C 364/18 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 18.12.2000 CHAPTER V CITIZENS’ RIGHTS Article 39 Right to vote and to stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament 1. Every citizen of the Union has the right to vote and to stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament in the Member State in which he or she resides, under the same conditions as nationals of that State. 2. Members of the European Parliament shall be elected by direct universal suffrage in a free and secret ballot. Article 40 Right to vote and to stand as a candidate at municipal elections Every citizen of the Union has the right to vote and to stand as a candidate at municipal elections in the Member State in which he or she resides under the same conditions as nationals of that State. Article 41 Right to good administration 1. Every person has the right to have his or her affairs handled impartially, fairly and within a reasonable time by the institutions and bodies of the Union. 2. This right includes: — the right of every person to be heard, before any individual measure which would affect him or her adversely is taken; — the right of every person to have access to his or her file, while respecting the legitimate interests of confidentiality and of professional and business secrecy; — the obligation of the administration to give reasons for its decisions. 3. Every person has the right to have the Community make good any damage caused by its institutions or by its servants in the performance of their duties, in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the Member States. 4. Every person may write to the institutions of the Union in one of the languages of the Treaties and must have an answer in the same language.