Judgments of the Court of Justice in Cases C-808/21, C-814/21

PRESS RELEASE No 194/24 Luxembourg, 19 November 2024 Judgments of the Court in Cases C-808/21 | Commission v Czech Republic and C-814/21 | Commission v Poland (Ability to stand for election and membership of a political party) Citizenship of the Union: denying EU citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals the right to become a member of a political party infringes EU law By imposing such a nationality requirement, the Czech Republic and Poland do not ensure equal treatment with their nationals as regards the effective exercise of the right to stand as a candidate in municipal and European elections EU law confers on EU citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in local and European elections. If that right is to be exercised effectively, those citizens must be afforded equal access to the means available to nationals of that Member State for the purpose of exercising that right. Given that membership of a political party contributes significantly to the exercise of the electoral rights conferred by EU law, the Court of Justice finds that the Czech Republic and Poland infringed EU law by denying EU citizens who reside in those Member States but are not nationals thereof the right to become members of a political party. Their membership of a political party is not such as to undermine the national identity of the Czech Republic or Poland. Czech and Polish...