3.9.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 253/12

1.

On 12 September 2012, the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (the Proposal) (1). On the same day, the Proposal was sent by the Commission to the EDPS for consultation.

2.

The EDPS welcomes the fact that he is consulted by the Commission in accordance with Article 28(2) of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and that a reference to the EDPS consultation has been included in the preamble of the Proposal.

3.

The EDPS is pleased that also before the adoption of the Proposal, he was given the possibility to provide comments to the Commission. The EDPS believes that the level of data protection in the Proposal has increased as a result.

4.

The aim of the Proposal is to strengthen and facilitate the role of the European political parties and foundations since they contribute to forming European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union, as foreseen in Article 10(4) TEU and Article 12(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Proposal envisages improving the funding and regulatory frameworks of the political parties at European level. It intends to replace the current Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 on the regulations governing political parties at European level and the rules regarding their funding (which was revised in 2007) (2). The recognition as a European political party or foundation is a precondition under the Proposal for eligibility for funding from the EU budget (3).

5.

The Commission considered that it was necessary to replace Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 after an assessment of the current financing and regulatory framework of European political parties and foundations, following the report by the Secretary-General of the European Parliament on party funding at European level and the European Parliament’s resolution of 6 April 2011 on the application of Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 (the Ginnakou report) (4).

6.

The central element of the Proposal is the introduction of a European legal statute, giving the European political parties and foundations legal personality based on EU law, which should help them to overcome current obstacles in recognition and functioning under different national legal systems. In order to benefit from the status of a legal person under EU law, the European political parties and foundations will have to meet high standards on internal democracy, governance, accountability, transparency, and respect for the values on which the Union is founded (5). Only those European political parties and foundations that have been recognised as such will be eligible for funding from the general budget of the EU (6).

7.

The Proposal also foresees that the European political parties and foundations are subject to a comprehensive and transparent regulatory and control framework to reinforce public control and the principle of transparency (7). The transparency foreseen by the proposal includes the compulsory publication of certain personal data.

57.

The EDPS welcomes the approach taken by the Commission in the present Proposal, which clearly envisages to achieve transparency with due respect to the privacy and data requirements.

58.

However, he recommends the following improvements:

59.

The EDPS notes that processing of personal data relating to offences will be subject to prior checking by the EDPS under Article 27(1) and (2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.