THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 8b (2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament1,

Whereas the Treaty on European Union marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe; whereas one of its tasks is to organize, in a manner demonstrating consistency and solidarity, relations between the peoples of the Member States; whereas its fundamental objectives include a strengthening of the protection of the rights and interests of the nationals of its Member States through the introduction of a citizenship of the Union;

Whereas to that end Title II of the Treaty on European Union, amending the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, with a view to establishing the European Community, introduces a citizenship of the Union for all nationals of the Member States and confers on such nationals on that basis a number of rights;

Whereas the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament in the Member State of residence, laid down in Article 8b (2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, is an instance of the application of the principle of non-discrimination between nationals and non-nationals and a corollary of the right to move and reside freely enshrined in Article 8a of that Treaty;

Whereas Article 8b (2) of the EC Treaty is concerned only with the possibility of exercising the right of vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament, without prejudice to Article 138 (3) of the EC Treaty, which provides for the establishment of a uniform procedure in all Member States for those elections; whereas it essentially seeks to abolish the nationality requirement which currently has to be satisfied in most Member States in order to exercise those rights;

Whereas application of Article 8b (2) of the EC Treaty does not presuppose harmonization of Member States' electoral systems; whereas, moreover, to take account of the principle of proportionality set out in the third paragraph of Article 3b of the EC Treaty, the content of Community legislation in this sphere must not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objective of Article 8b (2) of the EC Treaty;

Whereas the purpose of Article 8b (2) of the EC Treaty is to ensure that all citizens of the Union, whether or not they are nationals of the Member State in which they reside, can exercise in that State their right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament under the same conditions; whereas the conditions applying to non-nationals, including those relating to period and proof of residence, should therefore be identical to those, if any, applying to nationals of the Member State concerned;

Whereas Article 8b (2) of the EC Treaty provides for the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament in the Member State of residence, without, nevertheless, substituting it for the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in the Member State of which the citizen is a national; whereas the freedom of citizens of the Union to choose the Member State in which to take part in European elections must be respected, while taking care to ensure that this freedom is not abused by people voting or standing as a candidate in more than one country;

Whereas any derogation from the general rules of this Directive must be warranted, pursuant to Article 8b (2) of the EC Treaty, by problems specific to a Member State; whereas any derogation must, by its very nature, be subject to review;

Whereas such specific problems may arise in a Member State in which the proportion of citizens of the Union of voting age, who reside in it but are not nationals of it, is very significantly above average; whereas derogations are warranted where such citizens form more than 20 % of the total electorate; whereas such derogations must be based on the criterion of period of residence;

Whereas citizenship of the Union is intended to enable citizens of the Union to integrate better in their host country and that in this context, it is in accordance with the intentions of the authors of the Treaty to avoid any polarization between lists of national and non-national candidates;

Whereas this risk of polarization concerns in particular a Member State in which the proportion of non-national citizens of the Union of voting age exceeds 20 % of the total number of citizens of the Union of voting age who reside there and that, therefore, it is important that this Member State may lay down, in compliance with Article 8b of the Treaty, specific provisions concerning the composition of lists of candidates;

Whereas account must be taken of the fact that in certain Member States residents who are nationals of other Member States have the right to vote in elections to the national parliament and certain provisions of this Directive may consequently be dispensed with in those Member States,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: