Members Of European Parliament Research Articles

Crisis Learning or Reform Backlog? The European Parliament’s Treaty‐Change Proposals During the Polycrisis

In May 2022, the European Parliament (EP) launched a procedure to amend the EU treaties and began drafting a report with concrete reform proposals. In their resolution, EP members explicitly described this as a necessary response to recent crises (notably the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic, and climate change) as well as a follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe. However, the stated objectives of the reform, in particular more efficient and democratic EU decision-making, were not new but followed long-standing discourses on deepening EU integration. This raises the question of to what degree the EP’s initiative really reflected a lesson from recent crises—in line with a “failing forward” approach towards EU reform—or rather a “backlog” of reforms which had already been proposed before but whose implementation had been blocked by member states, and for which the crises only represented a window of opportunity. The article assesses the development of treaty change proposals by the EP and bodies close to it, comparing three comprehensive plans for institutional reform: the federalist Spinelli Group’s Fundamental Law for the EU (2013), the EP’s Verhofstadt Report (2017), and the EP’s latest Article 48 Report (2023). The comparison shows that, while the crises had an impact on the level of ambition in some policy areas, the EP’s general approach, especially on institutional issues, was characterised by a high degree of continuity.

Understanding European Union Climate Change Governance through Political Parties Euromanifesto

This study offers a novelty specifying climate change as the legislation results in the European Parliament (EP) as an indicator of the consistency of political groups in realising their Euromanifestos. The article aims to investigate precisely the prospects and future of climate change policies in the EU post the 2019 general election. This study adopted qualitative legal research methods by studying the Euromanifestos of political groups in the European Union that competed in the 2019 European elections. Environmental issues, particularly climate change, were a significant focus in the study of these manifestos. Based on data from Euromanifesto, this study selected five EU Regulations as indicators of realising such political promises. In addition, the record of legislation and the results of voting during the establishment of the regulation was also applied as a data source in this study. In general, the cohesion between political groups in the EP is excellent. Based on a manifesto study, there are three essential findings; namely, most political groups in the EP make environmental issues, especially climate change, a politicised issue in elections. The second finding is that there are specific intersections between political groups, so it has implications for making the issue of climate change a common interest, and the results of the vote showed that a majority of Member of European Parliament members supported the establishment of the regulation. Finally, the solidarity of the EP political group cohesion in establishing regulations related to climate change is the last finding in this research.

‘A Force for Good’: The Narrative Construction of Ethical EU–Vietnam Trade Relations

AbstractPolitical representation of problems includes an aim to control an audience's impressions and create a societally‐acceptable social reality. This paper analyses the narrative construction of ethical trade between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam. As an undemocratic Other, Vietnam has been sharply criticized for its human rights record by civil society and Members of European Parliament. Yet, the EU recently concluded two trade agreements with Vietnam. We argue that, unchallenged by the European Parliament, the European Commission created a performative 'story of change' for its European audience by simultaneously appealing to underlying 'neoliberal' and 'development' paradigms. In this narrative, the EU and Vietnam star as the main characters, who, in their joint attempts to make bilateral trade 'a force for good', live moments of heroism, encounter fleeting instances of victimhood, and defeat villains on the path to ethical trade.

Challenges to Democratic Practices and Discourses in the European Parliament: Feminist Perspectives on the Politics of Political Groups

AbstractThe European Parliament is now host to a significant number of politicians from radical right populist parties, leaving the Parliament to deal with illiberal elements within its structures. At the heart of the European Union's democratic values is a commitment to gender equality, a commitment hotly contested by illiberal actors and radical right populists. The research objective of this article is to use feminist political theories of democracy to understand the challenges and possibilities for democracy in the European Parliament. This overarching research objective is approached through studying political groups’ discourses and practices of democracy and equality. A qualitative analysis of parliamentary debates and interviews with European Parliament Members and staff in the 2014–2019 and 2019–2024 legislatures makes it possible to identify both antagonistic dynamics targeting gender and human rights and agonistic deliberation which creates opportunities for improving democratic practices.

