The Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted the report by Carlo CASINI (EPP, IT) on the draft Council decision fixing the period for the eighth election of representatives to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage.
To recall, this report was drawn up in response to a request for consultation from the Council on a draft decision seeking to modify the period during which the forthcoming European elections would ordinarily have been held. Under Article 11(2) of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (the ‘Electoral Act’), this period would have been Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 June 2014, by analogy with the dates on which the first elections by direct universal suffrage were held (Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 June 1979).
Given that, in most Member States, the dates on which the elections would ordinarily have been held would have coincided with the Whitsun bank holiday weekend, the Council took the view that it would be preferable to bring them forward, and proposed that the electoral period should run between Thursday 22 and Sunday 25 May 2014.