Resolution on the report of the European Parliament, Stocktaking of the European Elections
The European Parliament’s report on the 2020 elections calls for a unified European electoral law by 2024, allowing European political parties to fully participate, with oversight by a European Electoral Authority.
It emphasizes the need for transnational electoral lists and reforms to the Spitzenkandidat process, enabling voters to choose the President of the Commission directly, with candidates standing in all Member States under unified programs.
The report urges proactive measures to ensure gender balance and increased representation of underrepresented groups, and stresses the Parliament's responsibility to initiate and implement the unified electoral law by 2024.
The Federal Committee of the Union of European Federalists gathered on December 19, 2020
Welcomes the report of the European Parliament ‘Stocktaking of the European Elections’ adopted on November 26, 2020 and supports key elements thereof:
- In this report, the European Parliament calls for a unified European electoral law that should lead to immediate improvements for the elections in 2024. It calls for amending Regulation 1141/2014 to allow European political parties and movements to fully participate in the European political space. European political parties should be recognised by a European Electoral Authority. Furthermore, this authority should monitor the implementation of the unified European electoral law.
- European political parties should fully participate in European election campaigns with European manifestos, a Spitzenkandidat, and transnational electoral lists. Transnational electoral lists could help transform the European elections into a single European election, as opposed to the collection of 27 separate national elections that it is today.
- Voters should be allowed to vote for their preferred candidate for President of the Commission; Spitzenkandidaten should be able to stand as official candidates in all Member States, elected by a European political party and standing for a unified electoral programme. The process of choosing the Commission President should be reformed before the European elections in 2024 so that the chosen candidate secures the support of the majority of MEPs.
- To further innovation in the European political space by improving access to elections and electoral ballots for new parties across the continent and in Member States.
- The European Parliament stressed the need to use instruments such as zipped lists to achieve a genuinely gender-balanced Parliament, as well as calling on Member States and political parties to take proactive measures to increase the representation of underrepresented groups on electoral lists.
Emphasises
- That to achieve this, the European Parliament should urgently use its right to initiate a unified European electoral law. In this unified European electoral law citizens should have two types of votes, one to vote for a Member of the European Parliament in established constituencies in each Member State and one for members to be elected via a closed transnational list in an EU-wide constituency. These transnational lists require truly transnational European parties - as opposed to a collection of national parties – with unified electoral programmes and Spitzenkandidaten that are able to stand as official candidates in all Member States.
Stresses
- The importance that the European Parliament forwards its proposal for a Regulation on the unified European electoral law by summer 2021 to the Council to be ratified and implemented in all Member States prior to the 2024 elections of the European Parliament.