21 Amendments of Morten MESSERSCHMIDT related to 2015/2035(INL)
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the reform of Parliament’s electoral procedure should aim at enhancing the democratic dimension of the European elections, reinforce the concept of citizenship of the Union, improve the functioning of the European Parliament and the governance of the Union, make the work of the European Parliament more legitimate and efficient, enhance the effectiveness of the system for conducting European elections, and provide for greater electoral equality for citizens of the Union;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the reform of Parliament’s electoral procedure should aim at enhancing the democratic dimension of the European elections, reinforce the concept of citizenship of the Union in a way that does not contradict the obvious primacy of national consciousness and citizenship, improve the functioning of the European Parliament and the governance of the Union, make the work of the European Parliament more legitimate and efficient, enhance the effectiveness of the system for conducting European elections, and provide for greater electoral equality for citizens of the Union;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas, despite of the wording of Article 14(2) of the Treaty on European Union, ‘the European Parliament is not a representative body of a sovereign European people’, as clearly recalled by the German Constitutional Court in paragraph 280 of its judgment of 30 June 2009, in which it stressed that ‘this is reflected in the fact that it is designed as a representation of peoples in the respective national contingents of Members, not as a representation of Union citizens in unity without differentiation, according to the principle of electoral equality’;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas a comprehensive agreement on a truly uniform electoral procedure has not yet been achieved, though some convergence of electoral systems has gradually taken place, inter alia through secondary legislation, such as Council Directive 93/109/EC on the right to vote and stand as candidate in elections to the Parliament for Union citizens residing in another Member State;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas despite these reforms, European elections are still governed for the most part by national laws, electoral campaigning remains national, and European political parties cannot sufficiently fulfil their constitutional mandate and ‘contribute to forming European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union’ as required by Article 10(4) TEU;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas European political parties are best placearely recognisable to the electorate and therefore not sufficiently understood to ‘contribute to forming European political awareness’13 and should therefore cannot legitimately play a stronger role in the campaigns for Parliament elections, so as to improve their visibility and to show the link between a vote for a particular national party and the impact it has on the size of a European political group in the European Parliament; __________________ 13; __________________ 13 Article 10(4) TEU. Article 10(4) TEU.
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas it is extremely difficult in several countries for citizens to know of, and to control, the actions of their representatives in the European Parliament, because those actions cannot be naturally identified with a territory corresponding to a lived human reality, due to the drawing of constituency boundaries; whereas such a lack of identification infringes the rights of citizens, widely feeds abstention from voting in elections and undermines the democratic legitimacy of the Members elected;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas although Article 10(2) of the Electoral Act expressly prohibits the early publication of the results of elections, such results have been made public in the past; whereas a harmonised time for the close of polling in all Member States would contribute strongly to the common European character of the European elections and would reduce the possibility of their outcome being influenced if election results in some Member States are made public before the close of polling in all Member States;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas the Lisbon Treaty established a new constitutional order by granting the European Parliament the right to elect the President of the European Commission14 instead of merely giving its consent; whereas the 2014 elections set an important precedent in this respect; whereas the procedure for the nomination and selection of lead candidates for this position should furthermore be an integral part of the election campaigns; and whereas the deadline for the nomination of candidates by European political parties should be codified in the Electoral Act; __________________ 14, in assuming its right to elect the President of the European Commission14, the European Parliament misapplied the Lisbon Treaty, even though this was not the intention of Member States when the Treaty was ratified; whereas the turnout for the 2014 elections was the lowest on record and highlights the lack of legitimacy in the procedure for the nomination and selection of the Commission President; __________________ 14 Article 17(7) TEU. Article 17(7) TEU.
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas the minimum age for eligibility to stand as a candidate across the 28 Member States varies between 18 and 25, and the minimum age for eligibility to vote ranges from 16 to 18, due to the divergent constitutional and electoral traditions in the Member States; whereas harmonisation of the voting age, and of the minimum age for candidates, would be highly desirable as a means of providing Union citizens with real voting equality, and would enable discrimination to be avoided in the most fundamental area of citizenship: the right to participate in the democratic process;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Decides to reform its electoral procedure in good time before the 2019 elections, with the aim of enhancing the democratic dimension of the European elections, reinforcing the concept of citizenship of the Union, improving the functioning of the European Parliament and the governance of the Union, making the work of the European Parliament more legitimate and efficient, enhancing the effectiveness of the system for conducting European elections, and providing for greater electoral equality for citizens of the Union;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Decides to reform its electoral procedure in good time before the 2019 elections, with the aim of enhancing the democratic dimension of the European elections, reinforcing the concept of citizenship of the Union in a way that does not contradict the obvious primacy of national consciousness and citizenship, improving the functioning of the European Parliament and the governance of the Union in accordance with national democracies, making the work of the European Parliament more legitimate and efficient, enhancing the effectiveness of the system for conducting European elections, and providing for greater electoral equality for citizens of the Union;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Proposes that the names and logos of the national political parties or alliances of parties should appear on the ballot papers, and that those ballot papers may also mention, secondarily, any affiliations that such national political parties or alliances of parties may have with European political parties;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Encourages the Member States to facilitate the spontaneous identification by their citizens of the Members of the European Parliament representing them, and thereby their ability democratically to monitor the actions of those Members, by opting either for a single European constituency or otherwise for a drawing of constituency boundaries which truly corresponds to human, historical, geographical and economic reality;