Article 39 - Right to vote and to stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament
Key facts of the case:
The Plaintiff demanded that the Supreme Administrative Court nullify the election of all 22 Czech members of the European Parliament elected in the European Parliamentary Election in May 2019. He claimed that the elections were affected by the fact that, according to the legislation in effect, Czech voters are not entitled to vote if they are abroad on the election days; Act No. 62/2003 Coll. on the Elections to the European Parliament (unlike some other Czech election laws) does not grant the possibility to vote at a Czech embassy. The Plaintiff argued that voters living abroad are not able to have an influence on public issues and therefore are not equal to voters living in the CZ.
The Court ruled this court action to be illegitimate. The Court also did not find the effective legislation unconstitutional and did not see any reason to put a preliminary question to the CJEU.
Key legal question:
Is the fact that current Czech legislation does not allow distance voting abroad legitimate, or is this a breach of Czech or EU law?
Outcome of the case:
The Court ruled that this court action is not legitimate. The right to vote abroad does not arise from Czech law or EU law (thus not even from the Charter, the TEU, or the TFEU). The Act on the Election of Members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, as amended by Council Decision 2018/994 of 13 July 2018, only establishes the possibility that member states can allow distance voting but does not make it their duty to do so. Differences between EU member states’ legislation within the EU’s legal framework play no role. Therefore, the Court came to the conclusion that allowing distance voting in the elections to the European Parliament is solely the decision of the legislator.
[14] According to Article 39, paragraph 1 of the Charter, every citizen of the European Union has the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in the elections to the European Parliament in the Member State in which he or she resides, and under the same conditions as nationals of that State. According to Article 39, paragraph 2 of the Charter, members of the European Parliament are elected by direct universal suffrage in a free and secret ballot.
[36] As stated above, EU citizens living in an EU Member State of which they are not citizens have the right to vote in the elections to the European Parliament in the EU Member State where their place of residence is and under the same conditions that apply to the citizens of this Member State (Article 39 of the Charter and Article 22, paragraph 2, of the TFEU). However, the term ‘residence’ has different meanings in different EU Member States. Certain countries require that the voter has a permanent residence or a customary residence there (Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Romania and Slovenia), that the voter usually lives there (Denmark, Ireland, Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, United Kingdom and Sweden), or that the voter is registered in a register of inhabitants (Belgium, Czech Republic). To be eligible to vote in Luxembourg, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic, the EU citizen must also meet the condition of having resided there for a minimum length of time.
[14] Podle čl. 39 odst. 1 Listiny základních práv Evropské unie (dále jen „Listina EU“) má každý občan Unie právo volit a být volen ve volbách do Evropského parlamentu v členském státě, v němž má bydliště, za stejných podmínek jako státní příslušníci tohoto státu. Podle čl. 39 odst. 2 Listiny EU jsou členové Evropského parlamentu voleni v přímých a všeobecných volbách svobodným a tajným hlasováním.
[36] Jak bylo již uvedeno, občané Unie, kteří bydlí v členském státě, jehož nejsou státními příslušníky, mají právo volit ve volbách do Evropského parlamentu v členském státě, v němž mají bydliště, za stejných podmínek jako státní příslušníci tohoto státu (čl. 39 Listiny EU a čl. 22 odst. 2 SFEU). Chápání pojmu „bydliště“ se však opět v jednotlivých členských státech liší. Některé země vyžadují, aby voliči měli na volebním území trvalé bydliště či místo obvyklého pobytu (Estonsko, Finsko, Francie, Německo, Polsko, Rumunsko a Slovinsko), aby tam obvykle pobývali (Dánsko, Irsko, Kypr, Lucembursko, Řecko, Slovensko, Spojené království a Švédsko) nebo byli zapsáni v evidenci obyvatel (Belgie, Česká republika). Aby byli způsobilí hlasovat v Lucembursku, na Kypru a v České republice, musí občané EU splnit i podmínku minimální doby pobytu.
