Jun
4
Eman and Sevinger [2006]
June 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
The Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of the Netherlands, the islands of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. Citizens from all this territories share one single nationality.
In this case, Mr Eman and Mr Sevinger, Netherlands citizens residing in Aruba, requested in 2004 that their names be entered in the electoral register in order to enable them to take part in the elections for the European Parliament. Their request was turned down on the ground that the Netherlands electoral law conferred the right to vote in the Netherlands and in elections to the European Parliament, only to Netherlands citizens who are de facto resident in the European territory of the Kingdom.
Pursuant to this, the ECJ was asked by the Netherlands Council of State whether a Member State can exclude from the right to vote in European elections a number of categories of its own citizens, resident in an overseas territory which is associated with the Community, more precisely the Aruba citizens.
The ECJ answer was that the EC Treaty did not define who was entitled to the right to vote and to stand as a candidate for the European Parliament and that therefore it was for the Member States to define this. However, the ECJ added that the principle of non discrimination enshrined in Article 12 EC Treaty must be taken into account.
Text of the ECJ judgment
Text of the AG opinion