Right of foreigners to vote of other supranational groupings of countries. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty imposed reciprocity inside the European Union concerning voting rights in local elections; this already existed for the European elections. In several European states, the public debate on the right of foreigners to vote was therefore renewed, as some foreign residents had the right to vote (European foreign residents) while others, non-Europeans, did not. As a result of this debate, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Slovenia and Belgium extended the right to vote, in different manners, to all foreign residents (which was already the case in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Netherlands). The European Parliament,
Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union which may then issue recommendations and vote by four-fifths to identify a breach. Article 7.2: In the event of a "serious and persistent breach" (i.e. the country does not heed the Council's guidance) then the Commission or one-third of countries, approved by a two-thirds majority in Parliament, calls the country to answer to the European Council again. The European Council must then decide unanimously to proceed to Article 7.3. Article 7.3: Once the European Council has unanimously decided that the breach is still occurring, they then vote by qualified majority to suspend rights of the accused country, including voting rights,