Brussels, 12/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 12 September the Commission tabled a proposal for a regulation which aims to strengthen the way European political parties are formed by creating a specific legal statute for the parties and foundations affiliated to the parties, and by setting them a series of criteria to be met for access to European funding, such as respect for the EU's democratic values. The European parties will have to prove the real European nature of their ambitions and will only be able to access funding from the European budget if they win at least one seat at the European elections.
This demand especially came from the S&D Group at the European Parliament, the respect for values meaning particularly that extremist parties, such as Jobbik in Hungary, can be prevented from easily benefitting from European funding. This new legal statute will also enable parties to remove the main obstacle to the exercise of their activities in the member states and at EU level, most parties and foundations currently being registered under the status of Belgian ASBL (non-profit making organisation).
The Commission says in its press release that it is essential to watch that the conditions to fulfil in order to become a European party are not excessive but can be quickly fulfilled by transnational alliances of political parties and/or of physical persons who are organised and serious, so as to encourage and also support the emergence of new European political parties. It is also important to set objective criteria for allocating limited resources from the European budget - resources which should reflect the true European ambition of seeing a European political party emerge and of creating real support in the electoral process.
To be recognised as a European political party or European political foundation, then to later have access to European funding, these organisations should furthermore satisfy strict standards on internal democracy, governance, the obligation of transparency and respect for EU values, the Commission continues. All aspects of party funding will be subject to a set of rules including strict demands on the presentation of reports and control. A system of administrative sanctions will be applied in case of infringement, like fines not representing more than 10% of the annual budget of the incriminated party or foundation.
The European political parties will also be obliged to publish the names of donors granting them more than €1,000 per year, whilst the annual ceiling for individual donations will be raised from €12,000 to €25,000, the Commission goes on. Financial contributions or subsidies which come under the general budget of the EU must not be over 90% of a political party's annual reimbursable costs, and 95% of the admissible annual costs indicated in the budget of a European political foundation. In 2012, 13 European political parties benefitted from funding taken, under the regulation, from the European Parliament budget, and €31 million was distributed between them. But as the negotiations on the current funding regulation have still not been endorsed, the Commission was not able to formally present amendments on 12 September and had to just publish a working document presenting the outlines of the future financial regulation. (SP/transl.fl)