Considerations on COM(2006)791 - Amendment of Directive 93/109/EC as regards the right to vote and stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament for citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals

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dossier COM(2006)791 - Amendment of Directive 93/109/EC as regards the right to vote and stand as a candidate in elections to the European ...
document COM(2006)791 EN
date December 20, 2012
 
table>(1)The right of every citizen of the Union to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament in his Member State of residence is recognised under Article 20(2)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and under Article 39(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Council Directive 93/109/EC of 6 December 1993 laying down detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament for citizens of the Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals (2) provides for arrangements for the exercise of that right.
(2)The Commission reports of 12 December 2006 and of 27 October 2010 on the application of Directive 93/109/EC to the 2004 elections and the 2009 elections, respectively, revealed the need to amend certain provisions of Directive 93/109/EC.

(3)Directive 93/109/EC provides that any citizen of the Union who has been deprived of his right to stand as a candidate under either the law of the Member State of residence or the law of his home Member State shall be precluded from exercising that right in the Member State of residence in elections to the European Parliament. To that end, Directive 93/109/EC requires a citizen of the Union, when submitting his application to stand as a candidate in a Member State other than the home Member State, to produce an attestation from the competent administrative authorities of the home Member State certifying that the person concerned has not been deprived of the right to stand as a candidate in the home Member State or that no such disqualification is known to them.

(4)The difficulties encountered by such citizens in identifying the authorities empowered to issue that attestation and in obtaining it in good time act as a barrier to the exercise of the right to stand as a candidate and contribute to the low number of citizens of the Union standing as candidates in elections to the European Parliament in their Member State of residence.

(5)The requirement for those citizens to submit such an attestation should accordingly be abolished and replaced by a statement confirming that the person concerned has not been deprived of the right to stand in the elections to the European Parliament, to be included in the formal declaration that those citizens are required to produce as part of their application.

(6)The Member State of residence should be required to notify the home Member State of such declarations, in order to verify whether the citizen of the Union has in fact been deprived of the right to stand in elections to the European Parliament in the home Member State. Upon receipt of that notification, the home Member State should provide the Member State of residence with relevant information within a time-limit allowing for the admissibility of the candidacy to be effectively assessed.

(7)Failure by the home Member State to provide that information on time should not result in the deprivation of the right to stand as a candidate in the Member State of residence. In cases where the relevant information is provided at a later stage, the Member State of residence should ensure, by appropriate measures and in accordance with the procedures provided for by its national law, that citizens of the Union deprived of the right to stand in their home Member State who were registered on the roll or have already been elected, are prevented from being elected or from exercising their mandate.

(8)Given that the admissibility procedure in a Member State necessarily entails additional administrative steps for a national of another Member State than for the nationals of that Member State, it should be possible for Member States to set a different deadline for the submission of applications to stand as a candidate by citizens of the Union who are not nationals than that set for national citizens. Any difference in the deadline should be limited to that which is necessary and proportionate in order to allow for the notification of the information from the home Member State to be taken into account in good time, with a view to rejecting an application before the nomination of the candidates. Establishing such a separate deadline should not affect the deadlines for obligations for other Member States to effect notifications pursuant to Directive 93/109/EC.

(9)To facilitate communication between national authorities, Member States should designate one contact point to be responsible for the notification of information concerning such candidates.

(10)To ensure a more efficient identification of candidates registered both on the list of their home Member State and that of the Member State of residence, the list of data to be required from citizens of the Union when submitting an application to stand as candidates in the Member State of residence should include their date and place of birth and the last address of residence in their home Member State.

(11)In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of 28 September 2011 of Member States and the Commission on explanatory documents, Member States have undertaken to accompany, in justified cases, the notification of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the components of a directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments. With regard to this Directive, the legislator considers the transmission of such documents to be justified.

(12)Directive 93/109/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,