The Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) of the European Parliament adopted by a large majority (14 votes in favour, 5 against, 3 abstentions) a report asking for the reform of the electoral law of the European Union for the next EU elections of 2019. The draft report has been prepared by two rapporteurs, which are part of the two main EU political groups, Danuta Hübner (EPP -PL) and Jo Leinen (S&D-DE), and will be put to vote in the EP plenary at the end of October.

The Treaty[1] gives the European Parliament the right to initiate a reform of the European electoral law by formulating proposals, which the Council will have to decide upon by unanimity. Then, the amendments to the European Electoral Act are submitted for ratification to the Member States according to their constitutional requirements.

With the proposed reform, the rapporteurs aim at increasing the democratic dimension of the European elections and reinforcing the Union citizenship. They wish to improve the functioning of the European Parliament, make the work of the Institution more legitimate and providing for more electoral equality among the citizens of the Union.

The proposals are meaningful and in line with the Members of the EU Parliament (MEPs) efforts to make the elections more European. It is highly significant that the report has bipartisan support (centre-right and centre-left), which means that (almost) all those politicians in governments of the member states will be lobbied by their own party colleagues (MEPs) to support the harmonisation.

Among other innovations, the draft resolution proposes to place the names and the logos of the European political parties on the ballot papers and on posters and other electoral materials in order to improve the visibility of the EU political parties.

Moreover, the reform recommends setting a common minimum deadline of 12 weeks before election day for the establishment of lists at national level and the introduction of a mandatory threshold, ranging between 3% and 5%. The goal is to avoid further fragmentation in the EU Parliament.

The AFCO report also suggests that a common deadline for the nomination of lead candidates by European political parties should be set 12 weeks in advance of EU elections and that the citizens of the EU who reside in a third country be granted the right to cast their vote in the EP elections.

The harmonisation of the minimum age of voters at 16, the possibility of electronic and internet voting as well as voting by post and to give to Parliament the right to fix the electoral period for elections to the EU Parliament after consulting the Council are other proposals put forward by the report.

Doru Frantescu, director & co-founder of VoteWatch Europe, has stated that “if adopted, the rules will be a big leap forward towards “Europeanisation of the European elections”, which until now have been seen as “second-order national elections”. It is precisely because these elections are seen as secondary that the new rules may actually get some traction in the Council, as the national politicians may feel that they don’t give away too much.”

The biggest issue which will face opposition in the Council is the nomination of a leading candidate (for the Presidency of the Commission) by the European political parties, which has no chance of passing in the current composition of the Council, which includes prime-ministers Cameron and Orbán, who opposed Juncker’s nomination. If Law&Justice wins the Polish elections, they will also reinforce the opposing camp. However, if the text will not specifically say “candidates for the European Commission Presidency”, but simply “leading candidates”, this would still have a chance.

Secondly, there is the issue of the electoral thresholds, which will be disputed in countries such as Germany, where the Constitutional Court has abolished the threshold for the European elections. However, if the new rules will be stated in an EU law, the position of the Court is likely to be different.

“Last year, with the eventual appointment of President Juncker as head of the Commission, the EU Parliament has shown that it can be truly powerful when there is a strong majority behind a decision, so this Hübner-Leinen report has to be taken seriously. On the other hand, this time around (unlike in the case of Juncker’s appointment) the Council will decide by unanimity, which is a completely different thing. Consequently, at this stage we can expect that the softer changes may eventually go through, but not the big ones”, has said Frantescu.

Positions of the political groups:

European People’s Party group (EPP): Danuta Hübner MEP, Chairwoman of the committee and co-author of the Report said that: “My overall goal was to make these elections more attractive for EU citizens, especially for the youth and those with reduced mobility”. The Christian-democrat group, which is the EU political family of President Juncker and Chancellor Merkel, believes that the European dimension of the EU elections must be strengthened in order to bridge the gap between the EU Institutions and the citizens[2].

Socialists & Democrats group (S&D): Jo Leinen MEP, co-author of the Report, claimed: “We want to ensure the functioning of the European Parliament, which is threatened by too many mini-parties.[3]” “The next European elections in 2019 will be more transparent, more democratic and more attractive with the submitted reform of the European election law,” he added.

[1] Article 223 (1) oTFEU

[2] http://www.eppgroup.eu/press-release/EPP-Group-favours-online-vote-for-next-European-elections-

[3]http://www.joleinen.de/Pressedetail.24.0.html?&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=1160&cHash=10f8d0659eafe8167c13f2c21d02f1f8