12/09/2025 Political Affairs and Democracy
Against a context of democratic backsliding and waning public trust in politics, the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy has urged political parties to put themselves at the heart of democratic renewal by widening their engagement with citizens.
Adopting a report by Ingjerd Schie Schou (Norway, EPP/CD) on 10 September in Paris, the committee warned that parties across Europe faced the mounting challenges of declining membership, rising anti-party sentiment, falling participation rates, heightened electoral volatility, and persistent perceptions of unresponsiveness, elitism, corruption and self-interest.
“Political parties bear a particular responsibility for safeguarding democratic cohesion and stability. Without political parties, pluralism cannot be meaningfully represented and parliaments cannot function effectively. Parties are the cornerstone of representative democracy,” the parliamentarians emphasised.
In order to strengthen the representational link to citizens and responsiveness to citizens’ expectations, the committee encouraged political parties to “widen opportunities for political participation” by enhancing intermediary structures such as local branches, affiliated organisations, unions and civil society platforms.
It also proposed measures to combat issues of under-representation, calling on political parties to adopt strategies for inclusion and inviting them to promote diversity across their internal functioning by endorsing the revised Charter of European Political Parties for a Non-Racist and Inclusive Society.
Finally, with regard to safeguarding integrity, the committee called on member states to “enhance national frameworks governing financial contributions to political parties, advertising and electoral campaigns to mitigate the risk of inappropriate or illicit foreign financial interference.”