Municipal voting by EU citizens: what is at stake in the 2026 reform

Voting where you live: removing barriers

The European reform adopted in May is aimed at the procedures that hinder municipal voting by citizens living in another Member State. The right already exists; the challenge is to exercise it.

La rédaction LETZVIEW mag

Published on Oct 2, 2026 à 01:23 · 3 min read

An envelope being placed in a ballot box

Image source and licence

W.carter / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0. Illustration : élections européennes à Brastad, en Suède, le 9 juin 2024. Cette archive ne représente pas un scrutin municipal luxembourgeois.

Living in a municipality without having the nationality of the country does not automatically exclude a European citizen from its electoral life. The treaties grant them the right to vote and stand as a candidate in municipal elections in their Member State of residence. The reform adopted by the Council of the European Union on 26 May 2026 concerns the practical conditions for exercising this right.

Information is part of access to voting

The Council identifies three difficulties: finding reliable information, completing registration formalities and understanding the consequences for electoral rolls in the country of origin. The adopted text provides for more proactive information, simplified procedures and safeguards against automatic removal from the electoral roll as a result of registering abroad.

The political issue therefore also arises before voters enter the polling booth. A right known only to people able to find the right procedure for themselves is harder to exercise. The reform is aimed at this gap between the recognition of a right and its practical use.

Living and working are not the same situation

The European category of “mobile citizens” covers EU nationals living in another Member State. For readers in the Greater Region, place of residence is therefore an essential point of reference: working across a border is not, in itself, enough to fall within this definition in the country of employment.

It is also necessary to distinguish between elections. The Council recalls the rights relating to municipal elections and elections to the European Parliament; this does not describe a general right to take part in all national elections in the host country.

A reform, not a completed registration

The adoption announcement provided for a two-year period after entry into force to transpose most of the provisions. This announced deadline does not prove that every national procedure has already changed. Our account concerns the European objective and does not confirm either an individual registration or the state of transposition in Luxembourg. To prepare for an election, the local procedure and its deadline should be checked with the competent electoral authority.