The APPF has offices in Brussels and Strasbourg; since 2021, its Director has been Pascal Schonard.
History
1970s-2007
European political parties formed during the 1970s, in the run-up to the first elections of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage. In 1992, the Treaty of Maastricht[4] provided the first legal recognition of European parties and, in 1997, the Treaty of Amsterdam enabled the public funding of European parties via political groups of the European Parliament.[5] Following criticism of this arrangement by the European Court of Auditors, the 2001 Treaty of Nice allowed the funding of European parties directly from the budget of the European Union.[6]
In November 2003, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation 2004/2003 "on the regulations governing political parties at European level and the rules regarding their funding", which provided the first official definition of European political parties and created a framework for their public funding.[7] However, the Regulation did not provide legal recognition or public funding for European political foundations. Under this framework, public funding, as well as functions of verification and control, were carried out by the European Parliament.
In December 2007, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation 1524/2007, amending Regulation 2004/2003, among others by providing a legal definition for European political foundations and including them in the existing public funding scheme.[8]
2014
Vĕra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, and Pascal Schonard, Director of the APPF
In October 2014, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation 1141/2014, which replaced Regulation 2004/2003 and overhauled the framework for European political parties and foundations, including by giving them a European legal status.[9] Regulation 1141/2014 also established the Authority for the European political parties and European political foundations (APPF), an independent entity, endowed with legal personality, "for the purpose of registering, controlling and imposing sanctions on European political parties and European political foundations".[10] The APPF was established as a body of the European Union.
According to the provisions on entry into force, the APPF was to be set up by 1 September 2016, Regulation 1141/2014 applied as of 1 January 2017, and it would cover the activities of European parties and foundations starting with the financial year 2018. Since then, applications for public funding are placed with the APPF, but decisions on funding remain with the European Parliament.
Functions and activities
The purpose of the APPF is to register, control and impose sanctions on European political parties and foundations.[11]
Independence and cooperation
The APPF and its Director are independent, and only exercise their functions in compliance with the Regulation. The Director is explicitly forbidden from seeking or taking instructions from any institution or government.[12] However, the APPF, European Parliament, and Member States (via national contact points) are required to share information related to funding provisions, controls, and sanctions for the execution of their respective responsibilities.[13]
In addition, the APPF cooperates with national institutions responsible for the monitoring of national political parties and political foundations.[14]
Registration
The APPF decides on the registration and de-registration of European political parties and foundations.[15] Following receipt of an application for registration, the APPF has one month to publish its decision to register the applicant in line with the registration criteria listed in the Regulation.[16] Regardless of the outcome, this decision is then published in the Official Journal of the European Union, with the statutes of the entity concerned in case of registration or with the grounds for rejection.[17]
The APPF manages a "Register of European political parties and European political foundations" containing information on these entities, including the statutes of registered entities, other documents submitted as part of applications for registration, documents received from Member States where entities have their seat, and information on the identity of the persons who are members of relevant bodies or hold relevant offices.[18]
Control
The APPF and the European Parliament share the duty of controlling European parties and foundations.[19] The APPF controls compliance by registered entities with their obligations, in particular in relation to registration criteria, governance, changes in statutes and membership, donations and contributions, campaign financing, and funding prohibitions. For its part, the European Parliament controls compliance with the obligations deriving from public funding, in line with the Regulation and the Financial Regulation.
Among others, the APPF regularly verifies that registered entities comply with registration criteria, as well as with governance provisions.[20]
However, with regards to observing the values on which the EU is founded, the procedure is cautiously regulated and APPF cannot initiate a verification procedure.[21] Instead, the European Parliament, the Council or the Commission may ask the APPF to verify compliance by a specific entity; following this request, the APPF asks a "committee of independent eminent persons" (composed of two members of each of the three institutions) to provide an opinion. Based on this opinion, the APPF decides whether to de-register the entity concerned. This decision is then communicated to the European Parliament and the Council, and only enters into force if no objection is expressed within three months or if the Parliament and Council indicate that they do not object. In case of objection, the entity remains registered, giving the three EU institutions a veto power and making de-registration a political decision.[21] If adopted, a decision to de-register an entity is published in the Official Journal of the European Union, with the detailed grounds for de-registration, and enters into force after three months.[20]
If the APPF itself has doubts regarding an entity's compliance with EU values, it must inform the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, and wait for any of them to lodge a request for verification. Such a verification cannot be initiated within two months of elections to the European Parliament.
