Parliamentary Assembly
Assemblée parlementaire

Doc. 10826
31 January 2006

The code for good practices of the political parties

Motion for a recommendation
presented by Mr Severin and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

1.       Democracy is nowadays confronted with a crisis whose symptoms include low turn-out at the elections and lack of interest and low participation of citizens in public life. The origins of this crisis are complex and certainly cannot be explained in a simple way.

2.       Political parties are the main actors in the political process and their role in sustaining representative democracy is well established. Acting as an intermediary between voters and public authorities, they constitute an essential link of democracy. There is no modern democratic system without political parties.

3.       One of the reasons of the present crisis is the decrease in confidence in politicians and political parties following democratic deficits within the parties themselves. These include insufficient transparency, responsiveness and accountability. Voters who do not perceive political parties as sufficiently democratic, do not bother to support them in their combat for power, and do not get actively involved in their activities.

4.       In order to remedy this highly unsatisfactory situation, the Assembly should elaborate a code of good practices for political parties which would reinforce their internal democracy and increase their credibility in the eyes of the citizens thus contributing to greater participation of citizens in political life.

 

Signed 1:

SEVERIN, Adrian, Romania, SOC
ATES, Abdülkadir, Turkey, SOC
AZZOLINI, Claudio, Italy, EPP/CD
ÇAVUSOGLU, Mevlüt, Turkey, EDG
de PUIG, Lluís Maria, Spain, SOC
ELO, Mikko, Finland, SOC
HERKEL, Andres, Estonia, EPP/CD
JURGENS, Erik, Netherlands, SOC
MIUTESCU, Gheorghe Adrian, Romania, ALDE
POURGOURIDES, Christos, Cyprus, EPP/CD
PREDA, Cezar Florin, Romania, EPP/CD
SLUTSKY, Leonid, Russian Federation, SOC
SZABÓ, Zoltán, Hungary, SOC
TIMMERMANS, Frans, Netherlands, SOC
Van den BRANDE, Luc, Belgium, EPP/CD

1        SOC: Socialist Group
       EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party
       ALDE: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
       EDG: European Democratic Group
       UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
       NR: not registered in a group