24 Amendments of Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA related to 2021/0372(CNS)
Amendment 54 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) The freedom of Union citizens to choose the Member State in which to take part in elections to the European Parliament must be respected, while taking the appropriate measures to ensure that no one may vote more than once or stand as a candidate in more than one country.
Amendment 55 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) In line with International and European standards, including, the requirements of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the law of the European Convention on Human Rights, Member States should not only recognize and respect the right of Union citizens to vote and to stand as a candidate but also ensure easy access to their electoral rights by removing as manyll obstacles to participation in elections as possible.
Amendment 59 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) In order to facilitate the exercise by non-national Union citizens of their right to vote and to stand as a candidate in their country of residence, suchMember States should be encouraged to allow for automatic registration. Where automatic registration is not available, non-national Union citizens should be entered on the electoral roll in sufficient time in advance of polling day. The formalities applicable to their registration should be as simple and as similar across Member States as possible. It should be sufficient for the Union citizens concerned to produce a valid identity card and a formal declaration that includes elements evidencing their entitlement to participate in the elections. Once registered, non- national Union citizens should remain on the electoral roll under the same conditions as Union citizens who are nationals of the Member State concerned, for as long as they satisfy the conditions for exercising the right to vote. Additionally, Union citizens should provide the competent authorities with contact information, enabling those authorities to keep them informed on a regular basis.
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) In order to ensure equal treatment of non-national Union citizens seeking to exercise the right to stand as candidates for election in their Member State of residence, such citizens should be required to produce solely the same supporting documents as those required from candidates who are nationals of the Member State concerned. However, in order toMember States have a genuine interest in establishing that such citizens are beneficiaries of the right laid down in Article 20(2)(b) and Article 22(2) TFEU,. For this reason Member States should, extraordinarily, be able to require the production of a formal declaration that includes elements necessary to evidence their entitlement to stand in the elections in question.
Amendment 63 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) In order to facilitate the accurate identification of voters and candidates registered both in their home Member State and in their Member State of residence, the list of data to be required from Union citizens, when submitting an applicacompleting the formal declaration of their intention to enter the electoral rolls or to stand as candidates in the Member State of residence, should include the personal identification number or the serial number of a valid identity or travel document.
Amendment 65 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) Union citizens who have been deprived of their right to vote and to stand as candidates, on the basis of an individual civil law or criminal law decision taken by the competent authority, should be precluded from exercising that right in the Member State of residence in elections to the European Parliament. WUpon automatic registration or when receiving an application for registration as a voter, Member States may require from the citizen concerned a formal declaration confirming that they have not been deprived of their right to vote. When receiving an application for standing as a candidates in their country of residence, Union citizens should be requir, Member States may require the citizen concerned to produce a statement confirming that they have not been deprived of the right to stand in the elections to the European Parliament.
Amendment 67 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) In order to prevent multiple voting or instances where the same person would stand as a candidate more than once at the same elections, Member States should exchange information gathered from the formal declarations produced by Union voters and Union citizens entitled to stand as candidatesbe required to exchange information on non- national Union citizens registered to vote or stand as candidates in a Member State of residence. As Member States rely on different data to identify citizens, a common set of data should be envisaged in order to accurately identify Union voters and Union citizens entitled to stand as candidates and stop them from voting or standing as a candidate more than once. The personal data exchanged should be limited to the minimum necessary to achieve these purposes.
Amendment 68 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 20
Recital 20
(20) The lack of adequate information, in the context of electoral procedures, affects citizens in the exercise of their electoral rights as part of their rights as Union citizens. It also affects the capacity of competent authorities to exercise their rights and to deliver on their obligations. Member States should be required to designate authorities with special responsibilities for providing appropriate information to Union citizens on their rights under Article 20(2), point (b), and Article 22(2) TFEU and, the national rules and procedures regarding participation in and the organization of elections to the European Parliament, and the national political system. In order to ensure the timeliness and effectiveness of communications, information should be provided in clear and comprehensible terms, and sufficiently in advance of elections, taking into account that electoral rolls are to be closed 14 weeks and candidates to be announced 12 weeks before polling day.
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) In order to improve the accessibility of electoral information, such information should be made available in at least onetwo other official languages of the Union than that or those of the host Member State, broadly understood by the largest possible number of Union citizens residing on its territory. Member States may use different official languages of the Union in specific parts of their territory or their regions depending on the language understood by the largest group of Union citizens residing therein.
