The Member States of the European Union have agreed on Tuesday their negotiating position regarding the European Commission’s proposal to review political party financing and improve electoral transparency in the European Union, calling for more legal certainty on key aspects such as political advertising.
In their negotiating mandate, the EU-27 seek to provide greater legal certainty on the scope of the regulation and also on some of the key definitions, such as what is considered political advertising and how to identify it, the Council said in a statement.
On its scope, the member states make it clear that the regulation will not affect the content of political advertisements or European or national rules on aspects not covered by the regulation.
Similarly, the common position calls for clarification of transparency requirements related to political advertising. «If a political advertisement is targeted or amplified, the Council wants this information to be available directly in the advertisement itself,» the statement said.
The EU-27 wants the transparency notice to be easily accessible and included in every political advertisement until the end of its publication. It considers it key that the identity not only of the sponsor, but also of the entity that ultimately has control over the sponsor should be visible.
By the end of 2021, Brussels proposed reviewing political party funding at the European level and improving electoral transparency in the European Union in order to protect the democratic integrity and electoral processes in the Member States, with a view to the 2024 European elections and to increase participation.
«We give people more tools to understand who is trying to influence their opinion and how. In the end democracy is about free choice,» defended then Vice President for Securities Vera Jourova during the presentation of the measures, who gave as an example the assault on the U.S. Capitol or the relays on the functioning of Facebook. «This package is a reaction to those episodes and to the loopholes identified in our system,» she explained.
