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Who votes “yes” and “no” the most
in the European Parliament?
VoteWatch Europe special policy brief
December 2013
Contents
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 2
2. Final Legislation .............................................................................................................................. 3
a) Top 10 “Yes” voters .................................................................................................................... 3
b) Top 10 “No” votes ...................................................................................................................... 4
c) Top 10 “Abstain” votes .............................................................................................................. 5
d) Top 10 “Didn’t vote” .................................................................................................................. 6
3. All votes (legislative and non-legislative) ...................................................................................... 7
a) Top 10 “Yes” voters .................................................................................................................... 7
b) Top 10 “No” voters ..................................................................................................................... 8
c) Top 10 “Abstain” votes .............................................................................................................. 9
d) Top 10 “Didn’t vote” ................................................................................................................ 10
4. How do national party delegations vote? ................................................................................... 11
5. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 12
About VoteWatch Europe .................................................................................................................... 13
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1. Introduction
This special VoteWatch Europe policy brief presents a quantitative analysis of the voting trends in the European Parliament (EP). In response to public interest following press reports about a Romanian MEP with a 100% 'in favour' voting record, the VoteWatch team looked at the votes cast by all MEPs during the current EP term of the EP, from July 2009 to October 2013. The report has two sections, one covering final votes on legislative dossiers only, and a
second one that includes all votes cast (specific paragraphs, amendments, as well as final
votes). Each section identifies the top 10 MEPs who cast the largest number of – positive votes
(yes), negatives votes (no), abstentions, or who did not vote most often. The rankings were
calculated on the basis of the total number of roll-call votes cast by each MEP (for the “yes”,
”no” and “abstain” lists) or the total number of roll-call voted cast in the EP during the
mandate of the MEPs (for the “didn’t vote” lists,) on both legislative and non-legislative issues.
While all current MEPs were included in the analysis, the duration of their mandate differs,
as many MEPs joined the European Parliament later – in these cases the percentages have
been calculated only for the period when they were MEPs. Moreover, in order to increase the
relevance of results, the analysis does not include in the ranking MEPs who participated in
less than 10 % of the votes - such as MEPs who only joined the EP in recent months or weeks.
Readers should bear in mind that a large number of “yes” votes does not necessarily reflect pro-EU attitudes, as well as the “no” votes do not always count as anti-EU or Eurosceptic votes. In some cases, a negative vote might have been cast as a rejection of an anti-EU text, and the other way around. This report provides only factual information based on the votes cast in EP plenary, and does
not seek to express views on the reasons behind the MEPs' votes or to give an assessment of
the MEPs performances. For more information, the websites of the MEPs and their offices
can offer more detailed explanations of their votes and activities in the EP.
If you want to see the values for all the MEPs, you can download the full list here:
http://www.votewatch.eu/en/research.html
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2. Final Legislation
The statistics presented in this section are based on final votes on legislative dossiers only.
a) Top 10 “Yes” voters
This category includes the percentages of Yes on final votes cast by the MEPs, out of the total
number of their votes (yes+no+abstain).
The MEPs who voted most often “yes” on final legislation come mainly from Southern and
Eastern EU countries, such as Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Greece, Hungary and Cyprus.
From a political point of view, the MEPs in this ranking come from both the left and the right
groups (five from EPP, three from S&D and two from non-attached MEPs).
Rank Last name First name Country Group National Party MEP since Total votes of
the MEP % YES
1 BARRACCIU Francesca Italy S&D Partito
Democratico 2012-12-17 61 100
2 BONANINI Franco Italy NI Indipendente 2013-04-12 72 100
3 LYUBCHEVA Marusya Bulgaria S&D Coalition for
Bulgaria 2013-06-07 53 100
4 PANAYOTOVA Monika Bulgaria EPP
Citizens for European
Development of Bulgaria
2012-12-06 101 99
5 BORISSOV Preslav Bulgaria EPP
Citizens for European
Development of Bulgaria
2013-01-01 91 99
6 PITSILLIDES Andreas Cyprus EPP Democratic
Rally 2013-03-04 70 99
7 FRIGO Franco Italy S&D Partito
Democratico 2013-05-07 65 98
8 GIANNAKOU Marietta Greece EPP Nea
Demokratia 2009-07-14 430 98
9 BAGÓ Zoltán Hungary EPP
Fidesz-Magyar Polgári
Szövetség-Keresztény Demokrata
Néppárt
2010-09-12 369 98
10 ZAMFIRESCU Dan
Dumitru Romania NI
Partidul România Mare
2013-01-09 104 98
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b) Top 10 “No” votes
The top 10 in this category includes the percentages of No on final votes cast by MEPs, out of
the total number of their votes.
