CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

CYIL 11 (2020) HAVE EU CITIZENS A RIGHT TO BECOME MEMBERS OF NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES? HAVE EU CITIZENS A RIGHT TO BECOME MEMBERS OF NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES? VIEW FROM THE EU LAW AND CZECH LAW PERSPECTIVES Magdaléna Svobodová Abstract: EU citizenship encompasses the right to vote and stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament and in municipal elections in the Member State of residence under the same conditions as nationals of that State (Article 20(2)(b) Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). In the Czech Republic, the legislation allows migrating EU citizens to stand as candidates in these elections, however, not as the members of Czech political parties - unlike Czech candidates. Thus, the question arises whether the formulation in the Treaty “under the same conditions as nationals of that State” also includes the right of EU citizens to become members of national political parties. First, the author tries to answer the question of whether EU citizens have a right to become members of national political parties deriving from EU law. Second, the author analyses the situation in the Czech Republic and draws conclusions concerning the issue in question. Resumé: S občanstvím EU je spojeno právo volit a být volen ve volbách do Evropského par- lamentu a v obecních volbách členského státu pobytu za stejných podmínek jako mají státní příslušníci tohoto státu (čl. 20 odst. 2 písm. b) SFEU). Právo České republiky umožňuje migrujícím občanům EU být voleni v těchto volbách, avšak nikoli jako členové politických stran – na rozdíl od českých kandidátů. Nabízí se proto otázka, zda formulace ve Smlou- vě „za stejných podmínek jako příslušníci tohoto státu“ zahrnuje také právo občanů EU na členství ve vnitrostátních politických stranách. Autorka tohoto článku se snaží zaprvé odpovědět na otázku, zda mají unijní občané právo být členem politické strany ve státě pobytu, které vyplývá z práva EU. Zadruhé autorka analyzuje situaci v České republice a vyvozuje z ní příslušné závěry. Key words: EU citizenship, elections to the European Parliament, municipal elections, suffrage, political parties About the Author: JUDr. Magdaléna Svobodová, Ph.D. is a senior lecturer at Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Law, Department of European Law. Introduction 1 European Union citizenship introduced by Maastricht Treaty in 1993 includes political rights for nationals of the Member States, namely the right to vote and to stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament (EP) and in municipal elections in the Member State of their residence, under the same conditions as nationals of that State (Article 20(2)(b) Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)) 2 . The political rights of Union citizens 3 are of key importance, “since only democratic representation can vest legitimacy in 1 The author thanks the anonymous reviewer for useful comments. 2 Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. 3 The notion “Union citizens” or “EU citizens” means in this paper either nationals of all EU Member States or nationals of EU Member States except for Czech nationals, depending on the context.

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