VoteWatch Europe is an independent organisation set up to promote better debates and greater transparency in EU decision-making, by providing easy access to, and analysis of, the votes and other activities of the European Parliament (EP) and the EU Council of Ministers (Council). VoteWatch uses the EU Institutions' own attendance, voting and activity data - available through their websites - to give a full overview of MEP and Member State activities.

Using sophisticated statistical methods developed by political scientists from the London School of Economics and New York University, the website covers the activities of Parliament and Council since 2009. (Parliament statistics dating back to 2004 are also available on the website). Information on the EP is updated daily following each voting session. Council votes are updated as and when voting data is made available by the Council secretariat. Follow us on Twitter if you are interested in receiving immediate updates.

VoteWatch Europe is run by a small professional team which combines skills and expertise in EU affairs with extensive experience in the development and use of online transparency tools.

We work through two legal entities: a Community Interest Company (CIC) registered in the UK, and an international non-profit association (AISBL in French or IVZW in Dutch) registered in Belgium. We are registered for VAT in Belgium.

Team

Policy Director: Doru Frantescu (co-founder). Doru leads the development of the VoteWatch.eu website and the on-line communication tools, the voting analysis and related services. He has worked in civil society in Bucharest and Brussels with a focus on European affairs, being the author and coauthor of several analytic reports on voting and activity in the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. He also has experience in the media sector and is an expert in e-democracy tools. He speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian. Email: doru@votewatcheurope.eu

Managing Director: Michiel van Hulten. Michiel is also course leader of the FutureLab Europe programme at the European Policy Centre and a guest lecturer on the European Parliament at the Institut des Hautes Etudes des Communications Sociales (IHECS) in Brussels. From 1999 to 2004 he was a Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands. He co-founded the Campaign for Parliament Reform and is the author, with Nick Clegg, of "Reforming the European Parliament", Foreign Policy Centre, 2003. Email: michiel@votewatcheurope.eu

Policy and Events Officer: Joan Manuel Lanfranco Pari. Joan assists Michiel and Doru in their work, with a focus on research, fundraising and events. He is also a researcher on a special project aimed at raising awareness of, and interest in, the European elections of 2014. He has work experience in the European Parliament, at a pan-European NGO and with a large EU affairs consultancy. He speaks English, French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and basic Dutch. Email: joan@votewatcheurope.eu.

Board

VoteWatch CIC and VoteWatch Europe AISBL:

Chair: Simon Hix (co-founder). Simon is Professor of European and Comparative Politics and Head of the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Simon is an expert on EU politics, comparative democratic institutions, parliamentary voting behaviour, and parties and elections. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (s.hix at lse.ac.uk).

Vice Chair: Sara Hagemann (co-founder). Sara is Lecturer in EU Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science and has previously worked in think-tanks in Brussels and governmental institutions in Denmark. Sara frequently participates in policy debates and has published extensively on EU governance and democracy. From 2009 to 2011 Sara was Executive Director of VoteWatch.eu (s.hagemann at lse.ac.uk).

Abdul G. Noury (co-founder). Abdul is Associate Professor of Political Economy at New York University (NYU-AD). Abdul is an expert on European Political Economy, Legislatures, and Applied Statistics, which he also teaches at NYU. Abdul has published extensively on legislatures and economic aspects European integration.

Sir Julian Priestley. Julian is Chairman of the Board of Directors of EPPA (European Public Policy Advisers), a Brussels based public affairs consultancy. From 1997 to 2007 he was Secretary-General of the European Parliament. He is the author of "Six Battles That Shaped Europe's Parliament" (2008) and co-author of "Europe's Parliament - People, Places, Politics" (2012).

Ignasi Guardans. Ignasi is CEO and co-founder of CUMEDIAE - Culture & Media Agency Europe AISBL. He is a former Member of the European Parliament from Spain (ALDE Group), and a former Member of the Spanish Parliament. He is a regular contributor to Spanish media, and a respected voice in Spanish speaking social media.

General Assembly

VoteWatch CIC:

The members of VoteWatch CIC are Doru Frantescu, Sara Hagemann, Simon Hix, Abdul Noury and Michiel van Hulten.

VoteWatch Europe AISBL:

The General Assembly of VoteWatch Europe AISBL is comprised of full members, associate members, supporting members and honorary members.

Supporting members are listed on our sponsors and supporting members page. To apply to become a supporting member, click here.

We don't yet have any associate or honorary members.

Currently our full members are: Doru Frantescu, Sara Hagemann, Simon Hix, Abdul Noury, Michiel van Hulten and VoteWatch CIC.

Finances

VoteWatch Community Interest Company (UK):

Our budget for 2011 - 2012 amounted to just under 280.000 euros. This included 45.000 euros carried over from the previous year and 205.000 euros in new grants (120.000 euros from the Open Society Foundations and 85.000 from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust), as well as some income from paid services and donations. We received generous in-kind support from the Centre for European Policy Studies (office accommodation), Burson-Marsteller (PR support) and White & Case (legal advice).

Approximately 45% of our expenditure was on personnel costs. 35% went to IT, including website redesign, hosting and maintenance, software development and data collection. The remaining 20% was spent on office rental (as of 1 February 2012 we sublet a shared office at the European Policy Centre), office expenses and VAT payments (we are registered for VAT in the UK).

VoteWatch Europe AISBL (Belgium):

Our budget for 2012 amounted to 123.573 euros. This included a grant of 114.273 from the Open Society Foundations and income from paid services of 9.300 euros. As the AISBL only became operational in the fourth quarter of 2012, most of these funds (88.626 euros) were placed in reserve for use in 2013. Of the 34.947 euros spent in 2012, 90% went on personnel costs and the remaining 10% on rent and other administrative overhead.