In July 2022, the European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted a report on proposals by the European Commission to amend Regulation 1141/2014. In this report, the European Parliament called for a strengthening of the APPF to ensure compliance with EU values, including by applying the requirement to respect EU values to national member parties, and not solely to European parties themselves.[22]
In November 2023, the APPF and Europol signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their cooperation and reinforce the resilience of European democracies against criminal threats, including the unlawful use of personal data in the context of European elections.[23]
The APPF and the European Parliament share the duty of reporting on European parties and foundations. In particular, the APPF reports on donations and contributions received by European parties and foundations. Within six months of the end of a financial year, European parties and foundations report to the APPF a list of donations and contributions they have received, alongside their financial statements and an audit report.[24]
Following verifications, information on donations and contribution is then published on the website of the APPF, usually several months later.[25] The identity of donors and the value of the donation(s) is reported for donations above €3,000 per donor and per year; where the value is €1,500 and under, donations are published without the identity of the donors and grouped as "minor donations"; where the value is above €1,500 and up to €3,000, the identity of the donor is published if the donor has provided their written consent.[26]
There are two notable exceptions to this regular format of reporting: donations received within six months of elections to the European Parliament are reported to the APPF on a weekly basis, and single donations above €12,000 that are accepted by registered entities are immediately reported.[27] Following the reporting of high-value donations, the APPF publishes this information on its website, usually within a few days.[25] In the six months ahead of the 2024 European Parliament election, the APPF also published, for the first time, reported donations on a weekly basis.[28]
The APPF also publishes the following information: their names and statutes of registered entities, documents submitted as part of applications for registration, a list of applications that have not been approved, sanctions, a list of legal persons who are member of registered entities, and a list of Members of the European Parliament affiliated to European parties.[29]
For its part, the European Parliament publishes the maximum entitlements and amounts of public funding actually paid to European parties and European foundations for each financial year, their annual financial statements and external audit reports, the final reports of European foundations on the implementation of their work programmes, and the number of individual members of European parties.[29]
Finally, the APPF is required to submit an annual report to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on its activities.[30]
In January 2021, following a complaint calling for more transparency, the European Ombudsman found that the information provided on the website of the APPF was incomplete.[31] The Ombudsman closed her inquiry following commitments from the APPF, but stated that the APPF could "make additional improvements to its website to ensure that the information provided is clear, complete, comparable and extractable."[32]
Sanctions
The APPF is empowered to impose "clear, strong and dissuasive" sanctions in order to ensure "effective, proportionate and uniform compliance" with the obligations deriving from the Regulation.[33]
For instance, the APPF is to remove from the Register a European party or foundation that has been convicted to have engaged in illegal activities detrimental to the financial interests of the European Union, that no longer fulfils one or more of the registration criteria, or that has failed to fulfil obligations under national law (under specific requirements).[34]
The APPF can also impose financial sanctions on registered entities for a wide range of reasons: conviction to have engaged in illegal activities detrimental to the financial interests of the EU, failure to update documents relating to statutes or membership, non-compliance with governance requirements, failure to report donors or donations, failure to submit financial documents, or accepting undue donations or contributions.
Additionally, the European Parliament can exclude a European party or foundation from future public funding for up to five years, or up to 10 years in cases of repeated infringements.
In October 2023, the APPF imposed a €47,000 fine on then-Identity and Democracy Party (5% of its annual budget) for providing incorrect information about a board member on its website—the first-ever sanction imposed by the APPF. While ID had notified the APPF of a change in board membership in early 2022, the party continued to refer to a former board member in social media communications and on its website.[35]
Directors
Pascal Schonard, current Director of the APPF
Appointment
The Director of the Authority is appointed for a five-year non-renewable term by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission (jointly referred to as the 'appointing authority') by common accord, on the basis of proposals made by a selection committee composed of the Secretaries-General of those institutions following an open call for candidates.[36]
The Director cannot be a member of the European Parliament, hold an electoral mandate, or be a current or former employee of a European political party or foundation.[36]
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957, aiming to foster economic integration among its member states. It was subsequently renamed the European Community (EC) upon becoming integrated into the first pillar of the newly formed European Union (EU) in 1993. In the popular language, the singular European Community was sometimes inaccurately used in the wider sense of the plural European Communities, in spite of the latter designation covering all the three constituent entities of the first pillar. The EEC was also known as the European Common Market (ECM) in the English-speaking countries, and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was officially renamed as such in 1993. In 2009, the EC formally ceased to exist and its institutions were directly absorbed by the EU. This made the Union the formal successor institution of the Community.
A societas Europaea is a public company registered in accordance with the corporate law of the European Union (EU), introduced in 2004 with the Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Company. Such a company may more easily transfer to or merge with companies in other member states.
