Funding conditions
1. A European political party which is registered in accordance with the conditions and procedures laid down in this Regulation, which is represented in the European Parliament by at least one of its members, and which is not in one of the situations of exclusion referred to in Article 138(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 may apply for funding from the general budget of the Union, in accordance with the terms and conditions published by the Authorising Officer of the European Parliament in a call for contributions from the general budget of the Union.
2. A European political foundation which is affiliated with a European political party eligible to apply for funding under paragraph 1 of this Article, which is registered in accordance with the conditions and procedures laid down in this Regulation, and which is not in one of the situations of exclusion referred to in Article 138(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 may apply for funding from the general budget of the Union, in accordance with the terms and conditions published by the Authorising Officer of the European Parliament in a call for proposals.
3. For the purposes of determining eligibility for funding from the general budget of the Union in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article and Article 3(1), point (b), and for the application of Article 24(1), a member of the European Parliament shall be considered as a member of only one European political party, which shall, where relevant, be the one to which their national or regional political party is affiliated on the final date for the submission of applications for funding.
For that purpose, direct membership of a member of the European Parliament in a European political party shall be accepted in cases where that member of the European Parliament is not a member of a national or regional party affiliated to a European political party.
4. Financial contributions or grants from the general budget of the Union shall not exceed 95 % of the annual reimbursable expenditure indicated in the budget of a European political party and 95 % of the eligible costs incurred by a European political foundation. European political parties may use any unused part of the Union contribution awarded to cover reimbursable expenditure within the financial year following its award. Amounts unused after that financial year shall be recovered in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509.
5. Within the limits set out in Articles 26 and 27, the expenditure reimbursable through a financial contribution from the general budget of the Union shall include administrative expenditure and expenditure linked to technical assistance, meetings, research, cross-border events, studies, information and publications, as well as expenditure linked to campaigns.
Application for funding
1. In order to receive funding from the general budget of the Union, a European political party or European political foundation which satisfies the conditions of Article 22(1) or (2) shall file an application with the European Parliament following a call for contributions from the general budget of the Union or a call for proposals.
2. The European political party and the European political foundation shall, at the time of its application, comply with the obligations listed in Article 28. From the date of its application until the end of the financial year or of the action covered by the contribution or grant from the general budget of the Union, it shall remain registered in the Register and shall not be the subject of any of the sanctions provided for in Article 32(1), points (a)(vii) to (ix).
3. A European political foundation shall include in its application its annual work programme or action plan.
4. The Authorising Officer of the European Parliament shall adopt a decision within three months after closure of the call for contributions from the general budget of the Union or the call for proposals, and shall authorise and manage the corresponding appropriations in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509.
5. A European political foundation may apply for funding from the general budget of the Union only through the European political party with which it is affiliated.
Award criteria and distribution of funding
1. The respective appropriations available to those European political parties and European political foundations which have been awarded contributions or grants in accordance with Article 23 shall be distributed annually on the basis of the following distribution key:
(a)
10 % shall be distributed among the beneficiary European political parties in equal shares;
(b)
90 % shall be distributed among the beneficiary European political parties in proportion to their share of elected members of the European Parliament.
The same distribution key shall be used to award funding to European political foundations, on the basis of their affiliation with a European political party.
2. The distribution referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be based on the number of elected members of the European Parliament who are members of the applicant European political party on the final date for the submission of applications for funding, taking into account Article 22(3).
After that date, any changes to the number shall not affect the respective share of funding between European political parties or European political foundations. This is without prejudice to the requirement in Article 22(1) for a European political party to be represented in the European Parliament by at least one of its members.
Donations, contributions and self-generated resources
1. European political parties and European political foundations may accept donations from natural or legal persons of up to a value of EUR 18 000 per year and per donor.
2. European political parties and European political foundations shall, at the time of the submission of their annual financial statements in accordance with Article 28, also transmit a list of all donors with their corresponding donations, indicating both the nature and the value of the individual donations. This paragraph shall also apply to contributions from member parties from the Union and member organisations from the Union, to contributions exceeding EUR 1 500 made by individual members of European political parties and European political foundations and to self-generated resources of European political parties and European political foundations.
For donations and contributions from natural persons the value of which exceeds EUR 1 500 per year and per donor but is below or equal to EUR 3 000, the European political party or European political foundation concerned shall indicate whether the corresponding natural persons have given their prior written consent to publication in accordance with Article 39(1), point (e).
3. Donations received by European political parties and European political foundations within six months prior to elections to the European Parliament shall be reported on a weekly basis to the Authority in writing and in accordance with paragraph 2.
