SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

COMMITTEE ON EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

OPINION

ON THE STATUTE AND FUNDING OF EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND EUROPEAN POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS

2 April 2014

Vilnius

The Seimas Committee on European Affairs,

having considered the 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(COM(2012) 499 final);

being aware of the importance of the democratic role of political parties in the European political life;

being convinced that strong European political parties and foundations must play a key role in strengthening the representative democracy at the EU level and reduce the gap between EU policies and citizens;

noting that with the role of the European Parliament being enhanced in the EU, there is a growing need for strong European political parties which could effectively represent the European public opinion and bring European civil society and European institutions closer together;

welcoming the initiative by the European Commission to make the activities pursued by the European political parties and foundations more transparent and intense;

hoping that adoption of a Statute for European political parties (hereinafter referred to as the Statute) will give an impetus to increasing the turnout in the European Parliament elections in Lithuania and other EU Member States;

is of the opinion that

  1. the lack of a common European political space is one of the reasons hindering the EU integration process, thus the Statute will give a significant impetus to enhancing the shaping of the common European political space;
  2. the Statute will help to reinforce the European political parties and foundations and, consequently, national political parties in Member States, which will ultimately contribute to ensuring stability of the democratic political system;
  3. strict control of donations and contributions the European political parties and foundations receive from natural and legal persons must be ensured;
  4. it is essential to ensure that the European political parties and foundations are prevented from receiving contributions and donations from third-country nationals who may not take part in the European Parliament elections and from third-country public authorities, including undertakings which may be influenced directly or indirectly by the latter’s authorities;
  5. while the national media dominates in the EU Member States, focusing little on the life in the EU, there is a severe lack of a common European information space, which hinders shaping of the European political space, therefore the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European political parties should look for ways to strengthen the common European information space.

Gediminas Kirkilas

Chair of the Committee