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European political parties and foundations: Council signs off new rules to improve transparency of funding and counter foreign interference

European Council / Council of the European Union

Council of the EU
Press release
17 November 2025 10:30

Today, the Council gave its final green light on changes to the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (EUPPFs).

The revised regulation aims to enhance transparency of European political parties and bolster the framework for their funding, particularly to counter the risks of foreign interference and manipulation. It will also reduce the administrative burden and increase the visibility of European political parties towards EU citizens.

Main elements of the revised regulation

The revised regulation strengthens the transparency of the European political environment, the visibility of EUPPFs and reinforces the EU's capacity to prevent the risk of foreign interference.

Better visibility and increased transparency requirements

The new law specifies the type of activities that European political parties may organise jointly with their member parties, with a view to contributing to the formation of European political awareness. The new rules, however, maintain the prohibition for EUPPFs to finance national referendum campaigns. Moreover, the regulation includes strong measures on gender balance in parties.

Financial viability for EUPPFs

The revised regulation aligns the regimes for European political parties and European political foundations, bringing the co-financing rate to obtain European subsidies to 5% for both.The law also ensures appropriate monitoring of the new accounting category linked to the financial income generated by the EUPPFs' activities ('self-generated resources') and provides that this source of revenue will be limited to 3% of their annual budget for European political parties and 5% for European political foundations.

Limiting risks of foreign interference

The revised regulation requires EUPPFs to submit a written declaration on their compliance and their members' compliance with EU values while specifying that a new declaration should be produced following any change in membership. Moreover, the new rules limit the risk of foreign interference by applying limitations for the newly created categories of 'associated member parties' and 'associated member organisations'. The revised regulation also prohibits membership fees or contributions to EUPPFs from parties or organisations outside the EU, while retaining the possibility for parties to maintain cooperation with their political partners beyond the borders of the EU. Finally, the new rules introduce safeguards to ensure that members of EUPPFs parties are not under restrictive measures.

Next steps

Following today's adoption, the legislative act will be published in the EU's official journal in the coming days and enter into force on the twentieth day after this publication.

Background

On 25 November 2021, the Commission adopted the 'European Elections' Democracy and Integrity Package', which included a proposal for a recast of the regulation on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations. The package also included a legislative proposal on the transparency and targeting of political advertising, already adopted by the Council in March 2024, and two legislative proposals on the electoral rights of citizens residing in a member state of which they are not nationals in European and municipal elections, as well as a communication announcing a joint mechanism for electoral resilience.