Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 27 October 2015 - Strasbourg

Reform of the electoral law of the EU (debate)

  Josep-Maria Terricabras, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, the reform of the electoral law of the European Union is a very important issue. The fact that it had two rapporteurs was a first signal of alliance in the leadership, and was not necessarily bad in itself. However, it was also soon complemented with a certain amount of lack of flexibility when the debate came to the point of accepting, or not, some of the many suggestions and proposals brought up by other groups.

In this sense, I very much regret to have to say that this is a weak reform which has not been capable of encompassing the sense of history. Among many other things, the report should have insisted on proposals reinforcing the confidence of European citizens in their institutions, but it has not done so, at least in the following four areas.

Firstly, the report establishes something new, namely an obligatory threshold declared unacceptable by the German Constitutional Court and now introduced as obligatory for all countries in Europe. This measure clearly goes against the spirit of diversity and protection of minorities. Secondly, transnational lists were just mentioned in passing, almost by chance, transformed into a mere recital. Thirdly, surprisingly enough, even the introduction of gender equality has been postponed until the European elections in 2024. Finally, we have not established the minimum age of voters at 16.