Prague, April 24 (CTK) – European political parties and foundations will be able to have their seats in the Czech Republic, according to a bill the Czech cabinet approved in compliance with an EU directive yesterday.
The goal of the directive from 2014 is to facilitate the operation of European political parties and foundations by upgrading the host country’s coordination with the EU authority where European parties and foundations are registered.
The directive acknowledges the European legal personality of European political parties and foundations, thereby securing their legal capacity and recognition in all member countries, a report accompanying the Czech bill says.
The European legal status, nevertheless, does not empower the parties and associated political foundations to nominate their candidates in the domestic or European elections or take part in campaigns ahead of domestic referendums.
“The granting of such power remains within the jurisdiction of individual member states,” the report says.
The cabinet dealt with the bill for the second time today.
On the first try, the bill was rejected by the Senate, the upper house of parliament, over a controversial article that enabled Czech political parties to transform themselves into European parties.
The senators said such a transformation is impossible because domestic parties would not meet the criteria applying to European parties, such as the membership of people from various EU countries.
The bill approved today no longer includes the article. It will be submitted to parliament.
According to the government report, 18 political parties operate on the EU level, associated with the same number of foundations. They are most often seated in Belgium, Denmark, France and Italy, the report says.
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