Case Law of the Community Courts
- PDF / 179,806 Bytes
- 23 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 13 Downloads / 225 Views
se Law of the Community Courts Leading Judgments 1st September 2006 to 15th November 2006 Editor: Richard Crowe, LL.M, Barrister Contributors: Florence Hartmann-Vareilles, Avocate; Leyre Maiso, LL.M; Dr. María Pilar Núñez Ruiz, LL.M; Cornelia Riehle LL.M.
Published online: 27 March 2007 © ERA 2007
Citizenship Eman & Sevinger v College van burgemeester en wethouders van Den Haag (Case C-300 /04) Court of Justice (Grand Chamber): 12 September 2006 European Parliament – Elections – Right to vote – Requirements of residence in the Netherlands for Netherlands citizens of Aruba – Citizenship of the Union The appellants in the main proceedings are residents of Aruba who contested a refusal by the Dutch authorities to enrol them on the register of electors for the European Parliament elections of 10 June 2004. Under the Statuut van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (Statute of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) of 1954, Aruba is one of the three countries, together with the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles, that make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Although Netherlands nationality is conferred on inhabitants of all three countries, European Parliament elections are only held in the Netherlands. The complaint lodged by the Aruba residents ultimately came before the Raad van State (Council of State), which referred a series of questions to the Court of Justice on the right of residents of territories whose name appears in the list of overseas countries and territories (‘OCTs’) in Annex II to the EC Treaty to vote in European Parliament elections. By its first question, the Raad van State asked whether Part Two of the Treaty, relating to citizenship of the Union, applies to persons who possess the nationality of a Member State and who are resident or living in a territory which is one of the OCTs referred to in Article 299(3) EC. The Court replied to this question in the affirmative, Richard Crowe European Court of Auditors, Legal Service 12, rue Alcide de Gasperi, 1615 Luxembourg, Luxembourg e-mail: [email protected]
123
146
Case Law of the Community Courts
noting that Article 17(1) EC provides that ‘[e]very person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union’. It is irrelevant in that regard that the national of a Member State in question resides or lives in a territory which is one of the OCTs referred to in Article 299(3). The Court was then asked to consider whether Article 19(2) EC, read in the light of Articles 189 EC and 190(1) EC, must be interpreted as meaning that a citizen of the Union resident or living in an OCT has the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament. In this respect, the Court noted at the outset that the provisions of the Treaty and of the 1976 Act concerning elections to the European Parliament do not lay down any rule defining expressly and precisely who are to be entitled to the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in European Parliament elections. In the current state of Community law, the definition of
Data Loading...
