The Commission's legislative proposals to strengthen democracy and protect European elections from outside interference, progress towards the Conference on the Future of Europe, coordination at European level to tackle coronavirus and restrictions on travel within European Union and the priorities of the French Presidency of the Council were discussed on Tuesday by the relevant Ministers at the General Affairs Council held in Brussels.
Ministers and representatives of the Member States responsible for EU affairs had a public debate on the Commission's Democracy Strengthening package, presented in November 2021, which includes legislative proposals on the transparency of political advertising, the funding of European political parties and the rights of citizens living in a Member State are not citizens in relation to their participation in European and municipal elections.
In a statement, the French Minister for European Affairs, Clement Bonn, stated on behalf of the French Presidency that the aim was “on the one hand to determine how to strengthen citizen participation in democratic processes in Europe, and on the other hand to adapt its legislative tools in the face of new threats to electoral processes, in particular information manipulation and external interference “.
According to a Council statement, the package is aimed at ensuring free and fair elections, ensuring responsible conduct by the digital sector and protecting EU electoral processes from outside interference and manipulation of information.
The legislative package was tabled by the Commission with a view to its adoption before the 2024 European Parliament elections.
Discussions focused on enhancing the transparency and regulation of funding for European parties and institutions, the visibility of European political parties in public debates at national level, the right to vote for non-citizens in non-citizen Member States, and the issue of political advertising. especially in digital media.
With regard to the Conference on the Future of Europe, the French Presidency briefed the Council on the progress of work.
The Ministers exchanged views on the first results of the presentations submitted by the European Citizens' Panels after the plenary session of 21 and 22 January, as well as on the holding of national consultations.
As noted, the meetings of the citizens' groups are expected to end unexpectedly by the end of February 2022, with the plenary sessions scheduled for March and April.
The French Presidency then plans to present political conclusions from the three-member Presidency of the Conference (consisting of the Presidents of the Commission, the Council and Parliament) on 9 May.
Finally, with regard to coordination at European level to deal with the pandemic, Ministers exchanged views on measures taken at national level and assessed coordination to date, while adopting updated Council recommendations to Member States on intra-EU travel. .
It is recalled that based on the updated recommendations, Member States are invited to use as the main criterion for restrictions on travel within the EU whether the traveler has a valid digital certificate, despite the epidemiological situation in the country / region of departure.
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