Negotiations between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament are expected to reach an early conclusion on the proposal for Rules of Procedure to financially sanction European political parties that violate personal data protection in order to influence the results of European elections, according to the negotiating position adopted by the Member States on Wednesday 19 December.
Member States have made cosmetic changes to the European Commission's original proposal of mid-September and these changes are in line with the position expressed by the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12156).
In particular, they are insisting on compliance with the principles of legal certainty and ne bis in idem, according to which an infringement may not be sanctioned twice, first for the infringement of the GDPR regulation on the protection of personal data and secondly for the fraudulent use of the personal data collected.
Like the European Parliament, Member States are emphasising the importance of giving European political parties or European political foundations found guilty of an offence, the opportunity to defend themselves before the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations.
In the event of a proven infringement, European political parties will be open to fines of up to 5% of their annual budget. Any European party found guilty of a violation will not be able to apply for EU co-financing for the current year.
The objective of the European legislator is that the future rules should come into force before the European elections in May 2019. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Marion Fontana)