Political parties
- Meeting in the Democratic Forum (Photo: EUobserver.com)
The EU now has five transnational parties.
Political parties will soon have an EU statute providing funding for these transnational political parties and their associates from the EU budget.
This statute can be decided by a qualified majority vote under the Treaty of Nice.
Liberals, Christian Democrats, Socialists, Greens and Regionalists already have transnational parties that would qualify for EU funding.
The EU-critical parties in the EU Parliament oppose EU subsidies for transnational EU parties. They would have no access to EU funds under the draft Commission proposal from 19 February 2003.
The proposal demands that a transnational party must have elected members in at least one-third of the Member States, which is five today and possibly nine after 1st May 2004.
The proposal may conflict with the principle of equality and may be tested in the Courts.
At present, the transnational parties receive subsidies from the EU budget. The subsidies have been criticised by the Court of Auditors as being illegal. The party statute will remedy this by making public funding legal. Private donations above 100 Euro will have to be registered.