VoteWatch Report: How did Belgian MEPs vote on taxation policy?

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Creator: Gabor KOVACS
Copyright: CC-BY-4.0:©European Union 2019–Source: EP

The latest report by VoteWatch Europe investigates the level of political support for fiscal initiatives at the EU level (with a special focus on Belgian MEPs). In particular, we looked at the behaviour of Belgian politicians when voting on 10 key taxation issues. The second part of the report looks at the current state of play in the Council of the EU, which plays a pivotal role in this policy area, since any decisions require the unanimous support of EU national governments. Continue Reading

New Power Ranking monitoring service: Who will lead the EU into the new decade?

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How powerful are political parties these days? Who are the most powerful players? How is influence shared among factions and sub-factions across the European continent and how will this play out in the next decade? The pace of political changes has significantly accelerated in recent years, creating confusion and unpredictability among stakeholders and citizens. 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

How the old “pro-anti” EU framing becomes obsolete after EU elections

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Our high-profile partners are asking us the right question with regards to the elections and we thought to share with you a summary of the answer. At VoteWatch Europe we filter out the noise and guide our partners through the EU decision-making jungle with our unrivaled fact-based analytics that allows them to see who are the actual opponents and supporters of any initiative or piece of regulation. Continue Reading

EU elections & Eurovision: same geographical and experts/citizens divides?

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This month is particularly important for the European Union. Starting from the 23rd of May, EU citizens will reach the dedicated polling stations to decide on the composition of the next European Parliament. These elections will impact on the overall direction of the EU and its future decisions on issues that affect all of us (migration, environment, agriculture, social policy, etc.). Continue Reading

Top 100 most influential EU Parliamentarians

2 Comments Published in: Influence Assessment, Insights, Politics & Institutions, Society, Varia

This report shows which EU Parliamentarians have been the most influential towards the end of the parliamentary term. The study also reveals which national groups have been punching above/below their weight when it comes to influencing European policies through the EP.  The assessment is based on the collection of all available information concerning the various actions of each MEP while exerting their mandate. Continue Reading

Winners and losers of Copyright war in the EU Parliament

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One of the last plenary session of the European Parliament before the European Elections has been filled with ground-breaking developments. EU Parliamentarians fought and voted over the key (and controversial) decision on the EU copyright rules. On Tuesday, the Members of the European Parliament (MEP) adopted the directive in plenary by 348 votes in favour, 274 against and 36 abstentions. Continue Reading

EU elections countdown: state of candidates, manifestos, projections

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As the EU elections are getting closer, VoteWatch Europe is receiving a huge number of questions from stakeholders and citizenry who are either concerned about possible turns in EU’s policies, or simply want to be ahead of the game with their advocacy campaigns. Here is the kind of questions that we receive on a daily basis and that we work to answer:

– Which MEPs will remain without a job and which will be reelected? Continue Reading

5 takeaways from our special event with Prof. Simon Hix

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Our latest event on the future of Europe post-2019 featured a brilliant intervention by Prof. Simon Hix (Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics and Co-Founder of VoteWatch Europe), who provided valuable insights on what might happen next year. Additionally, Doru Frantescu (Director and Co-Founder of VoteWatch Europe) provided key updates on the policy forecasts that VoteWatch Europe is carrying out in the run-up to the European elections.  Continue Reading

Why Brussels needs Stockholm to stay on board

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Yesterday’s Swedish elections confirmed some of trends that have been observed over the past few years (increasing strength of the far-right, decreasing popularity of the traditional political parties), although the results have not been as groundbreaking as many analysts expected (the performance of the far-right Sweden Democrats was underwhelming compared to the expectations, while the electoral losses of the two largest parties were lower than expected). Continue Reading