The original plan is to hold the elections on 5-8 June 2014; however, the date is a long weekend of Whit Sunday, a Christian holiday, in many countries.
To ensure higher voter turnout in all countries, the initiative was proposed to move the voting to 22-25 May, a move supported by Lithuania.
"The essence of the position is to support the proposal of changing the EP election date from June to 22-25 May 2014, as moving the elections to an earlier date would lead to a higher voter turnout and contribute to enhanced legitimacy of the European Parliament," the ministry said in a comment to BNS.
The proposal has already received support from the Lithuanian parliamentary European Affairs Committee, the panel's chairman Česlovas Vytautas Stankevičius confirms to BNS.
An EP election date may be revised by the European Council following consultations with the EP, with the decision made at least a year before the scheduled election date.
In the past, EP election dates have been revised twice – in 1984 and in 1989.
