Between 2009 and 2019, #Poland is the only non-Western European country to have held an #EUTopJob. The incoming team is composed exclusively of Western/Southern Europeans. #vonderleyen (years indicated are years of nomination) #EastWestDivide
#EUagencies are present in almost all Member States, with the exception of 3 Central and Eastern European ones (+UK because of #Brexit). Yet, Western and Southern European countries β esp. #France, #Spain, #Germany and #Netherlands β clearly get the lion's share. #EastWestDivide
More insidiously, the Executive Directors of #EUagencies are even more representative of Western/Southern European Member States β with #France, #Italy, #Germany and #Netherlands taking the lead. Central and Eastern Europeans are even less in command. #EastWestDivide
Representation levels vary for population sizes v. equal representation for States. However, #EasternEurope seems the constant loser, with 14% of the #EU's population and 21% of its States, but only 8% of Executive positions in #EUagencies and 0% of #EUTopJob. #EastWestDivide
Overall, for an efficient #EU governance, geographical representation is less important than competence and efficiency.
πHowever, chronic under-representation of Central and Eastern Europeans, esp. for #EUTopJob, maintains a "2nd-class citizens" feeling of being led by others.
β’ β’ β’
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The @APPF_EU unveiled the latest official MEP membership figures for #europeanparties, which will be used to calculate their entitlements to EU public funding. Here is what's what π
β Worthy of note: sharp nose-dive for virtually all pro-EU forces: @EPP, @PES_PSE, @ALDEParty, @europeangreens, @PDE_EDP, and EFA (even @europeanleft).
Only net winner: the @LeftAlliance_EU, but mostly because it starts from zero.
β Conversely, the winners (except ELA) are all on the hard/far-right: @PatriotsEU, @ECRparty, and ESN.
Today, @POLITICOEurope's Playbook reports on two EU political alliances missing out on EU funds "because the paperwork is too complicated". A great opportunity to discuss the funding of #europeanparties! π₯³πͺπΊ
A quick π§΅... 1/23
@euleftalliance @APPF_EU @EDC_eudemocracy
First of all, what are we talking about? This is about a special stream of European public funding set aside for #europeanparties and distributed every year. Out of that envelope, 10% is distributed equally to all parties and 90% proportionally to their number of MEPs. 2/23
But, actually, this turns out to be more about registration than funding. In the meantime, if you want to really understand the funding of European parties, hear this way π 3/23 epfo.eu/understanding-β¦
Over the past several years, @EDC_eudemocracy has made many, many requests to the European Parliament to access decisions by its Bureau on the funding of #europeanparties. These included decisions for funding (for the coming year) and final accounts (which wrap up the process).
Invariably, these documents were provided with heavy redactions over the parts covering the EP's reasoning for its decisions: we could see the outcome (amounts), but not how decisions were made. Until yesterday, the latest full document related to funding for 2015 -- 8 years ago.
To be clear, the point of this thread is *not* to argue that TNLs will make our common election less European, simply that they will not remedy the election's core deficiency (that national parties are in control) and that, therefore, they are not the right way forward. 3/25