PURPOSE: to fix the period for the ninth election of representatives to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion.

BACKGROUND: by its Decision 78/639/Euratom, ECSC, EEC, the Council fixed the period for the first election of representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage from 7 to 10 June 1979.

Since it is not possible to hold the ninth election during the corresponding period of 2019, another electoral period must be fixed.

CONTENT: the Council proposes to hold the ninth election of representatives to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage during the period from 23 to 26 May 2019.

The Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted, under the consultation procedure, the report by Danuta Maria HÜBNER (EPP, PL) on the draft Council decision fixing the period for the ninth election of representatives to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament approve the Council draft which seeks to modify the period during which the forthcoming European elections would otherwise have been held.

Member States agreed in the Council that it would be impossible to hold the next European Parliament elections during the normally applicable dates (Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 June 2019) in accordance with the Act concerning the election of the Members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage ("the Electoral Act").

They therefore proposed, pending consultation of the European Parliament, to hold the elections during the period from 23 to 26 May 2019. The same period was suggested by the Conference of Presidents of the Parliament in their meeting of 11 January 2018.

In order to allow Member States sufficient time to take the necessary steps to organise these elections, the decision on these new dates should be taken as soon as possible. It is therefore recommended that the draft Council decision be approved as it stands.

The European Parliament adopted by 492 votes to 14, with 24 abstentions, following the consultation procedure, a European Parliament legislative resolution on the draft Council decision fixing the period for the ninth election of representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage.

The European Parliament approved the Council draft to hold the European elections during the period from 23 to 26 May 2019.

It recalled its proposal, attached to its resolution on the reform of the European Union's electoral law, to grant Parliament, after consulting the Council, the power to determine the electoral period.