Prague, July 19 (CTK) – European political parties and foundations will be able to operate in the Czech Republic, but they will no be allowed to run in elections in the country, according to a bill that the Senate, the upper house of Czech parliament, smoothly passed today.
The president is yet sign the bill into law.
The parliament dealt with the rules of European parties for the second time this year.
First, it did not approve the government draft because of a clause enabling the transformation of Czech political parties into European ones.
Senators rejected this possibility arguing that the transformation was impossible as a Czech party would not meet the conditions, such as membership of people from various EU countries.
The criticised clause was deleted from the bill.
The bill is based on an EU directive from 2014. Its goal 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 EU member countries.
Nevertheless, the European legal status does not authorise the parties and associated political foundations to nominate their candidates in domestic or European elections and take part in campaigns ahead of domestic referendums.
The granting of this power remains in the jurisdiction of individual member states.
According to the government data, there are 18 political parties operating on a European level and the same number of associated foundations, mainly in Belgium, Denmark, France and Italy.
