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Parliamentary question - P-010069/2013Parliamentary question
P-010069/2013

Voting rights of dual nationals in European elections

Question for written answer P-010069-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Catherine Trautmann (S&D)

Article 22(2) TFEU stipulates that ‘every citizen of the Union residing in a Member State of which he is not a national shall have the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament in the Member State in which he resides’. Council Directive 93/109/EC of 6 December 1993 lays down the arrangements for exercising this right. Article 4(1) thereof stipulates that ‘Community voters shall exercise their right to vote either in the Member State of residence or in their home Member State. No person may vote more than once at the same election.’

Voting is compulsory in some Member States, such as Belgium, where anyone who fails to vote runs the risk of receiving a fine.

For example, French‐Belgian dual nationals living in Belgium run the risk of being fined if they do not comply with the obligation to vote in Belgium, even if they have exercised the right to vote in France.

With a view to keeping to the spirit of EC law, which allows EU voters to choose where to vote, what does the Commission think should be done in cases where dual nationals are under an obligation to vote in one of the Member States of which they are a national, but wish to vote in the other?

OJ C 197, 26/06/2014