Activities of Heidi HAUTALA related to 2022/2154(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Strengthening the right to participate: legitimacy and resilience of electoral processes in illiberal political systems and authoritarian regimes (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on a European Parliament recommendation to the Council and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy concerning strengthening the right to participate: legitimacy and resilience of electoral processes in illiberal political systems and authoritarian regimes
Legal basis opinions (0)
Amendments (18)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
– having regard to Article 7(a) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas long-established liberal democracies, including in the European Union, are witnessing worrisome trends of deterioration of their democratic fabric, as exemplified by the rise in illiberalism in some Member States, decreasing levels of participation in elections, growing disillusionment with mainstream political parties and leadership and the growth of far-right parties; whereas such trends, if unaddressed, undermine the credibility of the EU and Member States to act as a global leader in the promotion of democracy worldwide and to engage with authoritarian and illiberal regimes on such matters;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas entire social groups such as minorities, disabled persons, non- residents and homeless populations continue to face challenges and discrimination in enjoying their right to participate in elections in EU Member States;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the right to participate in genuine elections is not respected in autocratic and illiberal regimes, which conduct sham elections with the goal of entrenching their power and create legal and administrative barriers so that the will of the people cannot be reflected; whereas such elections are not free and fair, lack real political contestation and place undue restrictions on the right to both vote and be elected;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas Hungary deployed for the first time in the history of any EU Member State a team of government- friendly election observers to observe its parliamentary elections in 2022, which praised the conduct of the elections, expressed support for the government and criticised the work of the OSCE ODIHR election observation mission;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas the EU should adopt a systematic approach concerning the right to participate, including by demonstrating its strong link with human rights, democracy and the rule of law and by addressing electoral shortcomings in a consistent manner, including when they occur in close partner countries;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
(ba) address in a systematic and robust manner the attempts by third countries to restrict the enjoyment of the right to participate of minorities, youth, women, indigenous groups and other social groups;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point b b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point b b (new)
(bb) engage with third countries to ensure an accessible and enabling environment for persons with disabilities, which allows them to participate in the political and public life of their communities; highlights in particular the need to address legal and administrative barriers to political participation; making voting procedures, facilities and election materials more accessible; expanding opportunities for participation in political and public life; increasing awareness of the right to political participation of persons with disabilities; and collecting data to measure the political participation of persons with disabilities:
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d a (new)
(da) with a view to strengthening the legitimacy and credibility of its external action in this area, acknowledge and address internal shortcomings in the enjoyment of the right to participate within the European Union, notably for national minorities, women, persons with disabilities and other marginalised or vulnerable groups, who are among the social groups that continue to face specific challenges and discrimination in this regard;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point e a (new)
(ea) ensure that EU public statements and other messaging on electoral outcomes in third countries are strictly in line with its values related to democracy, human rights and elections, are consistent with the findings of international observation missions and do not contribute to create false internal perceptions of elections when the latter fail to respect international standards;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point g a (new)
(ga) monitor and denounce the role of private companies specialised in disinformation campaigns and that offer to covertly meddle in elections and manipulate public opinions in third countries; take effective action to ensure that EU-based public affairs, media and on-line companies do not engage in such behaviour and strictly respect the right to privacy and uphold the same level of data protection in partner countries as they are obliged to do under GDPR in the EU, particularly during election campaigns; urges these companies to abide by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and to be held accountable when they fail to do so;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point g b (new)
(gb) address attempts to discredit the work of genuine international election observation missions by EU Member States through the deployment of biased election observers to monitor domestic national elections, such as Hungary's parliamentary elections in 2022;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point h a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point h a (new)
(ha) support citizen observer groups throughout the electoral cycle to allow them to advocate for electoral reform; support regional networks of citizen observers that provide solidarity, capacity building and exchange of experience with local groups; respond publicly and forcefully when citizen observer groups are challenged or under threat;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i
Paragraph 1 – point i
(i) mainstream information about genuine elections and people’s right to participate in them, in the context of support for human rights and democratisation in the projects under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe and the Instrument for Pre- Accession Assistance, including support for election observers as human rights defenders; support the Global Campus of Human Rights to that end; support programmes aiming to improve the electoral legislative and administrative framework in third countries, including through support to national elections commissions;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point k
Paragraph 1 – point k
(k) give more support to initiatives related to election observation training and knowledge building at local, regional and international level;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point l
Paragraph 1 – point l
(l) explore the possibility of introducing a standing invitation for election observation within the democratic clause in EU agreements, the Generalised Scheme of Preferences and equivalent mechanisms, given the current reluctance of many countries to send election observation invitations to the EU; support Parliament’s Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group and its work, especially in the framework of election observation;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point q
Paragraph 1 – point q
(q) forge acontinue to support the activities of the Declaration of Principles For International Election Observation community, which includes coalition of democratic countries and multilateral institutions, such as the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the Council of Europe, as the main tool for coordination to counter the legitimisation of fake elections more effectively in international forums, in particular the UN;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point t
Paragraph 1 – point t
(t) lead the efforts to give more visibility to the UN Declaration Of Principles For International Election Observation and the work of those organisations that signendorsed it and are active in election observation; consider calling for the list of signatorieendorsing organisations to the Declaration Of Principles For International Election Observation to be updated, with a view to reinforcing its credibility and establishing a clear-cut way of differentiating between genuine observation groups and fake observers; explore ways to undermine the legitimacy of shadow organisations and fake observers;