European political parties and foundations: Council and Parliament strike a deal to improve transparency of funding and counter foreign interference

Today, the Council presidency and the European Parliament’s negotiators reached a provisional agreement on changes to the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (EUPPFs).

The agreement on the recast of the regulation on the statute and funding of European political parties and foundations is a major step forward towards ensuring greater accountability in the rules governing these entities, particularly in terms of transparency, funding, and compliance with EU values. We are pleased to have been able to break the deadlock during our Presidency, and we hope that this will result in an increase in citizens’ trust in democratic processes.

Adam Szłapka, Minister for the European Union of Poland

This revision aims to enhance transparency of European political parties and bolster the framework for their funding, particularly to counter the risks of foreign interference and manipulation. It will also reduce the administrative burden and increase the visibility of European political parties next to EU citizens.

Main changes to the Commission proposal

The co-legislators introduced several amendments to the Commission’s initial proposal with a view to strengthening the transparency of the European political environment, the visibility of EUPPFs and reinforcing the EU’s capacity to prevent the risk of foreign interference. These changes mainly aim to achieve the following objectives:

Better visibility and increased transparency requirements

The text specifies the type of activities that European political parties may organise jointly with their member parties, with a view to contributing to the formation of European political awareness. The co-legislators agreed, however, to maintain the prohibition for EUPPFs to finance national referendum campaigns, as it is currently the case. Moreover, the regulation ensures strong measures on gender balance in parties and on candidate lists for European Parliament elections.

Financial viability for EUPPFs

The regulation aligns the regimes for European political parties and European political foundations, bringing the co-financing rate to obtain European subsidies to 5% for both. The text also ensures appropriate monitoring of the new accounting category introduced by the Commission linked to the financial income generated by the EUPPFs’ activities (‘self-generated resources’) and provides that this source of revenue will be limited to 3% of their annual budget for European political parties and 5% for European political foundations.

Limiting risks of foreign interference

The text requires EUPPFs to submit a written declaration on their compliance and their members’ compliance with EU values while specifying that a new declaration should be produced following any change in membership. The regulation additionally limits the risk of foreign interference by applying limitations for the newly created categories of ‘associated member parties’ and ‘associated member organisations’. Moreover, the co-legislators agreed to prohibit membership fees or contributions to EUPPFs from parties or organisations outside the EU, while retaining the possibility for parties to maintain cooperation with their political partners beyond the borders of the EU. Finally, the text introduces safeguards to ensure that members of EUPPFs parties are not under restrictive measures.

Next steps

Following today’s provisional agreement, the draft regulation will be subject to legal/linguistic review before being formally adopted by the co-legislators.

Background

On 25 November 2021, the Commission adopted the ‘European Elections’ Democracy and Integrity Package’, which included a proposal for a recast of the regulation on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations. The package also included a legislative proposal on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, already adopted by the Council in March 2024, and two legislative proposals on the electoral rights of citizens residing in a member state of which they are not nationals in European and municipal elections, as well as a communication announcing a joint mechanism for electoral resilience.