Section 3 of this brief deals with all votes cast, where the reasons for voting “no” may be more
diverse, but when looking at final votes on legislative dossiers, as we do in this section, one
can argue that MEPs with a record of “no” votes are those who least favour European
legislation in general, regardless of the topic.
The MEPs who voted “No” on final legislative votes most often are EFD Group or non-attached
Members, nine out of ten coming from the UK and one from the Netherlands.
Rank Last name First name Country Group National Party MEP since Total votes of the MEP
% NO
1 FARAGE Nigel United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom
Independence
Party
2009-07-
14 323 86
2 BATTEN Gerard United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom
Independence
Party
2009-07-
14 388 82
3 NATTRASS Mike United
Kingdom NI
United Kingdom
Independence
Party
2009-07-
14 409 82
4 COLMAN Trevor United
Kingdom NI
United Kingdom
Independence
Party
2009-07-
14 324 82
5 SINCLAIRE Nicole United
Kingdom NI
We Demand a
Referendum
2009-07-
14 407 82
6 NUTTALL Paul United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom
Independence
Party
2009-07-
14 286 81
7 BUFTON John United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom
Independence
Party
2009-07-
14 436 81
8 CLARK Derek
Roland
United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom
Independence
Party
2009-07-
14 439 80
9 ZIJLSTRA Auke Netherlands NI Partij voor de
Vrijheid
2011-09-
13 272 79
10 AGNEW John Stuart United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom
Independence
Party
2009-07-
14 468 79
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c) Top 10 “Abstain” votes
The first seven positions in this ranking are taken up by non–attached Members from
Hungary, France, Austria and Belgium, while the remaining three are occupied by a British
EFD MEP and two Greek GUE-NGL Members.
All MEPs in the top of this ranking started their mandate in July 2009.
Rank Last name First name Country Group National Party MEP since Total votes of the MEP
% Abstain
1 MORVAI Krisztina Hungary NI
JOBBIK
MAGYARORSZÁGÉRT
MOZGALOM
2009-07-14 326 42
2 LE PEN Marine France NI Front national 2009-07-14 350 37
3 GOLLNISCH Bruno France NI Front national 2009-07-14 417 37
4 LE PEN Jean-Marie France NI Front national 2009-07-14 364 34
5 OBERMAYR Franz Austria NI Freiheitliche Partei
Österreichs 2009-07-14 490 33
6 MÖLZER Andreas Austria NI Freiheitliche Partei
Österreichs 2009-07-14 452 31
7 CLAEYS Philip Belgium NI Vlaams Belang 2009-07-14 474 30
8 HELMER Roger United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom
Independence Party 2009-07-14 476 29
9 ANGOURAKIS Charalampos Greece GUE-NGL Communist Party of
Greece 2009-10-14 349 29
10 TOUSSAS Georgios Greece GUE-NGL Communist Party of
Greece 2009-07-14 314 29
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d) Top 10 “Didn’t vote”
In the context of this report, “didn’t vote” means that the MEP signed the register of
attendance during that day, but did not vote in some or all of the roll-call votes.
The percentages in this section are calculated based on the total number of final votes on
legislative dossiers that took place in the EP since each MEP joined.
The first two positions are occupied by the former and current President of the European
Parliament. EP Presidents normally do not take part in votes. The list continues with MEPs
from various EU countries (the Netherlands, France, Poland, the UK and Italy). The MEPs come
from different political groups, four from S&D, three from ECR, while EPP, ALDE and EFD have
each one Member in the ranking.
Rank Last name First name Country Group National Party MEP since
Total votes while this
person was an MEP
% Didn’t vote
1 BUZEK Jerzy Poland EPP Platforma
Obywatelska 2009-07-14 514 60
2 SCHULZ Martin Germany S&D Sozialdemokratische
Partei Deutschlands 2009-07-14 514 50
3 BAALEN Johannes
Cornelis van Netherlands ALDE/ADLE
Volkspartij voor
Vrijheid en
Democratie
2009-07-14 514 38
4 DÉSIR Harlem France S&D Parti Socialiste 2009-07-14 514 34
5 ZIOBRO Zbigniew Poland EFD Solidarna Polska 2009-07-14 514 33
6 WEBER Henri France S&D Parti Socialiste 2009-07-14 514 32
7 KAMALL Syed United
Kingdom ECR Conservative Party 2009-07-14 514 32
8 BLOOM Godfrey United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom
Independence Party 2009-07-14 514 29
9 BARRACCIU Francesca Italy S&D Partito Democratico 2012-12-17 104 26
10 KURSKI Jacek
Olgierd Poland EFD Solidarna Polska 2009-07-14 514 25
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3. All votes (legislative and non-legislative)
This section is based on all roll call votes cast since July 2009 (specific paragraph or
amendments as well as on final ones).
a) Top 10 “Yes” voters
The top 10 in this category includes the percentages of Yes votes cast by the MEPs, out of the
total number of their votes.
