For reasons of transparency, and in order to strengthen the scrutiny and the democratic accountability of European political parties and European political foundations, information considered to be of substantial public interest, relating in particular to their statutes, membership, financial statements, donors and donations, contributions and grants received from the general budget of the Union, as well as information relating to decisions taken by the Authority and the Authorising Officer of the European Parliament on registration, funding and sanctions, should be published in a user-friendly, open and machine readable format. Laying down a regulatory framework to ensure that such information is publicly available is the most effective means of promoting a level playing field and fair competition between political forces, and of upholding open, transparent and democratic legislative and electoral processes, thereby strengthening the trust of citizens and voters in European representative democracy and, more broadly, preventing corruption and abuses of power.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
