As was the case during their previous discussion in June, a very large majority of Member States once again spoke out against the most political elements of the reform of the European Union’s electoral law, such as the creation of a European electoral constituency, during a public debate at the ‘General Affairs’ Council on Wednesday 15 November (see EUROPE 13210/26).
Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Greece, Poland, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Latvia, Estonia and Italy have expressed serious doubts about the advisability of creating, in addition to European elections held at national level, a European electoral constituency for electing candidates on transnational lists. In particular, they invoke the principle of subsidiarity and the risk of clashing with national competences and electoral traditions.
Portugal even considered that this idea, promoted by the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12944/1), violated the Treaty on European Union. It recommended focusing on the previous 2018 reform, which has not yet been ratified by all Member States.
Among the supporters of such a reform, Germany and France have argued for maintaining the level of ambition of the text on the table, while being aware of the difficulty of making progress on the most political issues.
To a lesser extent, Slovenia has said that it is open to discussing the creation of a European electoral constituency, provided that safeguards are put in place, particularly with regard to the balance between large and small states. Similarly, Malta and Cyprus may consider such a constituency, provided this does not call into question the institutional balance, in particular the way in which the President of the European Commission is appointed, i.e. by the European Council.
Several countries - Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic - wanted the work to continue on more technical issues such as the fight against double voting for citizens living abroad.
In conclusion of this debate, which failed to reach an agreement, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Pascual Ignacio Navarro Ríos, indicated that the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU would respond to Parliament’s request by indicating that certain Member States wished to make progress on the less controversial elements of the legislative proposal, before transferring the dossier to the upcoming Belgian Presidency of the Council.
However, this reform will not be in place before the European elections in June 2024. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)