Citizens' initiatives for the voting rights of EU citizens

WAS IS THE PROBLEM?

More than 17 million EU citizens are living in another Member State, but they do not have the same voting rights compared to nationals in their country of residence.

Although being integrated into societies, paying taxes or sending their children to school, foreign EU citizens are only entitled to vote in local and European elections.

Moreover, many bureaucratic barriers are leading to discouraging participation and decreasing turnout.

Together with Voters Without Borders we start a European Citizen Initiative to strengthen the existing voting rights for European citizens and extend them to regional and national elections and referendums.

Sign the petition here voterswithoutborders.eu

ÖSTERREICH UND WIEN

There are 757,000 EU citizens* (about 10% of the population) living in Austria who do not have full democratic voting rights.

In Vienna EU citizens are only allowed to participate in in elections at the district level, but not at the municipal level. Since many of them are usually not even allowed to vote at the municipal or local level in their home countries, they are thus excluded from democracy. But it is precisely this level that has the most influence on their everyday life.

We therefore call for the introduction of the right to vote for EU citizens at all political levels, provided they have their main residence in Austria.

Citizen Initiative at the National Council of Republic of Austria

We collect 500 signatures

The National Council is requested to equate the democratic participation rights of EU citizens living in Austria with those of Austrian citizens. In particular, the active and passive electoral rights of EU citizens at the federal and provincial levels must be expanded and they must be guaranteed access to the directly democratic elements, such as referendums and provincial and national elections.