How each MEP voted on Lagarde, Brexit backstop, US-Iran sanctions and Amazon fires

Leave a comment Published in: EP Plenary, News, Politics & Institutions, Varia
© European Union 2019 – Source : EP

While preparing for the upcoming hearings of the EU Commission nominees, MEPs cast their votes on some of the hottest topics on the EU agenda: the appointment of Christine Lagarde to succeed Mario Draghi at the ECB, the EU strategy on the Brexit negotiations, the US sanctions against Iran and the case of the Amazon fires.

While the mainstream forces (S&D, Renew Europe and EPP) managed to remain cohesive in backing Lagarde and the EU Brexit strategy, rifts among these groups were observed with regards to the EU position on US-Iran and the Amazon fires. Continue Reading

Concentration of nationalities in key EP committees reveals agendas

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© European Union 2019 – Source : EP

*This is the second part of a series covering the political changes within EP Committees. Click here to read the first part. 

The composition of EP committees aims to mirror the balance of power among political factions in the European Parliament as a whole. However, the same proportional distribution is not applied with regards to the representation of different national groups, which allows more freedom to MEPs. Continue Reading

Get the full database with MEPs’ contacts, background, committee affiliations, social media, etc.

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In a few weeks, the re-shuffled European Parliament will get the chance to grill the nominees to become the next EU Commissioners. Also, as the post-elections summer break comes to an end, MEPs are starting to dig into the legislative work. Are you ready to engage with the new MEPs?

For your convenience, we have mapped the new European Parliament and built a database that you can use to easily find MEPs by committee membership, country, political affiliation, background, etc. Continue Reading

Do you need tailored research or quality presentations/training for your groups? Hire the best!

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VoteWatch Europe is the leading organisation that tracks and forecasts EU political developments, through a unique combination of big political data and expert insights.

Our work is built on two pillars:

1) we follow the dynamics in the EU institutions (majority building, winners and losers, cohesion of the groups) to identify the supporters, opponents and the kingmakers among the EU Parliamentarians on any given policy proposal or broader area;

2) we follow the socio-political trends across the continent (opinion polls, governments’ change) in order to forecast the changes in the balance of power in both the European Parliament and the Council,  and hence the agenda and the margin of maneuver of the European Commission, on any given policy proposal. Continue Reading

The European Parliament at 40: A More Mature Institution? Evolution of the EP committees’ size

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AFET meeting © European Union (2015) – European Parliament

By Piotr Maciej Kaczyński*

For many years, the size of parliamentary committees has reflected the political choices of the Parliament. The bigger the committee – the more relevant the committee, this is the common understanding. The size of the committees stems from two sources. First is their popularity with elected Members (MEPs). Continue Reading

How each MEP voted on Trump, Putin, Maduro

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During the first round of votes in the European Parliament, MEPs focused on foreign relations, while the legislative debate will resume after the summer. In particular, MEPs cast their votes on the EU’s approach towards the Venezuela crisis, an European Magnitisky Act and the crisis on the US-Mexico border. Notably, the side advocating for a tougher approach vis-à-vis all three seemed to get the upper hand. Continue Reading

Key take-aways from the vote on von der Leyen – Tough times ahead

1 Comment Published in: Insights, News, Politics & Institutions, Varia
Election of the President of the Commission – MEPs greet Ursula VON DER LEYEN the newly elected President of the EC

Photo credit: ©European Union 2019, Source: EP, Marc Dossmann

The extremely small majority by which Ursula von der Leyen passed in the Parliament confirms our forecasts on what we can expect in the next 5 years in EU politics. Here are our key take-aways:

– Every MEP will count! Continue Reading

Why is the vote on Ursula von der Leyen secret?

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A secret ballot in the EP will decide today whether German Ursula von der Leyen will succeed Juncker as the President of the European Commission. Why is this vote secret and who is likely to benefit from that?

The practical purpose of keeping a vote secret is so that some parliamentarians can vote against candidates that their party (or European political family) publicly supports or, on the contrary, vote in favour of candidates that their own party (or European political family) publicly opposes. Continue Reading

Full background of new MEPs: what does it tell us?

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Election of the Vice-Presidents of the Parliament- result of the elections of the first ballot

MEPs’ views are shaped primarily by their political families and their nationality (not always in this order). However, in the case of more technical subjects, other key factors influence politicians’ mindset: their own professional and educational background. We have gone through the CVs of all MEPs who took their seat in the new Parliament and this report reveals some of our findings. Continue Reading

Key reasons why Ciolos may or may not be EP’s kingmaker

1 Comment Published in: News, Varia

Just days before the end of Romania’s Council Presidency, one of its former Prime Ministers became the new leader of the centrist EP group, now named “Renew Europe” (formerly ALDE). This turn of events, in which Macron’s delegation ended up “Chair-less” despite having the greatest numbers by far, is a first (apparent) surprise in the dynamics of power in the post-elections EP. Continue Reading