Transparency, supervision and responsibility in the funding of European political parties

New rules for the legal status and funding of European political parties have at last been approved, although they will only be applied as of January 1st 2017. Compared to the proposal originally presented by the Commission in 2012 and amendments approved by the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee in April 2013, the new rules seem to be decidedly weaker. One of the main shortcomings is the disappearance of all obligations to enforce internal democracy in political parties, now only obliged to respect the values on which the EU bases its programmes and activities. Even the influence of Member States on the registration, cancellation and sanctioning of European political parties seems excessive. Finally, it is possible that there may be a superimposition of the roles played by the various bodies assigned to carry out verification procedures, among them one newly created specifically for this reason.