Amendment 79 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 26
Recital 26
(26) Data regarding the exercise of rights and the application of this Directive can be useful in the identification of measures necessary to ensure the effective exercise of Union citizens’ electoral rights. In order to improve and harmonise the collection of data for elections to the European Parliament, it is necessary to introduce regular monitoring and reporting of implementation by Member States on the basis of common indicators. In parallel, the Commission should assess the application of this Directive, and submit a report including such an assessment to the European Parliament and to the Council, after each election to the European Parliament.
Amendment 80 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 27
Recital 27
(27) It is necessary that the Commission conduct its own evaluation of the application of this Directive within a reasonable timeframe after at least twothe next elections to of the European Parliament, accompanied, if appropriate by a legislative proposal to amend this Directive.
Amendment 96 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to enable a Union voter who has expressed the wish to be registered as a voter to be entered on the electoral roll sufficiently in advance ofno later than 14 weeks before polling day.
Amendment 107 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 1
Article 12 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall designate a national authority with responsibility for taking the necessary measures to ensure that non-national Union citizens are informed in a timely mannermmediately upon their registration of residence and in a timely manner ahead of elections of the conditions and detailed rules for registration as a voter or candidate in elections to the European Parliament.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. The Member States shall ensure that the authorities designated pursuant to paragraph 1, shall directly and individually communicate to Union voters and Union nationals entitled to stand as candidates immediately upon their registration, the following information:
Amendment 113 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point c a (new)
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point c a (new)
(c a) description of the political system of the Member State concerned;
Amendment 119 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
Article 12 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
3. The information on conditions and detailed rules for registration as a voter or candidate in elections to the European Parliament and theany information referred to in paragraph 2communicated pursuant to the provisions of this Directive shall be provided in clear and plain language.
Amendment 121 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
Article 12 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1
The information referred to in the first subparagraph shall, in addition to being communicated in one or more of the official languages of the host Member State, also be accompanied by a translation in at least onetwo other official languages of the Union that isare broadly understood by the largest possible number of Union citizens residing on its territory, in accordance with the quality requirements of Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council30 . _________________ 30 Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 October 2018 establishing a single digital gateway to provide access to information, to procedures and to assistance and problem-solving services and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 1).
Amendment 127 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Article 13 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall exchange the information required for the implementation of Article 4 , sufficiently in advance of polling day and with due regard to the dates for announcing candidates and closing the electoral rolls for the election. To that end, the Member State of residence shall begin supplying the home Member State, no later than sixteen weeks before the first day of the electoral period referred to in Article 10(1) of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage the set of information provided in Annex III , . The home Member State shall, in accordance with its national legislation, take appropriate measures to ensure that its nationals do not vote more than once or stand as candidates in more than one Member State.
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 1
Article 14 – paragraph 1
Member States tshatll endeavour to provide for the possibilities of advance voting, postal voting, and electronic and internet voting, in elections to the European Parliament. Where possibilities of advance voting, postal voting, and electronic and internet voting are available in elections to the European Parliament to their nationals, the Member States concerned shall ensure the availability of those voting methods to Union voters under similar the same conditions as the ones applicable to their own nationals.
Amendment 134 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1
Article 15 – paragraph 1
Member States shall designate an authority with responsibility for collecting and providing relevant statistical data to the public and the Commission, on the participation of Union citizens who are not nationals in elections to the European Parliament. Such statistical data shall be based on common indicators and harmonised at Union level.
Amendment 136 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 a (new)
The Commission is empowered to adopt implementing acts concerning the form of the data referred to in paragraph 1. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 19.
Amendment 141 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 1
Article 17 – paragraph 1
1. Within six months after each election to the European Parliament Member States shall send information to the Commission on the application of this Directive in their territory. In addition to general observations, the report shall contain statistical data on the participation in elections to the European Parliament of Union voters and Union citizens entitled to stand as candidates as referred to in Article 15 and a summary of the measures taken to support it.
Amendment 144 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 18 – paragraph 1
Article 18 – paragraph 1
Within two years after the 20294 elections to the European Parliament, the Commission shall assess its application and produce an evaluation report on the progress towards achievement of the objectives contained herein. The evaluation shall also include a review on the functioning of Article 13. The evaluation shall be accompanied, if appropriate, by a legislative proposal to amend this Directive.
Amendment 153 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – paragraph 4 a (new)
Annex I – paragraph 4 a (new)
I have not been deprived of the right to vote in my home Member State.