Brussels, 24/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has sent a reasoned opinion to Belgium, as 133 Community nationals were not able to take part in the municipal elections of October 2000. These nationals of other Member States, residing in the commune of Honnelles, had asked to be registered in time, but the municipal council ruled two days after the deadline for drawing up the lists. The Mons Court of Appeal, which had a complaint brought before it, ruled that these 133 EU nationals should be withdrawn from the electoral registers. These persons were therefore unable to vote, and 55 of them complained.
The European Commission feels that Belgium violated article 19 of the Treaty, which guarantees all EU nationals the right to vote in their Member State of residence, and directive 94/80/EC, which sets the modalities for the application of this directive. As it was an isolated incident, the Commission initially asked Belgium to settle the issue in its own courts. The Belgian court of arbitration questioned the decision of the Mons court of appeal, but in the meantime, the Council of State had validated the election result. Dissatisfied with this result, the Commission sent formal notice to Belgium in October 2002. Belgium answered that for one thing, nothing more could be done regarding that particular case, as the elections had been validated by the Council of State. And for another, the Belgian authorities stated that there was no evidence that the Community nationals would not have been able to vote had they turned up at the polling station on election day, according to a Community source. The Commission rejected both arguments. It ruled that the validation of the elections by the Council of State did not alter the fact that there had been an infringement. If the Commission does not receive a "satisfactory" answer in the two months following the reasoned opinion, i.e. by 9 September, it could decide to bring the matter to the Court of Justice.