The MEPs who voted “Yes” most often come mainly from countries in Eastern and Southern
Europe, such as Romania, Spain, France, Greece, Portugal and Bulgaria. From the political
perspective, the top 10 MEPs come from among the non-attached and S&D group, as well as
one ALDE Group MEP.
Rank Last name First
name Country Group
National Party
MEP since Total
votes of the MEP
% YES
1 VADIM TUDOR
Corneliu Romania NI Partidul România
Mare 2009-07-14 3288 91
2 ZAMFIRESCU Dan
Dumitru Romania NI
Partidul România
Mare 2013-01-09 1562 84
3 SOSA
WAGNER Francisco Spain NI
Unión, Progreso y
Democracia 2009-07-14 4525 76
4 LYUBCHEVA Marusya Bulgaria S&D Coalition for
Bulgaria 2013-06-07 882 74
5 BONANINI Franco Italy NI Indipendente 2013-04-12 1080 73
6 ALFANO Sonia Italy ALDE/ADLE Italia dei
Valori - Lista Di Pietro
2009-07-14 3162 72
7 FRIGO Franco Italy S&D Partito
Democratico 2013-05-07 955 72
8 GOMES Ana Portugal S&D Partido
Socialista 2009-07-14 4364 72
9 DÉSIR Harlem France S&D Parti
Socialiste 2009-07-14 2570 72
10 ARSENIS Kriton Greece S&D Independent 2009-07-14 4470 71
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b) Top 10 “No” voters
The top 10 in the No category is based on the percentages of No votes cast by the MEPs, out
of the total number of their votes.
Unlike the previous list, most No votes come from the North-Western EU (the Netherlands
and UK), while two MEPs in the list are from France and Croatia. From a political point of view,
most votes seem to come from eurosceptic and anti-EU MEPs (ECR, EFD and non-attached
Members).
Rank Last name First name Country Group National Party MEP since Total votes of the MEP
% NO
1 KAMMEN Patricia van
der Netherlands NI
Partij voor de Vrijheid
2012-10-03 1619 69
2 J.A.J.
STASSEN Laurence Netherlands NI
Partij voor de Vrijheid
2009-07-14 4631 69
3 ZIJLSTRA Auke Netherlands NI Partij voor de
Vrijheid 2011-09-13 2831 69
4 HARTONG Lucas Netherlands NI Partij voor de
Vrijheid 2010-06-22 3956 69
5 VILLIERS Philippe de France EFD Mouvement
pour la France 2009-07-14 2357 68
6 FARAGE Nigel United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom Independence
Party 2009-07-14 2343 68
7 STOEP Daniël van
der Netherlands NI Independent 2009-07-14 4205 67
8 NUTTALL Paul United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom Independence
Party 2009-07-14 2221 66
9 BUFTON John United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom Independence
Party 2009-07-14 3862 64
10 TOMAŠIĆ Ruža Croatia ECR Hrvatska stranka
prave dr. Ante Starčević
2013-07-01 728 64
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c) Top 10 “Abstain” votes
This ranking contains the top 10 MEPs who abstained from votes most often. The percentages
are based on the total number of votes cast by each MEPs.
As in the case of No votes, the MEPs with most abstentions come from the extremes of the
hemicycle: five non-attached MEPs, four EFD Members and one from GUE-NGL.
From a geographical perspective, half of the MEPs in the list come from UK; the others from
Lithuania, Belgium, Greece and Hungary.
Rank Last name First name Country Group National Party MEP since Total votes of the MEP
% Abstain
1 MORVAI Krisztina Hungary NI JOBBIK
MAGYARORSZÁGÉRT MOZGALOM
2009-07-14 2791 43
2 PAKSAS Rolandas Lithuania EFD Partija Tvarka ir
teisingumas 2009-07-14 3373 38
3 SINCLAIRE Nicole United
Kingdom NI
We Demand a Referendum
2009-07-14 3696 36
4 COLMAN Trevor United
Kingdom NI
United Kingdom Independence
Party 2009-07-14 2617 35
5 BLOOM Godfrey United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom Independence
Party 2009-07-14 1541 28
6 IMBRASAS Juozas Lithuania EFD Partija Tvarka ir
teisingumas 2009-07-14 4340 28
7 NATTRASS Mike United
Kingdom NI
United Kingdom Independence
Party 2009-07-14 3864 28
8 ANGOURAKIS Charalampos Greece GUE-NGL
Communist Party of Greece
2009-10-14 3788 23
9 BATTEN Gerard United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom Independence
Party 2009-07-14 3402 23
10 CLAEYS Philip Belgium NI Vlaams Belang 2009-07-14 4741 23
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d) Top 10 “Didn’t vote”
In the context of this report, “didn’t vote” means that the MEP signed the attendance register
that day, but did not vote in some or all of the roll-call votes which took place.