When politicization meets ideology: the European Parliament and free trade agreements

AbstractSince the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament (EP) has considerably increased its competencies in European Union (EU) trade policy. At the same time, a ‘new generation’ of free trade agreements (FTAs), including the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the United States, Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada, and the agreement with Japan, have been negotiated by the European Commission. Although existing literature has tackled the process of the EP's institutional self-empowerment in this policy area, there is no systematic research investigating the lines of conflict within the EP over FTAs. Through a newly collected dataset of all EP plenary debates between 2009 and 2019 on six relevant FTAs, we extract EP Members’ (MEPs) preferences by means of a manual textual analysis. We then test the explanatory power of the two traditional lines of cleavages within the EP over MEPs stated preferences: position on the left-right axis and support for EU integration. We find that both these dimensions fundamentally shape the conflict in the EP over FTAs. The impact of these two ideological cleavages is magnified in the context of politicized FTAs, namely the TTIP and CETA. Through these findings, the paper significantly contributes to the research on competition in the EP and, more broadly, to the understanding of EU trade policy and its emerging politicization dynamics.

A database about the Members of European Parliament: Contributions and limitations of automated data collection in the study of European political elites

Over the past 25 years, a field of research concerning the careers of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) has developed. Drawing on a massive amount of accessible open data, we have assembled an updated database including all MEPs from 1979 to September 2019. In this note, we describe the data collection processes and the construction of the database. Then, we propose an application concerning the turnover at the EP following the 2019 European elections. The longitudinal perspective provided by the database allows us to describe this turnover, which is important, but varies greatly according to nationality and political group, and does not fundamentally alter the division of parliamentary power. Finally, we identify some limitations: the lack of data in MEP profiles and difficulties both in the comparison between people from 27 countries and the comparison over a long period (1979–2019). As a result, the article shows that automated data collection can be very useful. However, in the case of individuals, as MEPs, it should be seen as a complementary source to other sources.

Weathering growing polarization? The European Parliament and EU foreign climate policy ambitions

ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) faces two parallel trends of growing polarization. Externally, ambitious climate action has become more contested and global power relations are shifting. Internally, European elections brought more Eurosceptics to Parliament, altering its political majorities and making it more difficult for mainstream parties to continue the European Parliament’s (EP) long-standing policy positions such as ambitious climate policy. We analyze the impact of growing internal and external polarization trends on Members of European Parliament (MEPs) and political group’s positions on EU foreign climate policy ambitions between 2009 and 2019. Using an original dataset of plenary debates, we find that the EP as a whole has remained surprisingly stable in its support of ambitious foreign climate policy. Yet, when looking at the qualitative details of MEPs’ positions, we uncover significant variance in the ways in which MEPs from various political groups perceive the EU’s global role over time.

Editors' Note

Editors' Note

Enlarging the Immunities of European Parliament’s Members: The Junqueras Judgment

AbstractMembers of Parliament have traditionally enjoyed different kinds of immunities; nowadays, these are openly criticized on several grounds. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has recently given a judgment on the inviolability of European Parliament’s members, which might be regarded as a milestone in its scarce case law on the matter: Oriol Junqueras Vies, Judgment of the Grand Chamber of December 19, 2019. This Article intends to summarize and comment on this decision, a preliminary reference requested by the Spanish Supreme Court in a notorious criminal procedure, connected with the suspended referendum on Catalonia’s independence. The CJEU reinforces the inviolability of Members of European Parliament (MEPs), thus strengthening the powers of this institution. However, the judgment perhaps fails to fully capture European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case law and was rendered at a time when the controversy on Mr. Junqueras had arguably become outdated.

Opodatkowanie podatkiem dochodowym wynagrodzenia i innych świadczeń otrzymywanych przez posłów wybranych w Polsce do Parlamentu Europejskiego oraz świadczeń otrzymywanych przez posłów i senatorów wybranych do parlamentu krajowego

The salary of a Member of European Parliament is taxed on the same terms as salaries of officials and other employees of the European Union. Benefits related to exercising of a MEP mandate are tax free (exempt from EU tax). MEPs’ salaries, parliamentary allowances and other incomes are exempt from Polish income tax. The Polish domestic MPs’ salaries are taxed with a personal income tax as an income from employment. The parliamentary allowance and certain other benefits are exempt from the income tax.

