contents

Timeline

1992

Section 41 of the Treaty of Maastricht[1] added Article 138a to the Treaty of Rome. Article 138a (later renumbered to Article 191) stated that "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." So the concept of a "political party at European level" was born.

1997

Article J.18 and Article K.13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam[2] established who should pay for expenditure authorised by Article 138/191 within certain areas. This provided a mechanism whereby Europarties could be paid for out of the European budget, and the Europarties started to spend the money. Such expenditure included funding national parties, an outcome not originally intended.

2001

Article 2, section 19 of the Treaty of Nice[3] added a second paragraph to Article 191 of the Treaty of Rome. That paragraph stated that "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." The reference to "Article 251" refers to co-decision, which meant the European Parliament had to be involved. So Europarty funding had to be regulated by the Council and the European Parliament, acting together.

2003

Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003[4] defined what a "political party at European level" actually was and specified that funding should not go to national parties, either directly or indirectly. This meant that European money should stay at the Europarty level and, as a result, the nascent Europarties started to organise themselves on a more European basis instead of acting as a mechanism for funding national parties.

2007

That regulation was later heavily amended by the Decision of the Bureau of the European Parliament of 29 March 2004[5] and by other amendments, the latest of which is Regulation (EC) No 1524/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2007[6] These amendments tightened up the procedures and funding and provided for the earlier-floated[7] concept of a "political foundation at European level". This meant that the Europarties can set up and fund legally separate affiliated think-tanks (the Eurofoundations) to aid them, although funding national parties remains forbidden. The revised regulation also gives Europarties the exclusive responsibility to campaign for the European elections and can use their funds for this purpose (their corresponding political groups of the European Parliament are strictly forbidden to campaign).

Regulations

As of 1 November 2008, the regulation governing Europarties is Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003,[8] as later amended[9] under codecision (see above). According to that regulation's European Commission factsheet,[10] for a party to become a Europarty it must meet the following criteria:

  • either it must have received at least 3% of the votes cast in each of those Member States at the most recent European Parliament elections.
  • or it must already be represented by Members, whether Members of the European Parliament for those states, or Members of the national Parliaments of those states, or Members of the regional Parliaments of those states, or Members of the regional Assemblies of those states.

Funding

Their total funding for 2012 will be €15 million pre financing. You must add another 20% (18.9 million) which are given later on in the next year after accounts are presented), with a further €9.720 million pre financing,(total amount 12.150 million) for the foundations.[11][12][13]

The Europarties

There were eleven recognised Europarties in 2011 as follows:[14]

Europarty Ideology 2011 grant First Recognised
European People's Party[12][13][14] Christian democracy, pro-Europeanism €6.2m 2004
Party of European Socialists[12][13][14] Social democracy, democratic socialism €4.1m 2004
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party[12][13][14] Liberalism, centrism €1.8m 2004
European Green Party[12][13][14] Green politics €1.3m 2004
Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists[14] Conservatism, anti-federalism €1.1m 2010
Party of the European Left[12][13][14] Socialism, communism €0.8m 2004
European Democratic Party[12][13][14] Centrism, pro-Europeanism €0.6m 2004
European Free Alliance[12][13][14] Regionalism, Independentism €0.4m 2004
European Alliance for Freedom[14] Euroscepticism €0.4m 2011
EUDemocrats[12][13][14] Euroscepticism €0.3m 2006
European Christian Political Movement[14] Social conservatism, Christian democracy €0.3m 2010

Defunct Europarties

Proposed Europarties

In January 2008, leaders of far-right parties from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and France announced plans to launch a far-right Europarty by 15 November, provisionally called the European Patriotic Party, Patriotic European Party or European Freedom Party.[15][16] According to media reports, the European Alliance for Freedom was founded in 2010 or 2011 and is officially recognized.[17]

It was reported on 1 November 2008 that Declan Ganley had registered a company in Dublin called the Libertas Party Ltd[18] and that it was intended to "carry on the business of a European political party".[18] Libertas applied for Europarty recognition which was briefly granted but then suspended following the disavowal of two of its candidates.

Europarty structure

All current Europarties are mostly made up of national parties, Individual members MP or MEPS: MP's who are members of member parties can become members of the Europarty. Additionally, people can become individual members of the Europarty without having to join a national party first (e.g. Marian Harkin, who is an individual member of the European Democratic Party).

Pan-European political organisations that are not Europarties

Membership of Europarties by national party

Controversy

Europarty funding goes to Europarties and stays with Europarties: the funding cannot be used for the funding of other political parties and in particular national political parties.[8] National political parties disinclined from joining Europarties are thereby disadvantaged.[19] 25 Members of the European Parliament petitioned the European Court of Justice, arguing that this contravened the EU's stated values of pluralism and democracy. The case was rejected after eighteen months.[20][21] A closely related case fought by the French Front National, the Italian Lega Nord, and the Belgian Vlaams Blok (now Vlaams Belang) was appealed[22] and rejected.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ Treaty of Maastricht
  2. ^ Treaty of Amsterdam
  3. ^ Treaty of Nice
  4. ^ Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003
  5. ^ Decision of the Bureau of the European Parliament of 29 March 2004
  6. ^ Regulation (EC) No 1524/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2007.
  7. ^ EU in drive to make Brussels more political euobserver.com 29 May 2007
  8. ^ a b EUROPA > Summaries of legislation > The regulations governing political parties and rules regarding their funding at European level
  9. ^ The European Commission > PreLex > COM (2007) 364 : 2007/0130/COD
  10. ^ EU legislation summaries - The regulations governing political parties and rules regarding their funding at European level
  11. ^ Press Release IP/07/1953, Brussels, 18 December 2007 europa.eu
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Top Stories from the European Parliament 2004-2009", date not specified, from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Invitations to tender, contracts, grants: List of grants awarded in 2005", 30 March 2006, from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Grants from the European Parliament to political parties at European level 2004-2011", 9 July 2011, from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
  15. ^ "EU far-right groups to form party" from BBC News, Friday, 25 January 2008
  16. ^ "FPÖ to help form pan-European right-wing umbrella party" from Wiener Zeitung, Friday, 25 January 2008
  17. ^ http://derstandard.at/1308680021593/EU-Moelzer-wirkt-in-neuer-EU-Rechtsaussenpartei-mit
  18. ^ a b "Ganley registers Libertas as a European political party" from the Irish Times, Saturday 1 November 2008
  19. ^ Why I am going to the European Court hannan.co.uk
  20. ^ Pan-European political parties hannan.co.uk
  21. ^ Order of the Court of First Instance of 11 July 2005 in Case T-13/04: Jens-Peter Bonde and Others v European Parliament and Council of the European Union eur-lex.europa.eu
  22. ^ Case C-338/05 P: Appeal brought on 19 September 2005 by le Front National and Others against the judgment delivered on 11 July 2005 by the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (Second Chamber) in Case T-17/04 between Le Front National and Others and the European Parliament and the Counsel of the European Union eur-lex.europa.eu
  23. ^ Case C-338/05 P: Order of the Court of 13 July 2006 — Front National and Others v European Parliament and Council of the European Union

External links