If the court had ruled in his favour this morning, United Kingdom prisoners could have claimed the right to vote as well.
Advertisement
The recommendation by the advocate general to the European Court of Justice to dismiss a case brought by the European Commission against Britain was hailed by London which has promised tough curbs on welfare for EU migrants.
The European Charter enshrines the right of EU citizens to vote in European elections.
David Cameron renewed his refusal on Tuesday to comply with the original 2005 Strasbourg ruling that a blanket ban on all prisoners was unlawful.
The issue forms a key part of a package of reforms Cameron is trying to negotiate from his European Union partners before putting Britain’s membership to a referendum by the end of 2017.
In in a situation and that is being directly seen inside of the United Kingdom, the Luxembourg-based court docket reigned over that this balloting ban levied due to French official on a sentenced shooter was also “proportionate”.
The Advocate General’s opinion is non-binding, but a good indication of the decision that the court may later take in a highly-sensitive case.
Cameron, however, has drawn scepticism from EU officials and fellow government leaders by asking to be allowed to restrict social payments to workers from other EU states for up to four years after their arrival – a move that many in Brussels say would breach EU laws banning discrimination against EU citizens.
“Those Tory eurosceptics who were hoping to use this as a stick to beat their own Prime Minister will be sorely disappointed”, she said.
Judges at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg will decide whether France was right to ban a convicted criminal, Frenchman Thierry Delvigne, jailed for 12 years for murder, from voting in European elections.
The opinion “supports our view that we are entitled to ensure only European Union migrants who have a right to be in the United Kingdom can claim our benefits”, he said.
However, it is not clear if Britain’s blanket ban on prisoner voting for all offenders would meet the test of being proportionate, or of taking into account the gravity of the crime. France ended the automatic loss of the vote for prisoners in 1994 but that did not alter Delvigne’s ban retrospectively.
Advertisement
The Government immediately declared that Britain’s ban on prisoner voting would stay in place and remained “a matter for the UK Supreme Court and Parliament to determine”.
