Free Movement and Participation in the Parliamentary Elections in the Member State of Nationality: An Ignored Link?

Abstract

Making use of the European citizenship rights should not deprive EU citizens of the possibility of political participation at the Member State level. According to Art. 19(1) EC, EU citizens may vote in municipal elections in their host Member State, not in the national elections. Consequently, EU citizens who benefited from the Art.18 EC right (or similar lex specialis rights) and moved to another Member State, effectively lose their right to participate in politics at the crucial Member State level if their Member State of nationality disallows expatriate voting, which is the case (de iure or de facto) in a number of Member States. This article assesses the legality of this situation in the light of Community Law. Building on the assumption that the Member States will be unwilling to change the Treaties to allow for full political participation of EU citizens at the national level in their Member States of residence, other possibilities to solve the outstanding problem are sought and analysed.

Keywords: European Union, EU, citizenship, free movement, democracy, political participation, elections, ECJ

JEL Classification: K3, K33