The percentages is based on the total number of votes that took place in the EP since each of
the MEPs joined.
The first two positions are taken up by the current and former Presidents of the European
Parliament. As noted above, EP Presidents normally do not take part in votes.
The other MEPs in this “top 10” come from a variety of countries and political groups, with
no obvious pattern.
Rank Last name First
name Country Group National Party MEP since
Total votes while this
person was an MEP
% Didn’t vote
1 SCHULZ Martin Germany S&D Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
2009-07-14 5085 59
2 BUZEK Jerzy Poland EPP Platforma
Obywatelska 2009-07-14 5085 49
3 BLOOM Godfrey United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom Independence Party
2009-07-14 5085 46
4 FARAGE Nigel United
Kingdom EFD
United Kingdom Independence Party
2009-07-14 5085 37
5 BARRACCIU Francesca Italy S&D Partito Democratico 2012-12-17 1580 37
6 DÉSIR Harlem France S&D Parti Socialiste 2009-07-14 5085 35
7 ROTH-
BEHRENDT Dagmar Germany S&D
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
2009-07-14 5085 34
8 LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE
Antonio Spain EPP Partido Popular 2009-07-14 5085 32
9 TREMATERRA Gino Italy EPP
Unione dei Democratici cristiani e dei Democratici di
Centro
2011-12-01 2720 30
10 BAALEN Johannes Cornelis
van Netherlands
ALDE/ADLE
Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie
2009-07-14 5085 29
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4. How do national party delegations vote?
This section looks at the likelihood of an MEP voting “Yes” based on his/her political group
and member state.
We took the largest national party delegation, the German EPP delegation, as basis for
comparison with all the other delegations. We found that:
For final votes on EU legislation:
German EPP MEPs vote Yes 94.6% of the time
ALDE members are not statistically different from EPP members
The other EP groups all vote Yes less often than EPP members, in declining order: S&D -2.4%, ECR -14.2%, G/EFA -15.8%, EFD -39.2%, GUE -42.3%, NI -47.7%
Most member states’ delegations of MEPs are not statistically different from German MEPs
But, Bulgarian, Italian, Lithuanian, and Romanian MEPs are more likely to vote Yes than German MEPs
While, UK MEPs are less likely to vote Yes than German MEPs, and also Dutch MEPs (though only slightly)
For all votes (legislative and non-legislative, separate votes and final votes):
German EPP MEPs vote Yes 61% of the time
Groups that vote Yes more often than EPP: S&D (+7.7%), G/EFA (+6.8%), ALDE (+4.8%)
Groups that vote Yes less often than EPP: EFD (-18.9%), NI (-16.9%), ECR (-14.2%), GUE (-6.0%)
Most member states’ delegations of MEPs are not statistically different from German MEPs
But, Italian and Romanian MEPs are more likely to vote Yes than German MEPs
While, UK, Dutch, and Swedish MEPs are less likely to vote Yes than German MEPs
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5. Conclusions
The quantitative analysis of the votes cast by all current MEPs makes it possible to identify possible voting patterns in the European Parliament.
While most of the Members in the top 10 voters in the “yes” category come from among Southern European MEPs, most “no” voters come from North-Western Europe. Overall, Bulgarian, Italian, Lithuanian, and Romanian MEPs are the most likely to vote “yes”, while UK and Dutch ones are least likely to do so.
From a political perspective, the “no” and “abstain” top positions in the lists are dominated by non-attached or EFD MEPs, while in the “yes” and “didn’t vote” lists, the top positions come both from groups at the extremes and the centre of the political spectrum. However, when looked only at legislative votes, the trends in the “yes” category become more evident, as the EPP and ALDE Members are most likely to vote “yes”, followed closely by S&D.
In the case of abstentions and non-participation in votes, the links with nationality are less evident.
When looked at from the perspective of the length of the mandate, it seems that newer MEPs vote “yes” more often than older ones.
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About VoteWatch Europe
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
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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
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