A date has been set for next year’s EU parliamentary elections.
The Swedish presidency announced on May 17th that diplomats had agreed to hold elections slated for 2024 on June 6-9, though the dates must still be officially ratified in the upcoming meeting of the EU Council.
“The EU Ambassadors just approved setting 6 to 9 June 2024 as the dates for the next European Parliament elections,” the Swedish presidency tweeted Wednesday morning.
The dates are the default ones and can only be changed by a unanimous decision of the council.
Portugal had initially raised concerns about the date as it celebrates a national holiday on June 10th and fears low turnout but couldn’t gather enough support from other member states to change the dates.
Politico reports that Roberta Metsola, president of the EU Parliament, had asked the Swedish presidency to set the period of May 23 to May 26 of 2024 for elections, which was also the desire of the majority of political groups in the Parliament.
The previous elections, held in May 2019, had a general turnout of 50.66%, an increase of eight points compared to the 2014 vote.
Ministers rubber-stamp the decision for the June elections at their meeting next week.
EU elections take place every five years over a four-day window. Besides the 750 seats in Parliament, the presidency of the EU Commission, currently held by Ursula von der Leyen, and the presidency of the European Council, held by Charles Michel, are also up for grabs.
Though highly expected to run again and win, von der Leyen has yet to confirm if she is hoping for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission, while Michel has reached the end of the two consecutive terms of 2.5 years each permitted by EU law.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola posted a video on her Twitter account encouraging voters to “be part of the largest democratic exercise in Europe.”
“The European Union is not perfect. It is evolving continuously. The world is changing and we must change with it,” Metsola said. “We need reform. We cannot be afraid of change. We must embrace it.”
An early poll by Europe Elects predicts the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is set to remain the largest formation in Parliament although it may still lose nearly 20 seats, coming out of elections with 163 MEPs, followed by the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group with 141 EU lawmakers.
