The European Parliament, which has deployed substantial resources to ensure coverage of the European elections from 23 to 26 May 2019, will publish on Monday 18 February a first projection of seats for the composition of the next Parliament.
This projection will be made taking into account data on voting intentions in EU countries. An update will be made every 14 days and once a week during the last month before the elections. The Parliament will take into account the political groups that currently exist. It will only add a formation in a political group when membership is confirmed in writing by the party and political group in question.
The work of the Eighth Parliament will end on April 18, 2019. Between 23 and 26 May, around 370 million citizens from all EU Member States will directly elect their MEPs to the new Parliament.
Brexit. The Parliament is assuming that the United Kingdom will leave the EU on 29 March. The next Parliament should have 705 seats, compared to 751 today. But if the European Council were to decide to extend the country's membership of the EU beyond 29 March, the Parliament would retain the 751 seats until the United Kingdom actually leaves the EU. If the country is still a member of the EU at the beginning of July, the United Kingdom will have to hold European elections to have seats in the new Parliament. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)