NEW RULES FOR THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS 2014

[ekfrasi]

http://www.transparencyinternational.eu ... l-parties/

NEW RULES FOR THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS 2014 (1): TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES

It is November 2012, but on the European Parliament website publishing the financial reports of Political Parties at European Level (see bottom of that page), we still do not see the financial reports of the EU-level parties for 2011.

At the same time, the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) committee this Monday discussed a draft report on new rules for European Political Parties proposed by the European Commission two months ago (watch the recording of the AFCO discussions). To my hearing only very few voices strongly highlighted the issue of transparency, even less with a view to the next European election campaigns.

You may have read our 10 recommendations on how to improve the proposed rules for European Political Parties and their foundations, and a more timely reporting (F) as well as timely publication of the information reported (J) should be important pillars of the reform as means to deter undue influences and to keep citizens informed about the finances of those that are meant to represent them.

If the European rules stay as they are – and even if they were reformed as proposed by the European Commission - EU citizens would not be informed on election day in May/June 2014 about who donated to European Political Parties during 2013. The rules proposed demand reporting only 6 months after the end of the previous year and they don’t indicate a timeframe for a publication of the reported figures.



This lack of strong transparency rules gets a specific relevance in the upcoming European elections in 2014:

In his annual “State of the European Union” address (see our blog post), the current Commission President Barroso called on European Political Parties to propose their candidates for this (i.e. his) position, which is elected by the members of the European Parliament, and speculation about possible candiates has already started. Then, last week, the European Parliament itself passed a resolution calling for such single candidates to “boost” interest in the elections.

However, neither the new rules put forward by the European Commission nor the committee’s draft report and discussions so far take into account this new situation:

What transparency rules apply for this single candidate for European Commission president?
Can she or he have private campaign accounts which do not fall under the rules for European Political Parties?
Can she or he get sponsoring from national or global companies, trade unions or other donors – and if yes, does this have to be reported at European level or national level where the campaign events will take place?
These concerns may sound very hypothetical, but in June 2012 we launched the regional report “Money, Politics, Power: Corruption Risks in Europe” which brings together findings from 25 European National Integrity System Studies, including from 23 EU member states. The report clearly shows systemic weaknesses in political finance around Europe. We believe that those weaknesses should be addressed at the European and national level ahead of the European Parliament Elections 2014 – and transparency of donations and campaign spending is one of the core issues that need to be addressed!

Next Thursday, 6 December 2012, 18h00, the Transparency International EU Office is organising a public discussion on this subject in the Science14 Atrium in Brussels (Rue de la Science 14b). You can join by registering at eu@transparency.org.