By imposing a nationality requirement in order to become a member of a national political party, the Czech Republic and Poland are failing to ensure equal treatment with their nationals as regards the right to stand as a candidate in municipal and European elections, ruled the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in a judgment delivered on Tuesday 19 November (cases C-808/21 & C-814/21).
The European Commission has brought two actions for failure to fulfil obligations before the CJEU against the Czech Republic and Poland, whose national legislation confers the right to become a member of a political party solely on nationals. It considers that such a restriction constitutes a difference in treatment based on nationality, prohibited by the TFEU (Article 22).
Under the Treaty, any EU citizen residing in a Member State of which he or she is not a national has the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in municipal and European elections in the Member State in which he or she resides under the same conditions as nationals of that country.
On the basis of the Opinion of the Advocate General (see EUROPE 13326/16), the Court upheld both actions. It points out that the effective exercise of electoral rights in municipal and European elections, guaranteed by EU law, requires that citizens of the Union residing in a Member State without having the nationality of that State have equal access to the means available to nationals of that Member State to exercise their rights effectively.
The Court points out that the ban on belonging to a political party places the European citizens concerned in a less advantageous situation than Czech and Polish nationals, insofar as belonging to a national political party: - enables them to benefit from organisational structures and human, administrative and financial resources to support their candidacy; - can be one of the factors guiding voters in their choice.
In conclusion, the Court is of the opinion that this difference in treatment cannot be justified on grounds of respect for national identity. Non-national EU citizens are not eligible to stand in national elections and may see their role limited in the context of those elections.
See the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/ee9 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)