Why do European political groups call the roll?

Abstract

Research on legislative behaviour in the European Parliament is heavily reliant on recorded votes. Previous theoretical work has uncovered competing selection mechanisms that might cause a vote to be recorded. It has been argued that European Political Groups call the roll because the voting mode affects MEPs’ voting decisions. However, the underlying causal mechanism, as well as the size and direction of this effect, remains a matter of dispute. Drawing on a unique dataset, the article puts these arguments to an empirical test, the results suggesting that European Political Groups are more likely to call the roll if they stand to benefit from an overall lower level of voting cohesion. Moreover, I find that roll-call votes are frequently motivated by position-taking rather than by policy-seeking motives. These findings have significant, but ambivalent, implications for the analysis of recorded votes in the European Parliament.