1. Voting Rights for Non-Belgian EU Nationals in Regional Elections
François Tulkens
Lecturer at FUSL
Lawyer (Avocat/ NautaDutilh)
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2. Overview I. The Belgian situation
II. Exercise of the right to vote and stand as a candidate in municipal elections
III. Legal possibilities to extend the right to vote to regional elections
IV. Related questions
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3. I. The Belgian situation
Article 8 of the Belgian Constitution: only Belgian citizens can vote in all elections.
Treaty of Maastricht(1992): establishment of European citizenship. Right to vote and stand as candidates in municipal elections (current Art.20 TFUE).
Directive 94/80 implementing the Treaty: list in annex of ‘basic local government unit’ in each Member State (Belgium, France, the Netherlands: commune/gemeente; inclusion of cities but only in part, e.g. counties or London boroughs in the UK; Bezirk in der Freien und Hansestadt und im Land Berlin).
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4. I. The Belgian situation
Revision of Article 8 of the Constitution in 1995, to transpose Directive 94/80 into national law (‘in accordance with the international and supranational obligations of Belgium’)
Another revision in 1998 to grant non-EU nationals the right to vote in local elections. No effect before 2001.
In practice:
2000 Belgian municipal elections opened to other EU (but not non-EU) nationals - right to vote and stand for the municipal council;
2006 Belgian municipal elections opened to EU and non-EU nationals: right to vote and stand for the municipal executive body (college du bourgmestre et des echevins) but no possibility to be elected or appointed mayor (bourgmestre);
next municipal elections to be held in 2012.
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5. I. The Belgian situation
Formalities:
Submission of a written request to the municipality to be registered as a voter;
No mandatory residence period;
If registered as a voter, exercise of the right to vote is compulsory.
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6. II. Exercise of voting rights by non-Belgian EU nationals
Figures for 2006:
Non-Belgian EU nationals = +/-170,000 in Brussels
18,682 non-Belgian EU nationals registered to vote in the 19 municipalities (compared to 6,622 non-EU voters and 566,718 Belgian voters); in certain municipalities, 10% to 22% of the registered voters were non-Belgian EU nationals.
156 candidates, ranging from 1 (Berchem) to 26 (Ixelles) per municipality
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7. III. Legal possibilities to extend the right to vote to regional elections
A. At the European level (without the revision of the Belgian constitution, by creating new international or supranational obligations):
Art. 25(2) TFUE: the Council, acting unanimously and with the consent of the EP, can strengthen or add to the rights of citizenship (with the approval of the Member States).
Amend the annex to Directive 94/80 to indicate a new Belgian basic government unit, namely the region.
Problems: Distortion of the basic local government unit? Reaction of other Member States? Exception for Brussels? Internal difficulties due to the potential contradiction between a full-fledged region in Belgium but a ‘basic local government unit’ at the European level.
Amend the European treaties
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8. III. Extension of voting rights
B. Constitutional route:
Amend Article 8 of the Constitution to extend the right to vote of non-Belgian EU nationals to regional elections
MR has submitted a resolution to this end to the Brussels Parliament given that:
The population of non-Belgian EU nationals is growing (almost 200,000);
This population is not represented at all at the regional level in Belgium;
Brussels is the capital of Europe.
The federal government has been asked to address this issue.
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9. IV. Related questions
Should this issue remain a federal matter (with the advantage ofuniformity) or allocated to the Regions (allowing different choices from region to region)?
Should the exercise of voting rights still be compulsory?
Which language(s) should non-Belgian elected officials use when performing their official duties?
Is there discrimination against non-EU nationals?
Etc.
These political and civic questions will require non-legal answers.
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