The upcoming European elections are scheduled to take place from 6 to 9 June 2024. This was agreed by the representatives of the 27 EU member states, as the Swedish Presidency announced on Wednesday. A Council of Ministers still has to formally confirm the decision next Monday.
The election of MEPs takes place every five years. Voters decide on the composition of the approximately 700 seats in the EU Parliament. The election marks the start of the replacement of the heads of the EU Parliament, the EU Commission and the European Council.
The timing of European elections is different from the procedure for other elections. According to the law, the period of the first European elections is the reference. It took place from 7 to 10 June 1979. European elections must be scheduled in the corresponding period of the last year of the five-year parliamentary term.
They must also be held in all Member States during the same period from Thursday to Sunday. This regulation takes account of the different electoral traditions in the Member States, in most of them, as in Germany, voting takes place on a Sunday or public holiday, while in the Netherlands, for example, voting takes place on Thursdays.
If an election date proves impossible within the given timeframe, the European Council may decide to postpone it. This decision must be taken unanimously, before which the European Parliament must be consulted. So far, this has happened four times: in 1984, 1989, 2014 and 2019.