The president of the European Parliament admitted this Wednesday that holding the European elections on June 9, 2024 “is not ideal for Portugal”, because the date is ‘stuck’ to holidays and can promote abstention, but appealed to the vote.
“There is no unanimity in the Council for a different date. So there is a standard election date, which is June 6-9, 2024, and I know this is not an ideal weekend for Portugal,” he said. Roberta Metsola.
In a press conference, after meeting with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Roberta Metsola added that “this is an issue that [afeta] several countries [já que] each weekend presents a specific disability”.
“Therefore, what we will have to do, while we are still waiting for the official confirmation of the date, is to encourage as many people as possible to vote, analyze all the possibilities and ensure that, as we have seen with all the Portuguese MEPs in Parliament European, we are so constructive, so European, that […] we can present candidates for the elections next year that encourage as many people in Portugal to come out and vote for a strong European Union”, appealed the president of the European assembly.
This position was conveyed in statements to journalists after a bilateral meeting with the Portuguese head of state, before Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa addressed the MEPs in a speech in the European Chamber on his vision of the challenges facing Europe.
Also today, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced that he has invited Roberta Metsola to be present at the Council of State in June.
Meanwhile, in a note published by the Presidency of the Republic on its website, it reads that “the President of the Republic meets with the Council of State on June 16, at 2:30 p.m., at the Belém Palace , with the guest president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola”.
“The meeting will address the perspectives on the current situation in Europe, less than a year before the elections to the European Parliament,” he adds.
In mid-April, the Portuguese government announced that it was taking steps with Brussels to avoid scheduling the European elections on June 9, 2024, due to the proximity of the holidays, ensuring that if this is not possible, it will try to alleviate the situation. abstention.
“At the moment we are still in the stage of promoting proceedings in Brussels […] seek a change of date”, said then the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Tiago Antunes, speaking to journalists in parliament.
June 10 is a national holiday, on the occasion of the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities, and June 13 is a national holiday in Lisbon.
“Obviously, this is a very inconvenient date, being the eve of a holiday and therefore being in the middle of a long weekend, and therefore the Portuguese Government has been promoting a series of steps to seek to change this. date,” he said. Tiago Antunes at that time.
The last two European elections, in 2019 and 2014, were held at the end of May, after the agreement of the 27 Member States to change the initial date of the elections.
Recently, the only time that the European elections took place ‘glued’ to national holidays was in 1994: they were held on Sunday, June 12, with Portugal Day the previous Friday and Saint Anthony’s Day, in Lisbon, the following Monday. .
Source: TSF
