State funding of political parties in Ukraine and some EU countries: conditions for provision, amount and calculation procedure

Abstract

The article examines the legal regulation of state funding of political parties in Ukraine, with a particular focus on the financing of their statutory (non-electoral) activities, and compares the Ukrainian model with selected approaches applied in Poland, Germany, Latvia and Bulgaria. Drawing on formal-dogmatic, comparative and systemic analysis of national legislation and Council of Europe standards, the author clarifies the conditions under which public subsidies may be granted to political parties, the minimum thresholds of electoral support and the main methods for calculating the amount of funding. It is shown that in Ukraine the annual volume of state funding is determined by the number of votes cast for all parties participating in parliamentary elections, but is distributed only among those political forces that have passed the 5 per cent electoral threshold, which reinforces the asymmetry of resources between parliamentary and extra-parliamentary parties and objectively narrows the space for political pluralism. Special attention is paid to the mechanism whereby part of the funds is allocated taking into account the gender composition of parliamentary factions. In contrast, in most of the EU states analysed, at least partial budgetary funding is provided for parties that are not represented in parliament but reach a lower threshold of voter support; degresive “price-of-vote” schemes, matching of public funds with small private donations and both absolute and relative caps on subsidies are used. On this basis, the article argues for extending eligibility for state funding in Ukraine to extra-parliamentary parties, adjusting the distribution formula and strengthening incentives for a more diversified structure of party incomes, while at the same time preventing excessive dependence on the state budget.