The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners or prime commissioner, is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president of the commission leads a cabinet of commissioners, referred to as the college. The president is empowered to allocate portfolios among, reshuffle, or dismiss commissioners as necessary. The college directs the commission's civil service, sets the policy agenda and determines the legislative proposals it produces. The commission is the only body that can propose, or draft, bills to become EU laws.
The European Ombudsman is an inter-institutional body of the European Union that holds the institutions, bodies and agencies of the EU to account, and promotes good administration. The Ombudsman helps people, businesses and organisations facing problems with the EU administration by investigating complaints, as well as by proactively looking into broader systemic issues. The current Ombudsman is Emily O'Reilly.
The European Atomic Energy Community is an international organisation established by the Euratom Treaty on 25 March 1957 with the original purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe, by developing nuclear energy and distributing it to its member states while selling the surplus to non-member states. However, over the years its scope has been considerably increased to cover a large variety of areas associated with nuclear power and ionising radiation as diverse as safeguarding of nuclear materials, radiation protection and construction of the International Fusion Reactor ITER.
The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community, and the European Economic Community (EEC), the last of which was renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993 by the Maastricht Treaty establishing the European Union. The European Union was established at that time more as a concept rather than an entity, while the Communities remained the actual subjects of international law impersonating the rather abstract Union, becoming at the same time its first pillar. In popular language, however, the singular European Community was sometimes used interchangeably with the plural phrase, in the sense of referring to all three entities.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaimed on 7 December 2000 by the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. However, its then legal status was uncertain and it did not have full legal effect until the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009.
The special territories of members of the European Economic Area (EEA) are the 32 special territories of EU member states and EFTA member states which, for historical, geographical, or political reasons, enjoy special status within or outside the European Union and the European Free Trade Association.
A European political party, known formally as a political party at European level and informally as a Europarty, is a type of political party organisation operating transnationally in Europe and within the institutions of the European Union (EU). They are regulated and funded by EU Regulation 1141/2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations, and their operations are supervised by the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF).
The agencies of the European Union are bodies of the European Union and Euratom established as juridical persons through secondary EU legislation and tasked with a specific narrow field of work.
The majority of major local or national political parties in Europe have aligned themselves into one of the pan-European political organizations.
The budget of the European Union is used to finance EU funding programmes and other expenditure at the European level.
The Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) is an independent body established in December 2001 by the Irish Government under the Standards in Public Office Act 2001. It replaced the Public Offices Commission which had been established in November 1995 by the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995.
Government procurement or public procurement is undertaken by the public authorities of the European Union (EU) and its member states in order to award contracts for public works and for the purchase of goods and services in accordance with principles derived from the Treaties of the European Union. Such procurement represents 13.6% of EU GDP as of March 2023, and has been the subject of increasing European regulation since the 1970s because of its importance to the European single market.
The national parliaments of the European Union are those legislatures responsible for each member state of the European Union (EU). They have a certain degree of institutionalised influence which was expanded under the Treaty of Lisbon to include greater ability to scrutinise proposed European Union law.
A European political foundation, formerly known as a political foundation at European level, is a type of political foundation affiliated to, but independent from, a European political party, and operating transnationally in Europe and within the institutions of the European Union (EU).
The main bodies of the European Union and Euratom are:
The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedures and objectives. The EU can only act within the competences granted to it through these treaties and amendment to the treaties requires the agreement and ratification of every single signatory.
Lobbying in the European Union, also referred to officially as European interest representation, is the activity of representatives of diverse interest groups or lobbies who attempt to influence the executive and legislative authorities of the European Union through public relations or public affairs work. The Treaty of Lisbon introduced a new dimension of lobbying at the European level that is different from most national lobbying. At the national level, lobbying is more a matter of personal and informal relations between the officials of national authorities, but lobbying at the European Union level is increasingly a part of the political decision-making process and thus part of the legislative process. 'European interest representation' is part of a new participatory democracy within the European Union. The first step towards specialised regulation of lobbying in the European Union was a Written Question tabled by Alman Metten, in 1989. In 1991, Marc Galle, Chairman of the Committee on the Rules of Procedure, the Verification of Credentials and Immunities, was appointed to submit proposals for a Code of conduct and a register of lobbyists. Today lobbying in the European Union is an integral and important part of decision-making in the EU. From year to year lobbying regulation in the EU is constantly improving and the number of lobbyists is increasing.
The Funding of European political parties deals with public funding, political donations, and other forms of funding received by political parties operating transnationally in the European Union (EU) to pay for their activities. Parties operating transnationally in the EU are registered with the EU's Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF). European political parties are publicly funded, both to actively support their operations and to limit the influence of private money on elections and on the shaping of public policy.
References
↑ "The Authority". Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
