Proposed by Cllr. Edward Firoux (Inquista)

ARTICLE III. THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Section III. Election Procedures

VII. Only member states which have joined the European Union prior to the nomination period of a Commission election shall be allowed to vote in that specific Commission election.

ARTICLE IV. THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE

Section III. Electing the European Court of Justice
II. The European Court of Justice shall be elected in the same manner as the European Commission, omitting the seven days of debate, and using the Single Transferable Vote system.
III. In the absence of one or more judges, as determined by the European Council, the Chief Justice may appoint temporary judges for a period of fourteen days. In the event of the Chief Justice’s absence, the remaining judges shall elect from among themselves a temporary Chief Justice. After fourteen days, if an absent judge has not returned to their post, the post shall be considered vacant and subject to a by-election.
IV. Only member states which have joined the European Union prior to the nomination period of a European Court of Justice election shall be allowed to vote in that specific European Court of Justice election.

In the last Commission election, there were some complaints about brand new member states participating in the Commission and European Court of Justice elections. For example, after seven hours of being a member state, the delegation from Sunkist voted for Eilidh Whiteford to become the next Premier of the European Union. While voting is a right within the European Union, it is also a privilege, which should only be extended to member states which have the full amount of available knowledge at their availability. As Commission campaigning already begins during the nomination phase, and then we have a debate phase, we cannot expect new member states which miss any of these phases to cast a responsible and educated vote.

The other amendment featured here corrects a mistake which we have left in the Constitution. The ECoJ follows the old Single Transferable Vote system, which the Commission used to follow before we reformed it. The Commission now uses the Alternative Vote system, which the ECoJ would be unable to use in any scenario given it's a single 5 member body. We ought to clarify that the ECOJ still uses the Single Transferable Vote system.