Opinion of July 15, 2003 on the draft decree on European elections

Initialement publié le 06 August 2003 on the website : www.csa.fr

  • Opinions
  • Government
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The French Superior Audiovisual Council was asked by the Minister of the Interior to give its opinion on the draft decree implementing the law of April 11, 2003 on the election of regional councillors and representatives to the European Parliament, and on public support for political parties, and submitted its observations to the Minister.
This draft legislation makes provision for the implementation of the changes made by the aforementioned law to the conditions governing the organization of the official audiovisual campaign preceding the election of French representatives to the European Parliament.
On this point, the French Superior Audiovisual Council has noted the relative complexity of the scheme put in place by the law and the decree for access to the audiovisual campaign (demand for access separate from and prior to the actual submission of candidacies) for parties or groupings not represented. In the light of the experience of the last legislative elections, the Conseil considers that, as the next election approaches, it will be essential to inform unrepresented parties and groupings in advance, so that each of them can have effective access to the official audiovisual campaign.
The French Superior Audiovisual Council regrets that its previous observations aimed at bringing forward the dates for the submission and publication of candidacies have not been followed up. These deadlines, combined with the new deadline for submission of a case before the court by parties or groupings wishing to add up their broadcasting time, leave the CSA with too little time to organize the official audiovisual campaign.
On the other hand, the Conseil welcomes the fact that the law of April 11, 2003 made provision for a total broadcasting time to be allocated to each party or grouping during the official audiovisuel campaign, as of which there may be a large number of candidates who are not represented in Parliament. Similarly, it would be timely to clarify programming arrangements between the various public service channels.