election-watch.eu

Brussels, 9 July 2025: Election-Watch.EU, met with the Member of the European Parliament Mr. Borja Giménez Larraz (European People’s Party (EPP, Spain), rapporteur of the European Parliament on the 2018 amendment of the European Electoral Act (Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2018/994).

During the meeting, Mr. Rabitsch presented the work of Election-Watch.EU, promoting citizen election observation and strengthening electoral integrity across Europe. He shared insights from the organisation’s comprehensive election assessment missions to the 2019 and 2024 European Parliament elections, highlighting key findings and recommendations and asked about the status of the 2018 amendment to the European Electoral Act.

MEP Giménez Larraz referred to a draft AFCO report on the reform of the European Electoral Act and outlined that the Council Decision 2018/994 will enter into force only after all the Member States have approved it in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements (Article 223 TFEU). At present, all Member States except Spain have approved it and, therefore, the ratification process is still ongoing and Council Decision 2018/994 has not yet entered into force. 

While Germany has ratified Council Decision 2018/994, the German electoral law for the European Parliament election has not been amended because the Council Decision is not in force yet. As long as the 2 % threshold is not mandatory under European law, it cannot be introduced in German law.

The modification of the Spanish LOREG can be carried out at the initiative of the Spanish Government or either Chamber of the Cortes Generales (Congress of Deputies or Senate), Council Decision 2018/994 can only be approved on the initiative of the Government (the proposal for the Spanish Parliament to approve the Council Decision must be enacted from the Consejo de Ministros).

Although Council Decision 2018/994 has not yet entered into force, the European Parliament has put forward a new legislative initiative that seeks to repeal the current European Electoral Act and adopt a new regulation governing European elections. The Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) appointed Domènec Ruiz Devesa (S&D, Spain) as rapporteur. The report was adopted on 28 March 2022 in AFCO and it was adopted by Plenary on 3 May 2022. During the current legislative term, MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, Spain) has been appointed as the new rapporteur for this legislative file.

2018 Electoral Act, 2018 EP electoral reforms, 2024 EP elections, citizen led election observation, EP elections 2024, equality, Spain, threshold, transparency