Europeans living in a state other than their country of origin are authorized to vote in their country of residence for local and European elections. A mechanism is in place to ensure that they are not registered twice on the electoral roll.
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This is what we call the European exception. Since the Maastricht Treaty adopted in 1992, European Union (EU) nationals residing in France can vote to elect municipal councilors and MEPs. Conversely, French people living in another EU member country will have the right to vote there in the European election. Today, 13.7 million European citizens live in a member country of the Union other than their country of birth, according to the UN. A few rules have been put in place to ensure that these voters do not vote twice in the June 9 election.
To be able to vote in your country of residence, you must first register on so-called complementary electoral lists. In France, a European national can register online or at the town hall. And a French person living in Belgium, registered in his municipality of residence, will therefore be able to vote to elect the 22 Belgian European deputies. In doing so, he renounces voting for the French lists, because double voting is strictly prohibited, and even punishable by six months to two years in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros.
Once registration is complete, the State verifies that the voter is not also registered to vote in his or her country of origin. INSEE “is responsible for receiving information from other Member States relating to the identity of French voters” registered in their country of residence, specifies the Ministry of the Interior to franceinfo. It is also INSEE which sends “to each Member State the list of its nationals registered on the complementary list in France”.
Concretely, this means that “Belgium will send the list of French people registered on the Belgian complementary electoral lists, while France will send Belgium the list of Belgians registered on the French complementary lists”specifies the ministry. Once this information has been received, INSEE will inform the French municipalities concerned. These will then be marked “don’t vote in the community” on the electoral lists, for the ballot(s) concerned. In the case of a power of attorney, the mention “power of attorney not valid for the election of representatives to the European Parliament” will be affixed.
The European Commission coordinates data exchanges between countries. This had, for example, sent recommendations in 2013 to guarantee the compatibility of the formats of the data exchanged. The European executive “makes available to Member States a tool for encrypting the data exchanged as well as a secure platform to carry out the exchange”specifies the Commission to franceinfo.
How many people are affected? In France, 326,840 European citizens were registered on the electoral lists in 2021, according to INSEE. In the EU, according to the Commission, “between February and May 2019, member states exchanged data on around 1.3 million voters and 114 parliamentary candidates”. In total, “213,000 multiple citizen registrations”have been identified.
Are there any proven cases of fraud? In France, the Council of State, competent in the event of litigation, does not raise any of them. The institution has nevertheless already spoken out on the subject, in December 2014. She had dismissed two French complainants, registered on the electoral lists in Germany, who had been refused the vote in Ile-de-France during the European elections that year.
The few proven cases of double voting concern dual nationals. Thus, in 2014, German-Italian journalist Giovanni di Lorenzo received a fine from the German state after admitting to having voted in Italy and Germany during the election, reports Politico. Citizen control Having dual nationality is difficult. Not being registered on the complementary lists, they are not not affected by data exchanges. No control measures exist at European level, explains an article in Release of 2019.
To improve the rules, “prevent multiple voting” And “address certain difficulties in the identification of mobile EU citizens”the Commission presented a proposal for a directive in November 2021. It plans to set “clear legal framework governing the use of the tool“used for exchanges, “a common timetable for data exchange”as well as a “clear ban on the removal of citizens for other types of elections (…) in the country of origin”.
Parliament has adopted the Commission’s draft by making modifications on February 14, 2023. The proposal has since been negotiated between MEPs and the EU Council. “L“The envisaged strengthened framework will not be applicable in time for the 2024 European Parliament elections”specifies the European Commission.