Dear European Leaders,

We believe that Europe is the way of the future for our 28 countries/member states.

We believe that, in addition to rights and duties, European citizenship is about a sense of belonging to a broader transnational family with whom we share a common set of values, aspirations and strong ties built throughout history.

We believe that embracing European citizenship does not mean denying national or regional identities, but rather enriching ourselves as a modern community ready for a prominent role in the world today and tomorrow.
 
We believe that democratic participation is essential to the construction of the European Union for the 21st century.
 
We believe that the European Parliament represents EU citizens and not only citizens in the EU.

We believe in it, we act on it.

With Europeans Abroad Vote 2014, we are taking an unprecedented step towards changing the way expatriates engage in EU policy.

Expatriates are in a unique position to truly embrace and embody European citizenship through their life experience abroad. And wherever they live, they must have the same voting rights as any other European.

Today, EU citizens of Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and Slovakia who live in other EU member states do not have the right to vote for their native national constituency in European Parliament elections while in the state where they reside. Furthermore, EU citizens of Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta and Slovakia, cannot vote in European Parliament elections when they live in a country outside the EU. There are also many other eligibility criteria, such as limited voting procedures or lack of information and communication that can make participation challenging for those who do not live in their country of origin.

We are determined to bring about the change that is required to make the EU a more modern and vibrant democracy, considerate of all its citizens and ready to take our society forward with confidence and a renewed sense of European citizenship regardless of the country of residence.
 
Therefore, we ask the heads of states at the European Council, the next European Commission and the next Members of European Parliament to reform the electoral law to ensure equal voting rights in European Parliament elections for EU citizens regardless of residence, and provide access to uniform voting procedures including at least two possible methods to cast the vote (at polling stations and by postal voting, proxy or e-voting), as well as a generalization of the preferential voting system as opposed to closed lists that leave more control to political parties.