CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

CYIL 11 (2020) HAVE EU CITIZENS A RIGHT TO BECOME MEMBERS OF NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES? The right of EU citizens to membership in national political parties as a corollary of electoral rights EU law in the current phase of European integration does not explicitly recognize the right of EU citizens to become members of political parties or to found a political party in the Member State of residence. Furthermore, it was not the aim of the drafters of the Treaties to introduce such right. Nevertheless, it is necessary to come back to the TFEU and the Union Charter which enshrine the right to vote and to stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament and in municipal elections in the Member State of their residence, under the same conditions as nationals of that State. The provisions of the TFEU and the Union Charter stress the necessity of equal treatment. The prohibition of discrimination based on nationality is the cornerstone of European integration which makes it a starting point for answering the question of membership of Union citizens in national political parties. This prohibition has to be referred to the case law of the CJEU which tends to extend the scope of Union law in the area of electoral rights and emphasizes non-discrimination of Union citizens at the same time. Remember, that the preambles of the aforementioned Directives state 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 theTreaty to avoid any polarization between lists of national and non-national candidates”. Moreover, the European Commission states that “[t]he principle of non-discrimination also means that EU citizens must be able to take part in the political life of the Member State of residence and join political parties in their country of residence.” 38 Consequently, I come to the conclusion that Union citizens have the right to become members of national political parties in the State of residence if their exclusion from such membership leads to their discrimination in the exercising of electoral rights granted by EU law. It is the case of the Czech Republic as well (see infra ). The right of EU citizens to membership in national political parties of the State of residence is, in these cases, a corollary of their electoral rights granted by EU law. This conclusion is not ideal because such interpretation results in discrepancies regarding the status of Union citizens in various Member States. Discrepancies between Member States already exist though 39 and it is a matter of further development in the EU to mitigate them. However, arguments against this conclusion should be presented as well. First, the principle of prohibition of discrimination based on nationality allows dissimilar treatment under certain conditions. The Court of Justice states in its settled case law that the principle of equal treatment requires that comparable situations must not be treated differently and that different situations must not be treated in the same way unless such treatment is objectively justified (…). A difference in treatment is justified if it is based on an objective and reasonable criterion, that is, if the difference relates to a legally 38 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the application of Directive 94/80/EC on the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in municipal elections, 25 January 2018, COM(2018) 44 final, p. 12. 39 See for details FABBRINI, F. The Political Side of EU Citizenship in the Context of EU Federalism. In: KOCHENOV, D. (ed.) EU Citizenship Rights Shaping EU Federalism. Oxford University Press, 2015, a version available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2578664 (non-paginated).

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