Introduction
1.1 This report presents the state of play of the implementation of the right of European Union (EU) citizens with disabilities to vote in elections to the European Parliament (EP). The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), an EU advisory body, believes it has a duty, in the run-up to the EP elections, to provide EU institutions, Member States and EU citizens with a full picture of how this right is actuallyimplemented.The EESC hopes that at the next elections in 2024, no EU citizen will be deprived of their right to vote because of their disability.
1.2 The data for this report was provided by several hundred people, representing a significant number of institutions and organisations from 27 Member States(the United Kingdom was not considered as it will leave the EU on 29 March 2019, before the 2019 European Parliament elections) – mostly public authorities in Member States responsible for the election process and organisations representing or supporting persons with disabilities, but also members of the European Parliament from the Disability Intergroup and representatives of the European DisabilityForum.