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Voting Rights for Non-Belgian EU Nationals in Regional Elections

Voting Rights for Non-Belgian EU Nationals in Regional Elections. François Tulkens Lecturer at FUSL Lawyer (Avocat/ NautaDutilh). Overview. I. The Belgian situation II. Exercise of the right to vote and stand as a candidate in municipal elections

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Voting Rights for Non-Belgian EU Nationals in Regional Elections

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  1. Voting Rights for Non-Belgian EU Nationals in Regional Elections François Tulkens Lecturer at FUSL Lawyer (Avocat/ NautaDutilh) TULKENF P 1194900 / 6

  2. Overview • I. The Belgian situation • II. Exercise of the right to vote and stand as a candidate in municipal elections • III. Legal possibilities to extend the right to vote to regional elections • IV. Related questions TULKENF P 1194900 / 6

  3. I. The Belgian situation • Article 8 of the Belgian Constitution: only Belgian citizens can vote in all elections. • Treaty of Maastricht(1992): establishment of European citizenship. Right to vote and stand as candidates in municipal elections (current Art.20 TFUE). • Directive 94/80 implementing the Treaty: list in annex of ‘basic local government unit’ in each Member State (Belgium, France, the Netherlands: commune/gemeente; inclusion of cities but only in part, e.g. counties or London boroughs in the UK; Bezirk in der Freien und Hansestadt und im Land Berlin). TULKENF P 1194900 / 6

  4. I. The Belgian situation • Revision of Article 8 of the Constitution in 1995, to transpose Directive 94/80 into national law (‘in accordance with the international and supranational obligations of Belgium’) • Another revision in 1998 to grant non-EU nationals the right to vote in local elections. No effect before 2001. • In practice: • 2000 Belgian municipal elections opened to other EU (but not non-EU) nationals - right to vote and stand for the municipal council; • 2006 Belgian municipal elections opened to EU and non-EU nationals: right to vote and stand for the municipal executive body (college du bourgmestre et des echevins) but no possibility to be elected or appointed mayor (bourgmestre); • next municipal elections to be held in 2012. TULKENF P 1194900 / 6

  5. I. The Belgian situation • Formalities: • Submission of a written request to the municipality to be registered as a voter; • No mandatory residence period; • If registered as a voter, exercise of the right to vote is compulsory. TULKENF P 1194900 / 6

  6. II. Exercise of voting rights by non-Belgian EU nationals • Figures for 2006: • Non-Belgian EU nationals = +/-170,000 in Brussels • 18,682 non-Belgian EU nationals registered to vote in the 19 municipalities (compared to 6,622 non-EU voters and 566,718 Belgian voters); in certain municipalities, 10% to 22% of the registered voters were non-Belgian EU nationals. • 156 candidates, ranging from 1 (Berchem) to 26 (Ixelles) per municipality TULKENF P 1194900 / 6

  7. III. Legal possibilities to extend the right to vote to regional elections • A. At the European level (without the revision of the Belgian constitution, by creating new international or supranational obligations): • Art. 25(2) TFUE: the Council, acting unanimously and with the consent of the EP, can strengthen or add to the rights of citizenship (with the approval of the Member States). • Amend the annex to Directive 94/80 to indicate a new Belgian basic government unit, namely the region. • Problems: Distortion of the basic local government unit? Reaction of other Member States? Exception for Brussels? Internal difficulties due to the potential contradiction between a full-fledged region in Belgium but a ‘basic local government unit’ at the European level. • Amend the European treaties TULKENF P 1194900 / 6

  8. III. Extension of voting rights • B. Constitutional route: Amend Article 8 of the Constitution to extend the right to vote of non-Belgian EU nationals to regional elections • MR has submitted a resolution to this end to the Brussels Parliament given that: • The population of non-Belgian EU nationals is growing (almost 200,000); • This population is not represented at all at the regional level in Belgium; • Brussels is the capital of Europe. The federal government has been asked to address this issue. TULKENF P 1194900 / 6

  9. IV. Related questions • Should this issue remain a federal matter (with the advantage ofuniformity) or allocated to the Regions (allowing different choices from region to region)? • Should the exercise of voting rights still be compulsory? • Which language(s) should non-Belgian elected officials use when performing their official duties? • Is there discrimination against non-EU nationals? • Etc. • These political and civic questions will require non-legal answers. TULKENF P 1194900 / 6

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