EU governments have no interest in moving forward on updating the EU’s electoral law, because “updating democracy” ranks low among their priorities, the German EU lawmaker Damian Boeselager told reporters on Tuesday (14 February).
Boeselager, a Green deputy, saw his report, which aims to reform the EU electoral process, adopted during the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg.
“I am not very enthusiastic about the current interests of our member states in upgrading our democracy,” Boeselager said, saying that this trend is “very dangerous” for EU democracy.
The draft legislation in question seeks to give 11 million residents outside the EU voting rights, together with other measures that seek to make the election process more inclusive.
The Parliament has also called for the abolition of so-called “derogation” provisions, which “allow a member state to restrict the electoral rights of nationals of other EU countries when they represent more than 20% of all EU citizens residing in its territory,” according to its press release on the subject.
In addition, it called for the facilitation of registration to vote in third countries, new information tools and the creation of rules to guarantee equal rights to vote for people with different kind of vulnerabilities.
To enter into force, however, the legislation has to be backed by an unanimous vote by the 27 EU national governments.
According to Boeselager, there is still time to have the file adopted by member states before the next EU elections in 2024.
However, he believes that there is political deadlock when dealing with the “update of democracy” from member states.
The same law since 1979
The same frustration is shared by the Polish MEP Danuta Maria Hubner, who in a video interview with EURACTIV, explained that the current EU law is very limited. The law is based on different national laws and is out of date, since it is still applying the law introduced for the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979.
EU lawmaker: Electoral law system is frustrating for many of us
When the EU electoral system was established, ahead of the first European Parliament elections in 1979, the bloc had nine member states instead of the current 27 and 410 MEPs, in comparison to the current 705.
“[It] is frustrating for many …
Another file which proposes the creation of transnational lists, approved by EU lawmakers in May 2022, is also stuck in the Council, according to Boeselager, for the same political reasons.
[Edited by Benjamin Fox]
Source: euractiv.com
