EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: NEW PROPOSAL FOR A STATUTE FOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES.

The Regulation proposed by the Commission reformulates a number of the disputed elements of its original draft but retains its spirit, to such an extent indeed that the same reservations may be aired within the Council, though with different consequences since adoption now requires only a qualified majority. It is to be proposed that only political groups or alliances of political groups active in at least three Member States should be recognised as European political parties, whereas in 2001, Austria and Denmark defended the notion of European political parties having an exclusively national basis. Another controversial element in the new proposal is the indication that European political parties should abide by the principles of freedom, democracy, human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. The wording is different to the previous proposal which referred to respect for the Charter of Fundamental Rights, but the spirit is the same, though at the time, Austria and Denmark questioned whether such criteria were necessary for the recognition of a party as a European political party. These two countries also challenged the procedure for the certification of these criteria, responsibility for which is entrusted in the new draft to the European Parliament. The demise of Austria's Freedom Party and the marginalisation of the Danish People's Party may however lead Copenhagen and Vienna to take a less fastidious line this time around.

However, other contentious elements are also retained in the new proposal. One that aggravated France in the past is likely to do so again as...