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Webinar: Accountability in the European Elections

We kindly invite you to the third webinar of our new project “Supporting Engagement in European Elections and Democratic Societies” (SEEEDS) on 28 March 2023 at 4pm.

Elections to the European Parliament (EP) are regulated by the national legislations of all 27 Member States as well as EU-level regulations. When looking at the issue of political party finance and campaign spending, there is a variety of regulatory approaches across the EU.

During this webinar, we will disentangle the regulatory jungle between the EU and national levels and look at how discrepancies in political finance oversight can affect equality of opportunity and transparency in the European elections. A specific focus will be placed on enforcement mechanisms that have been developed at both levels.
 
The firewall between EU and national level legislation concerning how European political parties can be funded and can participate in the elections will be discussed. We will also examine the role the EU-level could play in promoting best practices among Member States concerning accountability in the political finance sphere.
 
This discussion builds upon the findings and recommendations made in the study published by SEEEDS’s project partner the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) “PUZZLING RULES – EQUAL GAME? - Comparing political finance regulations across the EU”.
 

Special emphasis is placed on:

  • What are the main regulations in place at the EU-level regarding the financing of 2024 European elections?
  • What are the main discrepancies between EU-level and national regulations on political finance in the EP elections? How does this look like on the ground in EU Member States?
  • Which strategies are envisaged to enforce the EU political finance regulations during the 2024 European elections?
  • How can the so-called “financial firewall” be overcome concerning differing EU and national regulation on the funding and activities of European political parties and foundations?
  • Is there a legal distinction made between campaigning in a Member State in a "national" EP election campaign, and holding a "European campaign" through activities in a Member State? What are the implications of this for participants of the elections?
  • What is the state of play regarding envisaged reforms to enhance accountability of electoral contestants across the EU Member States and at the EU-level?

Please register using this link.

 

Webinar details

Time: 4pm-5.15pm (CET)
Date: Tuesday 28 March
Format: Online (Zoom webinar)
In partnership with: European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), Election-Watch.EU (EW), and Democracy Reporting International (DRI)

 

Agenda

16.00 Welcome and introduction to SEEEDS
Kira Mössinger, Program Manager, European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)

16.05 Panel discussion
Moderator
Alexander Shlyk, International Election Expert, former Head of the Election Department of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (Co-author of the EPDE study)

Panelists
Lina Petronienė, Head of the Division of Political Parties and Political Campaigns Funding Control of the Central Electoral Commission of Lithuania
Barbara Jouan Stonestreet, Senior Legal Expert with the French National Commission on Campaign Accounts and Political Party Financing (CNCCFP) (Co-author of the EPDE study)
Quentin Reed, Political Finance Expert engaged in research on national provisions affecting European political parties and European political foundations
Shari Hinds, Policy Officer on EU Political Integrity at Transparency International EU

16.40 Q&A Session

17.00 Closing remarks

Upcoming webinars

Webinar 4: Risks and Opportunities in the European Elections
Tuesday, 25 April 2023

To find out more, follow this link.

 

The webinar series is part of the "Supporting Engagement in European Elections and Democratic Societies" (SEEEDS) project co-funded by the European Union and implemented by the following organisations:

The invitation can be downloaded below:

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