The Council reached agreement on new measures to update EU electoral law. 

On 7 June 2018 it approved a draft decision amending the 1976 Electoral Act which lays down a number of common rules concerning elections to the European Parliament. 

Once the text has been finalised in all official languages, it will be submitted to the European Parliament, which will be asked to give its consent to the package as it stands. 

The new rules seek to enhance citizens’ participation in the EP elections, raise awareness of their European character and prevent irregular voting, while respecting the constitutional and electoral traditions of the member states.

Among a series of measures, the Council suggests setting an obligatory threshold of 2% to 5% for constituencies with more than 35 seats. This rule would also apply to single-constituency member states. Member states would have to comply with this obligation at the latest in time for the EP elections in 2024.

This is a welcome agreement after two and a half years of negotiations within the Council on a list of reform proposals. Member states considered it appropriate to modernise certain aspects of the EU electoral law and establish a minimum threshold at EU level, while ensuring that this will be carefully targeted.

Ekaterina Zaharieva, deputy prime minister for judicial reform and minister of foreign affairs of Bulgaria

Other changes to the EU electoral law include new provisions on ‘double voting’, voting in third countries, different voting methods, and the visibility of European political parties in the member states.  

According to the text agreed in the Council, member states will in future have an obligation to put in place effective penalties in cases where an EU citizen votes in more than one member state. They will also have to designate contact authorities for exchanging data on citizens who are seeking to vote or stand as candidates in member states of which they are not nationals. This exchange of information will need to start at least six weeks before the EP elections. 

Member states will also be encouraged to take measures to allow their citizens residing in third countries to vote in elections to the European Parliament. However, they will remain free to decide on this issue in accordance with their national law. 

The new rules also recognise the right of member states to allow different forms of voting, including internet voting, provided that certain strict conditions are respected, as well as allow for the display of the name or logo of European political parties on ballot papers. 

The discussions within the Council have been based on a proposal adopted by the European Parliament in November 2015. 

The treaties give the European Parliament a right to draw up a proposal for its electoral procedure. The necessary provisions are to be decided by the Council acting unanimously after obtaining the Parliament’s consent. They enter into force after ratification in the member states. 

Any changes to the 1976 Electoral Act would have to be adopted by mid-2018 at the latest for member states to be able to apply them for the 2019 EP elections.

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The Commission welcomes the agreement reached by the European Parliament and the EU Member States on strengthened criminal law measures to counter money laundering. The new rules, proposed by the Commission in December 2016, will harmonise offences and sanctions for money laundering, ensuring that dangerous criminals and terrorists face equally severe penalties for their crimes across the whole EU.

Welcoming the agreement, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said: “Over the past three years we have done our utmost to close down the space in which terrorists operate. With stronger and uniform rules on money-laundering across the European Union, we have tightened those screws even harder, making it more difficult for terrorists and criminals to get away with the profits of crime. Following the money of criminals and terrorists is an essential part of a Europe that protects and we will continue to deliver its building blocks, including this agreement, which I very much welcome.”

Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King added: “We need to hit terrorists and criminals in their pockets – cutting off their access to money is a vital part of preventing their crimes. The new rules agreed today are an important step in the fight against the financing of terrorism, helping to pave the way towards an effective and genuine Security Union.”

Currently, all Member States criminalise money laundering. However, definitions of criminal offences and sanctions related to money laundering vary across Member States. Those differences leave existing national rules open to exploitation by terrorists and criminals, who are more likely to commit crimes where penalties are less stringent. The newly agreed rules harmonise the definition of criminal offences and sanctions related to money laundering, including the proceeds of cybercrime, and remove obstacles to cross-border judicial and police cooperation. At the same time, the new rules bring EU norms in line with international obligations in this area.

Next steps

The provisional agreement was reached on 30 May during the final trilogue, and endorsed by the Council today. It must now be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. Following approval, the Directive will be published in the EU’s Official Journal and enter into force 20 days later. 

Background

Each year an estimated €110 billion is generated from criminal activity within the EU, corresponding to 1% of the EU GDP. Depending on the Member State, between 10% and 70% of criminal investigations involving money laundering have a cross-border dimension. Terrorists often finance their activities through crime and use money laundering schemes to convert, conceal or acquire the proceeds of criminal activities.

Security is a top priority of the Juncker Commission. In the past 3 years, the Commission has taken decisive action to deny terrorists and criminals the means to commit their crimes. Building on the European Agenda on Security, in February 2016 the European Commission set out an Action Plan against terrorist financing to ensure that Member States have the necessary tools at their disposal to address new threats. In this context, on 21 December 2016, the Commission presented three measures, a Regulation on cash controls, a Regulation on mutual recognition of criminal asset freezing and confiscation orders and a Directive to criminalise money laundering. On 23 May, EU Member States and the European Parliament reached an agreement on key measures to control illicit cash flows in and out of the EU.

For More Information

Press Release – Security Union: Commission adopts stronger rules to fight terrorism financing

Press Release – Security Union: Commission welcomes agreement on its proposal to tackle illicit cash flows

A new programme – Horizon Europe – will build on the achievements and success of the previous research and innovation programme (Horizon 2020) and keep the EU at the forefront of global research and innovation. Horizon Europe is the most ambitious research and innovation programme ever.

Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said “Investing in research and innovation is investing in Europe’s future. EU funding has allowed teams across countries and scientific disciplines to work together and make unthinkable discoveries, making Europe a world-class leader in research and innovation. With Horizon Europe, we want to build on this success and continue to make a real difference in the lives of citizens and society as a whole.”

Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, added: “Horizon 2020 is one of Europe’s biggest success stories. The new Horizon Europe programme aims even higher. As part of this, we want to increase funding for the European Research Council to strengthen the EU’s global scientific leadership, and reengage citizens by setting ambitious new missions for EU research. We are also proposing a new European Innovation Council to modernise funding for ground-breaking innovation in Europe”.

While continuing to drive scientific excellence through the European Research Council (ERC) and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships and exchanges, Horizon Europe will introduce the following main new features:

• A European Innovation Council (EIC) to help the EU become a frontrunner in market-creating innovation:The Commission’s proposal will establish a one-stop shop to bring the most promising high potential and breakthrough technologies from lab to market application, and help the most innovative start-ups and companies scale up their ideas. The new EIC will help identify and fund fast-moving, high-risk innovations with strong potential to create entirely new markets. It will provide direct support to innovators through two main funding instruments, one for early stages and the other for development and market deployment. It will complement the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

• New EU-wide research and innovation missions focusing on societal challenges and industrial competitiveness:Under Horizon Europe, the Commission will launch new missions with bold, ambitious goals and strong European added valueto tackle issues that affect our daily lives. Examples could range from the fight against cancer, to clean transport or plastic-free oceans. These missions will be co-designed with citizens, stakeholders, the European Parliament and Member States.

• Maximising the innovation potential across the EU: Support will be doubled for Member States lagging behind in their efforts to make the most of their national research and innovation potential. Moreover, new synergies with Structural and Cohesion Funds will make it easy to coordinate and combine funding and help regions embrace innovation.

• More openness: The principle of ‘open science’ will become the modus operandi of Horizon Europe, requiring open access to publications and data. This will assist market uptake and increase the innovation potential of results generated by EU funding.

• A new generation of European Partnerships and increased collaboration with other EU programmes: Horizon Europewill streamline the number of partnershipsthat the EU co-programmes or co-funds with partners like industry, civil society and funding foundations, in order to increase their effectiveness and impact in achieving Europe’s policy priorities.Horizon Europe will promote effective and operational links with other future EU programmes, like Cohesion Policy, the European Defence Fund, the Digital Europe Programme and the Connecting Europe Facility, as well as with the international fusion energy project ITER.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Commission’s science and knowledge service, will continue to contribute with scientific advice, technical support and dedicated research. 

The proposed budget allocation of €100 billion for 2021-2027 includes €97.6 bn under Horizon Europe (€3.5 bn of which will be allocated under the InvestEU Fund) and €2.4 bn for the Euratom Research and Training Programme. The Euratom programme, which funds research and training on nuclear safety, security and radiation protection, will have an increased focus on non-power applications such as healthcare and medical equipment, and will also support the mobility of nuclear researchers under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

Next steps

A swift agreement on the overall long-term EU budget and its sectoral proposals is essential to ensure that EU funds start delivering results on the ground as soon as possible. Delays would force Europe’s brightest minds to look for opportunities elsewhere. This would imply the loss of thousands of research jobs and harm Europe’s competitiveness. From fundamental research to market-creating innovation, key advances in e.g. healthcare, climate action, green transport and sustainable agriculture would slow down; solutions for cancer treatments, greenhouse gas emissions, smart cars, and healthy diets would be delayed.  

An agreement on the next long-term budget in 2019 would provide for a seamless transition between the current long-term budget (2014-2020) and the new one and would ensure predictability and continuity of funding to the benefit of all.

Background

The Horizon Europe proposal builds on the success of the current programme, Horizon 2020. The interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 showed that the programme is on track to help create jobs and growth, tackle our biggest societal challenges and improve people’s lives. It shows that the programme has clear European added value, producing demonstrable benefits compared to national or regional-level support. As of May 2018, it has supported over 18,000 projects with over €31 billion awarded.

Today’s proposal also builds on the Commission’s contribution to the EU Leaders’ meeting on 16 May in Sofia “A renewed European Agenda for Research and Innovation – Europe’s chance to shape its future“, which highlighted the needed steps to ensure Europe’s global competitiveness.

About two-thirds of Europe’s economic growth over the last decades has been driven by innovation. Horizon Europe is expected to generate new and more knowledge and technologies, promoting scientific excellence, and to have positive effects on growth, trade and investment and significant social and environmental impact.Each euro invested by the programme can potentially generate a return of up to 11 euro of GDP over 25 years. Union investments in R&I are expected to directly generate an estimated gain of up to 100 000 jobs in R&I activities in the ‘investment phase’ (2021-2027).

For more information

Legal texts and factsheets:

Independent high-level reports:

Horizon Europe webpage

More information on the EU budget for the future can be found here

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