4. Single donations the value of which exceeds EUR 12 000 that have been accepted by European political parties and European political foundations shall be immediately reported to the Authority in writing and in accordance with paragraph 2.
5. For all donations the value of which exceeds EUR 3 000 per year and per donor, European political parties and European political foundations shall request that such donors provide the necessary information so that they can be properly identified. European political parties and European political foundations shall transmit the information received to the Authority upon its request.
The Authority shall establish a form to be used for the purpose of identifying the donors, as referred to in the first subparagraph.
6. European political parties and European political foundations shall not accept any of the following:
(a)
anonymous donations or contributions;
(b)
donations from the budgets of political groups in the European Parliament;
(c)
donations from any public authority from a Member State or a third country, or from any undertaking over which such a public authority may exercise, directly or indirectly, a dominant influence by virtue of its ownership of it, its financial participation therein, or the rules which govern it; or
(d)
donations from any private entities based in a third country or from individuals from a third country who are not entitled to vote in elections to the European Parliament.
7. Any donation that is not permitted under this Regulation shall within 30 days following the date of its receipt by a European political party or a European political foundation be returned to the donor or to any person acting on the donor’s behalf. Where it is not possible to return the donation, it shall be reported to the Authority and the European Parliament.
Where a donation is reported pursuant to the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the Authorising Officer of the European Parliament shall establish the amount receivable and authorise the recovery in accordance with the provisions laid down in Articles 98, 99 and 100 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509. The funds shall be entered as general revenue in the European Parliament section of the general budget of the Union.
8. The Authority shall carry out checks where it has grounds to believe that any donation has been accepted in breach of this Regulation. It may for that purpose request additional information from the European political party or European political foundation and its donors and cooperate with the relevant authorities of the Member States.
9. Contributions to a European political party from its members, whether member parties from the Union or citizens of the Union, shall be permitted. The value of such contributions shall not exceed 40 % of the annual budget of that European political party.
10. Contributions to a European political foundation from its members, whether member organisations from the Union or citizens of the Union, and from the European political party with which it is affiliated, shall be permitted. The value of such contributions shall not exceed 40 % of the annual budget of that European political foundation, and they may not derive from funds received by a European political party pursuant to this Regulation from the general budget of the Union.
The burden of proof shall rest with the European political party concerned, which shall clearly indicate in its accounts the origin of funds used to finance its affiliated European political foundation.
11. Without prejudice to paragraphs 9 and 10, European political parties and European political foundations may accept from citizens who are their members contributions up to a value of EUR 18 000 per year and per member, where such contributions are made by the member concerned on his or her own behalf.
The ceiling laid down in the first subparagraph shall not apply where the member concerned is also an elected member of the European Parliament, of a national parliament or of a regional parliament or regional assembly.
12. Any contribution that is not permitted under this Regulation shall be returned in accordance with paragraph 7.
13. The value of the self-generated resources of a European political party or of a European political foundation shall not exceed 3 % of the annual budget of that European political party and 5 % of the annual budget of that European political foundation.
Financing of campaigns in the context of elections to the European Parliament
1. Subject to the second subparagraph of this paragraph, the funding of European political parties from the general budget of the Union or from any other source may be used to finance campaigns conducted by the European political parties in the context of elections to the European Parliament in which they or their members participate as required by Article 3(1), point (g), including joint European political activities.
In accordance with Article 8 of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage ( 16 ) , the funding and possible limitation of election expenses for all political parties, candidates and third parties in, in addition to their participation in, elections to the European Parliament is governed in each Member State by national provisions.
2. Expenditure linked to the campaigns referred to in paragraph 1 shall be clearly identified as such by the European political parties in their annual financial statements.
Prohibition of funding
1. Notwithstanding Article 26(1), the funding of European political parties from the general budget of the Union or from any other source shall not be used for the direct or indirect funding of other political parties, and in particular national parties or candidates. Those national political parties and candidates shall continue to be governed by national rules.
2. The funding of European political foundations from the general budget of the Union or from any other source shall not be used for any other purpose than for financing their tasks as listed in Article 2, point (6), and to meet expenditure directly linked to the objectives set out in their statutes in accordance with Article 6. It shall in particular not be used for the direct or indirect funding of elections, political parties, or candidates or other foundations.
The prohibition laid down in the first subparagraph shall not prevent European political foundations from providing capacity building to support the formation of future political leaders in the Union or training to persons up to the date on which they become a candidate in accordance with national rules or up to the date of their nomination in the national party, whichever is earlier.
3. The funding of European political parties and European political foundations from the general budget of the Union or from any other source shall not be used to finance referendum campaigns.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
