A look at the data from a very eventful Parliamentary term.
April 23, 2024 4:00 am CET
It’s been a long five years.
The European Parliament term now drawing a close started off with 751 elected representatives from 28 countries, but will close with just 705 from 27 member nations.
In calmer times the United Kingdom’s exit from the bloc would have been this term’s headline event. Yet by her own admission, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has forgotten all about Brexit.
Even without a war, a cost-of-living crisis, a global pandemic, and embattled Green Deal legislation, tracking the dealmaking of more than 700 lawmakers representing dozens of national parties across seven political groups — much of which happens behind closed doors — is a headache.
POLITICO delved into voting records, legislative files and Parliament documents to figure out who’s been behind the EU Parliament’s decisions these past five years. Here’s what we found:
1. It’s good to be king(maker)
The conservatives and social democrats were (and are) the Parliament’s largest groups, but no group has won more votes than the liberal kingmakers, Renew Europe.
According to POLITICO’s data, Renew MEPs won 91 percent of the votes they took part in. That’s narrowly ahead of MEPs for the Socialists & Democrats, who got their way nearly 90 percent of the time.
The European People’s Party — the Parliament’s largest group — only voted with the majority in 85 percent of their votes.
Jordan Bardella, leader of the French National Rally, dreams of a “blocking minority” in the next Parliament. POLITICO’s stats show why: His Identity and Democracy group’s lawmakers lost 40 percent of votes.
2. Parliament’s middle ground: Luxembourg
Luxembourg’s MEPs have had a good five years.
Its six MEPs’ votes were backed by a majority of the Parliament more often than any other country: On average the Luxembourgers were on the winning side in almost 90 percent of votes.
No one disagreed with the Parliament’s decisions more than MEPs from the U.K. — nearly half of them representing the Brexit Party — for the short time they were there.
The post-Brexit runners-up were MEPs from Hungary and Poland, who were on the wrong side of the Parliament’s majority 24 percent of the time.
Italian and French MEPs also got the shorter end of the stick at a higher-than-average rate.
3. Serial losers
No party has so consistently been on the losing side of the Parliament’s votes as the Alternative for Germany.
4. Parliament’s busiest powerbrokers
The home countries of the Parliament’s biggest powerbrokers might surprise you.
In absolute terms, MEPs from the bloc’s largest countries — Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Romania — also led negotiations on more texts moving through the Parliament than their smaller neighbors.
But when compared by national MEP numbers, lawmakers from Finland and Luxembourg emerged as powerbrokers punching above their weight.
5. Group-hoppers reshaped Parliament
The Parliament that is now drawing to a close looks nothing like the hemicycle elected in 2019, and Brexit is just one reason why.
MEPs who have quit their political group and joined another have kept the Parliament in a near-constant state of flux.
According to a Parliament summary in mid-January, the anti-migration ID took the biggest hit, losing 19 MEPs to other groups (although most of those switching remained non-attached).
While Renew Europe took in MEPs who previously sat to both its left and right in the hemicycle, conservative lawmakers have largely moved toward the center, while the EPP’s new joiners — many of whom came from ECR or ID — have tilted it (slightly) to the right.
The 11-strong faction from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, which quit the EPP in 2021, caused the largest single shake-up. But Italy’s EU lawmakers have out-hopped every other country.
6. ENVI in the hotseat
What do you get when a new Green Deal and a worldwide pandemic happen during the same term? A very, very busy Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee.
The committee was responsible for a massive number of legislative bills. Lawmakers from the Parliament’s largest group, the EPP, spearheaded work on the most legislative files in the Parliament. In ENVI, however, they were rivalled by the Greens.
7. Gender equality, sort of
About 60 percent of lawmakers in this Parliament were men. That breakdown filtered through to negotiating roles, which were divided along the same lines.
In a number of policy areas, including those overseen by the environment, internal market and transport committees, lead lawmaker roles were equally divided, more or less, between men and women.
But the work on foreign affairs and international trade committee topics was dominated by men, while women were more active on employment and social affairs, petitions — and women’s rights.
Eddy Wax contributed reporting. Gregory Roche and Dhanashri Dehadraya contributed data