The Council of the European Union has adopted a revised directive extending and clarifying electoral rights for EU citizens who live in a member state other than their own, updating legislation that had remained largely unchanged since 1994. The directive originated from a Commission proposal submitted in November 2021, part of a broader Democracy and Integrity of EU Elections package. With the Council’s adoption, the act will enter into force twenty days later and Member states will then have two years to transpose the majority of its provisions into national law.

The 13.5 million EU citizens currently living outside their home member state represents a substantial share of the electorate in several countries, yet historically low participation rates in municipal elections have been a consistent feature of this group.

Mobile EU citizens have routinely encountered incorrect or inaccessible information about registration procedures, inconsistent requirements across member states, and the risk of being struck from their home country’s electoral rolls simply for registering to vote abroad. The revised directive addresses each of these obstacles directly.

For more information on the current state of voting rights for mobile EU citizens, check out the Migrant Electoral Rights database.