Brussels, 29/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 29 September, the Council of the EU formally approved new rules applicable to European political parties from 1 January 2017.
These rules include a regulation designed to help the European political parties and political foundations affiliated to them express the political will of European citizens, together with a regulation adapting the financial regulation to the specific needs of European political parties (see EUROPE 11062).
The Netherlands and the UK voted against the adoption of both texts, whilst Belgium abstained in the adoption of the first, according to a Council statement.
The first regulation provides for European legal status for European political parties and their political foundations, which will be a prerequisite for obtaining any public funding under the EU budget. In order to obtain European legal status, European political parties and their political foundations must be represented in at least one quarter of the countries of the EU (or seven out of the 28 countries) and respect the fundamental values of the EU. European legal status will be issued by an independent authority at the European Parliament, which will also be responsible for carrying out regular checks on whether the conditions for granting this status are still being met. In the event of manifest and serious non-compliance with the values on which the EU is based, this authority will be able to withdraw European legal status from a political party, unless this move is opposed by both the EP and the Council. The authority may fine the European political parties and their foundations in the event of any infringements of the regulation.
Sources of funding. The regulation also contains provisions governing the sources of funding of the European political parties and their foundations. The current distribution of funding under the EU budget remains unchanged: - 15% of the money is divided up in equal shares between the European political parties and their foundations and the remaining 85% is shared among the European political parties, in proportion to the number of MEPs they have at the European Parliament. In 2013, aid from the EU budget was worth €33.9 million; - donations from legal or natural persons to the European parties and their foundations will be limited to €18,000 per donor and per year (€12,000 under the current rules). The names of donors contributing more than €3,000 a year will be published; - the contributions of the members of European political parties or their political foundations may not exceed 40% of the budget of the party or foundation in question. Additionally, contributions from non-elected members of the European political party are limited to €18,000 per member and per year. (MB)