Projet de loi portant assentiment à la Décision (UE, Euratom) 2018/994 du Conseil du 13 juillet 2018 modifiant l'acte portant élection des membres du Parlement européen au suffrage universel direct, annexé à la Décision 76/787/CECA, CEE, Euratom du Conseil du 20 septembre 1976, et portant modification de la loi du 23 mars 1989 relative à l'élection du Parlement européen.
General information ¶
- Submitted by
- MR Michel Ⅱ
- Submission date
- Jan. 29, 2019
- Official page
- Visit
- Status
- Adopted
- Requirement
- Simple
- Subjects
- European Parliament European election electoral law
Voting ¶
- Voted to adopt
- Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld MR
- Voted to reject
- ∉ PVDA | PTB VB
- Abstained from voting
- N-VA
Party dissidents ¶
- Siegfried Bracke (N-VA) voted to adopt.
- Yoleen Van Camp (N-VA) voted to adopt.
- Peter Luykx (CD&V) abstained from voting.
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Discussion ¶
Feb. 28, 2019 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)
Full source
Rapporteur Jean-Jacques Flahaux ⚙
In a few weeks, all citizens of the member countries of the European Union will be called to go to the polls to elect their representatives in the European Parliament.
As you know, this vote is too often regarded as second-order. In our country, its concomitance with other elections and the mandatory character of voting limit this phenomenon, but in many other states the participation and importance given to this democratic appointment weaken from election to election.
In this context, the Council of the European Union decided to amend the 1975 Act on Elections to the European Parliament. The text we are preparing to vote today aims to ratify this decision. The objective is clear: to increase citizens’ participation in European elections, to raise awareness of the European character of this election and to modernise certain aspects of European electoral legislation.
In order to do this, several measures will be taken. First, a mandatory electoral threshold of 2 to 5% will be introduced in Member States with more than 35 seats. This concerns a minority of countries and we are of course not concerned.
Member States will then be encouraged to take the measures they consider necessary to enable their nationals residing in a third country to participate in European elections. They will also have to provide for sanctions against citizens voting in several Member States.
Member States will also be able, subject to certain conditions, to put in place different forms of voting – including via the Internet – and will be able to display the name or logo of European political parties on ballots.
Finally, each Member State will have to designate a competent contact authority to exchange data on citizens seeking to vote or present themselves as candidates in a Member State of which they are not nationals.
As you can see, these measures go in the direction of bringing the citizen closer to the European Union and aim, in the future, to restore the taste of these elections to European voters.
During the discussions that took place in the Committee on Foreign Relations on 12 February 2019, several points were raised by our colleagues.
Ms. Grovonius, for the PS, asked what innovations would be introduced in the procedure in order to allow Belgians residing abroad to vote and prevent them from voting in several Member States.
Mr. Van Peteghem, for CD&V, after pointing out the positive aspect of this text with regard to the link between citizens and the European Union, asked what it would be about the distribution of seats after Brexit.
Mr. Dallemagne, for the CDH, asked which states would be concerned by the electoral threshold and asked about its objective.
For the MR, I regretted that the reform was not taken advantage of to allocate British seats to a European electoral district. I also emphasized the strengthening of the ties between Belgians residing abroad and the fact that Belgium offers this reform.
Ms. Capoen, for the N-VA, considered that little changes concerned Belgium. She indicated that her party was not in favour of the electoral threshold in that it compromises the equal opportunities between political parties. She also asked about the implementation of electronic voting from abroad.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs gave many instructions in response to these interventions. He first recalled that the law of 17 November 2016 amending the Electoral Code had already made several significant changes to the vote of Belgians residing abroad. Thus, during the next May elections, residents of non-EU countries will be able to participate in the election of members of the European Parliament. Those residing in a member country will also be able to choose to vote in that country or in Belgium. In order to avoid double voting, an information exchange system has been established.
As for the distribution of seats after Brexit, if so, it will have no impact on Belgium.
Finally, as regards the implementation of electronic voting, it is still under development for Belgians residing abroad and will therefore not be operational for the May 2019 elections.
At the end of these debates, all articles were adopted in the Committee on Foreign Relations by 10 votes and 3 abstentions, as well as the bill. I thank you.