At the end of this week the major political parties in Romania will set the final lists of candidates for EP elections in May. Reported statements of the political leaders show that the lists will mainly contain names of the most active MEPs in the current legislature but also some new names: current and ex-ministries, influential politicians at national level.

 However, the civil society is actively criticizing the electoral system in Romania, based on “closed lists”. Recently, three NGOs with significant expertize in EU politics published a recommendation paper regarding the criteria that the political parties should request to the candidates.

From the administrative point of view, the EP elections will be affected both positively and negatively by the Government's decision to organize them at the same time with the national referendum for modifying the Constitution. The combination will bring advantages but also disadvantages, referring to the previous experiences of other Member States in the 2009 elections, as they were reflected in the OSCE report and also a CEPS study published at that time.

The EP elections are also seen by the national parties as an „exercise” for the Presidential elections which are to be held in December this year.

The candidates, about to be announced/ Old and new names expected on the lists

The final lists for EP elections will most probably be announced at the beginning of February. For the 3 major parties, affiliated to the major political groups in the European Parliament, the „favourite” candidates are the most active MEPs in the current legislature but also new names like current ministries and recognized leaders within the party at national level.

For example, one imporant place on the list of the social-democrats is expected to be taken by Mircea Geoana, ex-president of the party. He lost the national prezidential elections in 2009, and rested rather low-profile in politics ever since. Two cuurent Ministries are also reported to be interested in getting a EP mandate: Rovana Plumb (The Environment Minister) and Dan Nica (Communications and Information Society Minister).

The social democrats will run separately from their national coalition partners, the liberals, given that they belong to different major political groups at EU level: S&D group, on the one hand and ALDE group, on the other hand.

The liberals are also expected to bring some ne names on the list, for example Mircea Diaconu, Vicepresident of the party, ex-Ministry of Culture and also a well-known actor in Romania. He resigned from the public positions after he was accused of conflict of interests two years ago by the National Agency of Integrity.

However, the coordinator of the liberals' campaign Marian Petrache was reported to say that “the 25 May elections are, for us, the most important ones after 1990. […] We have all the means and we are satisfying all the conditions to achieve the score of 25%. These are special elections. I do not know how interested Romanians are in the parliamentary elections, which for us represent the launch pad for the presidential elections. If we obtain a good score, I am confident that we'll also gain the Presidency“.

The original statement (in Romanian) – here adev.ro/mzkfub

The opposition party, the democrat-liberals (EPP) will promote the well-known MEPs in the current legislature but also a potential new name, Anca Boagiu, ex-minister of Transports and also Vicepresident of the party.

Read an analysis of the potential lists – here (in Romanian)https://www.mediafax.ro/politic/dosar-partidele-isi-pregatesc-candidatii-pentru-europarlamentare-lista-posibililor-candidati-mircea-diaconu-m-am-odihnit-destul-11919459

Elections to the European Parliament, simultaneously with the referendum for amending the Constitution: benefits, risks and costs / Examples from other countries and OSCE observations- An extensive analysis by EurActiv.ro.

Organizing another round of elections or of a referendum, simultaneously with the elections to the European Parliament, it has been applied in many EU countries in the past, having various advantages and disadvantages. Even thought there was a high voting rate, this kind of overlapping may jeopardize and distort European topics and complicate the technical aspects of the elections, such as multiple voter lists, campaign finance rules, and media regulation (according to the OSCE report on previous elections to the European Parliament, in 2009).

The strongest argument in favor of the European elections overlapping other national elections or a referendum is that of ensuring a high voting turnout for the elections to the European Parliament. This happened, for instance, in Latvia and Denmark in 2009 (during the previous elections to the EP), according to a study published by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in 2009.

Read the complete analysis by EurActiv.ro – in English (here) (https://www.euractiv.ro/uniunea-europeana/articles|displayArticle/articleID_25743/euractiv.html) and in Romanian (here) https://www.euractiv.ro/uniunea-europeana/articles|displayArticle/articleID_25722/Alegerile-europarlamentare-simultan-cu-referendumul-pentru-modificarea-Constitutiei-avantaje-riscuri-si-costuri/-Exemple-din-alte-tari-si-observatiile-OSCE.html

NGOs' initiative: Setting criteria for the EU Elections candidates

Three NGOs with expertize in Eu politics issues suggest that the political parties should set a list of for their candidates to the EU Elections. „The election system and the lack of internal democracy of parties led to the fact that, on the candidates’ list for the elections to the European Parliament, in May 2014, there managed to appear only the names of those preferred by the ones who (now) have the power within the parties, namely the presidents of the parties”, shows the common press-release of Romanian Center for European Politics (www.crpe.ro), Europuls and Expertforum.

See the complete analysis and examples of criteria suggested, here https://www.euractiv.ro/uniunea-europeana/articles|displayArticle/articleID_25744/euractiv.html

NEXT STEPS:

  • The Managing Board of the Damocrat-Liberal Party (EPP affiliate) will reunite with the parliamentary groups of the party on February 1st to agree over the strategy for the EU Elections and the campaign team.

  • The Executive Board of The Social Democrats (S&D affiliate) will finalize the list of candidates for EP Elections on January 31st

  • The Permanent Delegation of the National Liberal Party (ALDE) will set a concrete project and calendar (and, expected, the final list of candidates) for the EP Elections on 1-2 February.



Ioana Morovan

with translation support from Anca Afloroaei