European Agreement on the Participation of Foreigners in Local Public Life

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The European Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level ( ETS No. 144) is a Council of Europe convention that was created on the initiative of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and dates from May 5, 1992. The Convention establishes the principle of the gradual granting of civil and political rights, including the right to vote , to resident foreigners in European municipalities.

Content of the Convention

The convention is intended to improve the integration of foreign citizens within the municipalities and is applicable to all persons who are not nationals of the respective state but who are legally resident on its territory (Art. 2).

Foreign residents should receive the same "classic basic rights" as the nationals of the respective state. This includes freedom of expression as well as freedom of assembly and association (Art. 3), which includes the right to found and join trade unions .

The convention makes it possible to set up advisory bodies in the municipalities (Art. 5) that can be elected by the foreign residents or whose members are nominated by their clubs and associations.

The contracting parties to the agreement also undertake to guarantee the right to vote and stand as a candidate for every foreigner who was legally habitually resident in the country concerned in the five years prior to the election (Art. 6). The parties must inform their foreign residents about their rights and obligations in communal public life (Art. 8). The Convention obliges the member states to report to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on developments in the participation of foreigners in local public life (Art. 10).

Ratification status

The convention came into force on May 1, 1997 and has so far been ratified by nine member states (Albania, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Czech Republic) of the Council of Europe; Lithuania and Slovenia have signed but not ratified it (as of January 2018). The Federal Republic of Germany has not yet signed or ratified the agreement with reference to constitutional concerns. However, the member states of the Council of Europe still have the option of signing the agreement without the article on the right to vote for foreigners.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Signatures and status of ratification of Treaty 144: Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Local Public Life. Council of Europe, accessed February 1, 2018 .
  2. ↑ German Bundestag printed matter 16/2882 (PDF; 65 kB)
  3. ↑ German Bundestag printed matter 16/21 (PDF; 196 kB)