Part I: Should EU Citizens Living in Other Member
States Vote There in National Elections?
Abstract
The core right of EU citizenship is freedom of movement within the territory of the Union. But EU citizens who live in a member state other than
their homeland cannot vote in the national elections of that country unless
they first acquire its citizenship through naturalisation. In several member
states they also lose their right to vote in national elections of their country
of origin when they have lived abroad for too long. A group of EU citizens
has started a European Citizens’ Initiative to propose that EU citizens should
have the franchise to vote in national elections of their country of residence.
This working paper collects all the contributions to a EUDO CITIZENSHIP
forum debate on this proposal. While all authors agree that the loss of democratic participation rights due to the exercise of free movement rights is
contrary to the spirit of EU citizenship, they disagree to a certain extent on
what the right answer to this problem is: should EU citizens vote in their
countries of origin, of residence, or be given a choice? Should third country
nationals be included in a broader electoral reform? How will it be possible
to convince a sufficient number of EU citizens of this initiative, given the
disappointing turnout rates in European Parliament elections?
Keywords
EU citizenship; Voting rights; Democratic franchise; National elections;
Free movement.
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