Rechercher

An electoral threshold for the allocation of seats is the minimum percentage of votes that a political party or a coalition is required to collect in order to gain a seat in the legislative assembly. Thresholds are said to enable a better balance between governability and representativeness, by favouring the formation of stable majorities and avoiding excessive fragmentation of the legislative assembly. Thresholds are sometimes imposed by law, but in the absence of an explicit legal requirement, ...

In the context of on-going discussions to strengthen the European Parliament's integrity, independence and accountability, this is one in a set of publications in which the European Parliamentary Research Service will analyse relevant international and European standards relating to parliamentary ethics, as well as the rules and practices put in place in selected EU Member States to promote the principles of transparency, accountability and integrity within their national parliaments. Various international ...

The European Parliament has been trying to strengthen its powers to conduct in-depth investigations into contraventions or maladministration in the implementation of European Union law since 2012, but has so far failed to gain the consent of the Commission or the Council for the modification of the legal framework applicable to its committees of inquiry. These powers were also discussed as part of the Conference on the Future of Europe. This paper updates a 2021 EPRS publication on the European Parliament's ...

In 1993, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared 3 May World Press Freedom Day, acting on a recommendation adopted by UNESCO's General Conference in 1991. This year will mark the 30th anniversary of the day, with UNESCO and other international partners organising special events around the world.

Political advertising is central to informing and influencing how people vote, and may affect citizens' perceptions of the legitimacy of their own political system, particularly when published in the run-up to elections. Rules governing political advertising are therefore key to guaranteeing citizens' fundamental rights and the integrity of democratic processes. Rules governing political propaganda during electoral periods are naturally therefore a focal point of electoral law. Traditional rules ...

Lors de la période de session de février I, le Parlement devrait mettre aux voix le rapport sur la proposition d’adoption d’un règlement sur la transparence et le ciblage de la publicité à caractère politique. Présenté par la Commission dans le cadre du paquet législatif de novembre 2021 visant à renforcer la démocratie et à garantir l’intégrité des élections, ce rapport a été adopté par la commission du marché intérieur et de la protection des consommateurs (IMCO) le 24 janvier 2023.

There is a broad consensus about the deterioration of democracy and human rights across the world due, among other things, to growing authoritarianism, the coronavirus pandemic, deepening economic inequalities, new trends in artificial intelligence, and increasingly severe conflicts. This deterioration has taken place amidst rising impunity, i.e. the impossibility of bringing the perpetrators of violations to account. Tackling impunity globally is therefore an urgent task, as highlighted in several ...

In May 2022, the European Parliament adopted a draft legislative act proposing to repeal the 1976 European Electoral Act and replace it with a new Council regulation on the election of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) by direct universal suffrage. The aim is to harmonise a number of rules applicable to European elections, which are currently a combination between the common principles under the European Electoral Act and the different national rules implementing them. Harmonisation would ...

Lors de la plénière de septembre 2022, le Parlement procédera à un débat et un vote sur le rapport relatif à la proposition de la Commission concernant une refonte du règlement relatif au statut et au financement des partis politiques européens et des fondations politiques européennes. Le rapport, adopté par la commission des affaires constitutionnelles (AFCO) le 13 juillet 2022 (par 18 voix pour, 4 contre et 2 abstentions), consiste en 36 amendements à la proposition initiale.

Les règles qui régissent les élections européennes dans l’Union ne sont pas uniformes. Les États membres appliquent des règles électorales différentes au niveau national, lesquelles doivent cependant être conformes aux principes communs établis dans l’acte électoral européen de 1976. Pendant la session plénière de mai I, le Parlement devrait se prononcer sur une initiative législative proposant d’abroger l’acte électoral européen et de le remplacer par un nouveau règlement du Conseil harmonisant ...