CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

MAGDALÉNA SVOBODOVÁ CYIL 11 (2020) the European Commission submitted a report to the Council titled “Towards European Citizenship” 15 . The Commission states that [t]he rights to vote and to stand as a candidate in municipal elections and to hold public office linked with the position of elected representative at this level may be considered as rights which, in the short term, could be granted to Community nationals by the host country, whereas the right to stand in national elections and to hold high political office may not. The Adonnino’s Committee on a People’s Europe recommended in the reports from 1985 “to pursue in more depth the discussions previously begun on voting rights and eventually eligibility in local elections for citizens from other Member States under the same conditions as for citizens of the host country, subject to a certain period of prior residence in the host country.” Finally, Member States incorporated this political right into Maastricht Treaty, Article 8b(1) TEC. It follows from this brief overview that the right of Union citizens to join national political parties was not mentioned in these political documents. Article 8b(1)&(2) TEC required the Council to adopt detailed arrangements concerning the political rights of Union citizens which may provide for derogations where warranted by problems specific to a Member State. These rules were adopted in two directives, Directive 93/109/EC on elections to the European Parliament 16 and Directive 94/80/EC on municipal elections 17 . Neither directive regulates the membership of Union citizens in national political parties and both directives stress in their preambles that taking account of the principle of proportionality, the content of secondary legislation must not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objective of the Treaty. Nevertheless, both directives put emphasis on the principle of prohibition of discrimination based on nationality. Their preambles state identically that “citizenship of the Union is intended to enable citizens of the Union to integrate better in their host country” and “in this context it is in accordance with the intentions of the authors of the Treaty to avoid any polarization between lists of national and non-national candidates”. This statement might support the opinion that Member States should guarantee equal treatment of candidates including, if need be, a right to membership of Union citizens in national political parties. Conversely, it is clear from Directive 94/80/EC on municipal elections that the Community legislator did not intend to go any step further. The Directive, for instance, expressly allows Member States to provide “that only their own nationals may hold the office of elected head, deputy of member of the governing college of the executive of a basic local government unit if elected to hold office for the duration of his mandate”. 18 It means that the office of e.g. a mayor may be reserved for own nationals. Member States may also lay down that Union citizens “shall take 15 Bulletin of the European Communities, Supplement 7/75. 16 Council Directive 93/109/EC of 6 December 1993 laying down detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament for citizens of the Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals. 17 Council Directive 94/80/EC of 19 December 1994 laying down detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in municipal elections by citizens of the Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals. Derogations mentioned in primary law are contained mainly in Article 14 of Directive 93/109/EC and Article 12 of Directive 94/80/EC. These provisions allow Member State to restrict suffrage of Union citizens under certain circumstances if the proportion of nationals of other Member States exceeds 20% of the total number of Union citizens in that Member State. See also LARDY, H. The Political Rights of Union Citizenship. European Public Law , 1996, No 4, pp. 616-617. 18 Article 5(3).

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