The European Commission's View
Which European Commissioner is responsible?
The European Commissioner responsible for electoral rights is Mrs Viviane
Reding of Luxembourg, Vice-President of the 2010-2014 Commission and
the Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship.
“Although EU law grants EU citizens the right to participate in municipal and
European elections in the Member State where they reside, it provides no
such right with regard to national elections.
According to the legislation of several Member States, their nationals lose
their right to vote in national elections if they have lived in another Member
State for a certain period of time. Given that EU citizens of those Member
States are not able to participate in any national elections, (neither in the
Member State of origin nor in the Member State of residence), they
are deprived of one of their most important political rights just because
they exercise their right to free movement.
The exercise of the freedom of movement should not result in losing an
important democratic right. The Commission will launch a discussion to
identify political options to prevent EU citizens from losing their political
rights when they exercise their right to free movement.”
On 8 May 2013, the year of European Citizenship, the European
Commission published its EU Citizenship Report 2013.This report
recognizes the problem of expats losing the right to vote in their Member
State of origin as a result of legislation in certain Member States:
"Citizens question practices by which some Member States
deprive their nationals of their right to vote in national elections
because they have been living in another EU country for a certain
period of time (disenfranchisement). […] Generally, Europeans
think that EU citizens should not lose their right to vote in national
elections in their country of nationality just because they have
moved to another EU country."
Under Action 12 of the EU Citizenship Report 2013, the
Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship
promised that the Commission would "propose constructive ways
to enable EU citizens living in another EU country to fully
participate in the democratic life of the EU by maintaining their
right to vote in national elections in their country of origin."
On 5 September 2013, a delegation of British expat representatives
headed by Harry Shindler (see the "In the Courts" section of this
website) met in Brussels with Mme Reding, her chef de cabinet and
members of her staff.
The delegation included a representative of the British Community
Committee of France and representatives of the three main UK political
parties, members of the European Throughout the World organization,
representatives of other expat interests based in France and Spain,
and of James Preston's solicitors (see the "In the Courts" section of
this website).
The delegation asked Mme Reding whether the Commission would
issue a directive. Mme Reding said this was not possible because of
the principle of subsidiarity, but assured us that she fully understood
our predicament (which is shared by theexpat citizens of five other EU
Member States: - Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Ireland and Malta) and
that she would do all she could to help us.
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