procedures for filling vacant seats for all EU Member States
Dear European Parliament,
I am interested in finding out how EP seats that become vacant during an ongoing legislative term are filled by the different EU member states.
I have found some information already, a.o. through documents and fact sheets on the European Parliament's website, yet it doesn't cover all member states.
I am therefore still looking for how vacant seats are filled (substitute list, first non-elected, by-elections, …) for:
-Cyprus,
-Latvia,
-Lithuania,
-Hungary,
-Malta,
-Poland,
-Romania,
-Slovenia,
-Slovakia,
-Estonia,
-Czech Republic, and
-Bulgaria
Yours faithfully,
Isabelle De Coninck
Dear Mrs De Coninck
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your application
for access to documents, which was registered on 12/07/2018 under
reference A(2018)8633.
Your request concerns information, rather than documents, therefore, the
competent unit (here in copy) will handle it in the shortest possible
delay.
Your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your application
via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not officially
related to the European Parliament. Therefore, the European Parliament
cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to
the use of this system.
Kind regards
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for
the Presidency
Interinstitutional
Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[1]www.europarl.europa.eu
A(2018)8633
SC/jc
Dear Ms De Coninck,
The European Parliament has received your letter concerning your personal
situation. The Citizens' Enquiries Unit of the European Parliament has
been asked to reply.
As you already know, the procedures for electing of the European
Parliament are governed both by the European Union legislation, defining
common rules to all Member States, and by specific national provisions.
Common provisions
As stated in the [1]Treaty on European Union, Members of the European
Parliament shall be elected for a term of five years by direct universal
suffrage in a free and secret ballot (Article 14.3).
This is also indicated in the [2]Act concerning the election of the
representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage
(see Annex of the linked page), referred to as ‘the 1976 Act’. In
addition, it defines that MEPs shall be elected on the basis of
proportional representation.
Moreover, any Member of the European Parliament cannot, at the same time,
be a member of a national parliament or other office incompatible with
that of an MEP, the so-called dual mandate. This provision is enforced
through verification of credentials, as described in [3]Rule 3 of the
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.
More information is available on the EP website, in the section entitled
[4]'EU fact sheets - The European Parliament: electoral procedures'. The
[5]study ‘Provisions governing the activity of high political
office-holders in election or selection processes: A comparative analysis
of the provisions and practices in the EU, its Member States and selected
international organisations’ may be also of interest.
National provisions
Each Member State follows its own provisions, in accordance with its
specific national situation. For instance, EU Member States may establish
constituencies for elections to the European Parliament or may set a
minimum threshold for the allocation of seats, according to the 1976 Act.
Many other matters are also governed by national provisions, such as the
age for standing for elections, the voting procedure from abroad or the
submission of candidates' applications. Furthermore, EU Member States
choose the exact dates for the election.
The infographic ‘[6]2014 European elections: national rules’ provides an
overview of the national provisions for electing the European Parliament.
Citizens of the European Union have the right to vote and to stand as
candidates at elections to the EP in their Member State of residence,
under the same conditions as nationals of that state, as indicated in
Article 20.2 of the [7]Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The website [8]‘Your Europe – Elections abroad’ provides practical
information on how to vote in EP elections or how to stand as a candidate
in another EU Member State.
We thank you for having contacted the European Parliament.
Yours sincerely,
Citizens' Enquiries Unit
[9]www.europarl.europa.eu/askEP/en
Disclaimer: Please note that the information given by the Citizens'
Enquiries Unit of the European Parliament is not legally binding.
Please also note that this email box is used for sending emails only.
Incoming emails are not treated. If you wish to contact the Citizens'
Enquiries Unit, please use our [10]webform.
References
Visible links
1. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/E...
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getD...
3. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getD...
4. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparli...
5. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/...
6. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/EPRS/InfoG...
7. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/E...
8. http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/res...
9. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/askEP/en
10. https://www.secure.europarl.europa.eu/at...