Czech and Polish laws do not allow citizens of other EU countries to join Czech or Polish political parties, violating EU electoral law, according to the EU’s Court of Justice Advocate General Jean Richard de La Tour.
This, according to the European Commission, amounts to discrimination on grounds of nationality.
Reacting to the Commission’s take, Martin Smolek, government commissioner for the Czech Republic’s representation at the EU Court of Justice, told Czech News Agency on Thursday that Prague was looking into how it should react and that it would wait for a court verdict.
Though Czechia and Poland are the only two EU countries where such restrictions apply, according to the Court, this case is nothing new, particularly as the Commission launched proceedings against Prague in 2012 and against Warsaw a year later. Both countries said then that their rules were in line with EU law.
The European Commission last sent a letter to Prague on this topic in 2020. After no legislative changes were announced to address the matter, the Commission decided to turn to the EU court.
On Thursday, La Tour backed the Commission’s position, but his view may not ultimately be followed by the court, which will rule later.
(Ondřej Plevák | Euractiv.cz)
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Source: euractiv.com
