Timing for Next Elections to the European Parliament Approved

The next elections to the European Parliament will be held from June 6 to 9, 2024. It was stated in a letter from Swedish Minister for European Affairs Jessika Roswall, whose country now chairs the EU Council, to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. The letter explains that since member states could not reach a unanimous decision on an election date, current EU law defaults to early June voting days. “Since none of the alternative dates received the necessary support, the dates set in EU election law will apply,” Roswall wrote in the letter. Roberta Metsola had proposed holding the election between May 23 and 26. Recall that on May 3, the European Parliament voted to revise the rules of elections in the EU, which will expand the role of people in choosing the president of the European Commission and allow them to vote for pan-European deputies of the European Parliament. Under the system developed by MEPs, each voter will have two votes: one to elect MEPs in national constituencies and one in the EU constituency, from which 28 additional seats are elected. In order to ensure a balanced geographical representation on these lists, Member States will be divided into 3 groups, according to their population. Candidates from these groups will fill the lists proportionally. The pan-European lists of candidates must be presented by European electoral entities, such as coalitions of national political parties and/or national associations of voters or European political parties. It was also reported that Portugal is trying to force the European Union to postpone the date of the European Parliament elections in 2024, which will be held from June 6 to 9. The reason is celebration of Portugal Day on June 10, a national holiday preceded by several weekends. Sources in the European Parliament are afraid that this will result in a low turnout in Portuguese elections.