The European Parliament’s mandate for trilogues: explaining the discretion of political group advisors

ABSTRACT To fully grasp EU inter-institutional negotiations, we need to understand how EU institutions internally prepare for trilogues and what the involvement of staff actors is in this process. This article sets out to uncover the backstage co-ordination of the European Parliament’s (EP) mandate for trilogues and seeks to explain the discretion of political group advisors (PGAs) in these preparations. Based on interviews and a survey, it identifies the conditions reinforcing or constraining their autonomy. PGAs’ autonomy is highest during the early stages of co-ordination, ahead of group and shadows meetings. PGAs then act without clear instructions and base their actions on what they deem to be in line with the group’s political agenda. Trust is a necessary condition for their pro-active involvement in the intra-institutional negotiations, since (shadow) rapporteurs allocate work to EP staff actors only when they can rely on their loyalty. In addition, advisors’ political sensitivity and informal networks enable them to accurately represent political positions in negotiations at staff level and formulate strategies acceptable to Members of European Parliament (MEPs).

How IPF has changed our lives

How IPF has changed our lives

Framing immobility: Schengen governance in times of pandemics

ABSTRACT The uncoordinated closing down of internal borders, lock-downs and quarantines have limited the freedom of movement in Europe as never before. How have EU institutions framed this unprecedented immobility and what lessons can be drawn for Schengen as a highly politicized instrument of governance? Adopting a social constructivist approach, we study how between March and July 2020, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council/European Council have framed the debate around immobility in Europe. This article shows that the emergence of the public health frame has mostly been linked by EU Member States to traditional notions of internal security, demonstrating continuity with prior crises. Appeals to a functional-solidarity frame involving more coordination and non-discrimination were made by the European Commission, mainstream Members of European Parliament (MEPs) as well as some countries such as France and Germany. Justified by the public health emergency and compensated by innovative solutions such as the ‘green lanes’ – proving the adaptability of the EU -, the reintroduction of internal border controls has nonetheless been normalised, raising questions about the future of transnational solidarity.

Gender, Violence, and Political Institutions: Struggles over Sexual Harassment in the European Parliament

Abstract The global #MeToo movement exposed the prevalence of sexual harassment across countries, in diverse contexts, and within institutions; including the supposedly gender-friendly European Parliament (EP). Using a unique set of interview data with key actors in the #MeTooEP campaign and Members of European Parliament and staff, this article analyzes the discursive struggles around sexual harassment in the EP. The analysis shows how these discourses fundamentally shaped the patchy institutional response to sexual harassment with findings that illuminate the resistance to institutional change.

Legislators, organizations and ties: Understanding interest group recognition in the European Parliament

AbstractWhat explains Members of European Parliament's (MEPs’) decisions to recognize some interest groups as relevant policy actors? Addressing this question is fundamental for understanding the role of political elites in shaping patterns of interest representation and interest groups’ role in legislative decision making. Building on theories of legislative behaviour and informational theories of legislative lobbying, we argue that MEPs give recognition to those organizations that are instrumental for achieving key political goals: re‐election, career‐progression and policy influence. The pursuit of these goals generates different patterns of MEP recognition of interest groups. We contribute to the literature in three ways. Conceptually, we propose interest group recognition as a key concept for understanding interactions and links between legislative and non‐legislative actors. We illustrate the high conceptual relevance of recognition for interest groups research while noting its conspicuous neglect in the literature. We address this gap and place the concept central stage in understanding legislators’ attention to and behaviour towards interest organizations. Theoretically, we build on a classic framework explaining legislators’ behaviour and refine it through the lenses of informational theories of legislative lobbying. We argue and show that legislators recognize organizations that enhance electoral prospects in their home Member States, and that legislator–group ideological proximity and an interest group's prominence in a specific policy field affect MEPs’ decisions to recognize some organizations as relevant actors. Our argument acknowledges the importance of the broader context in which MEPs operate and pays attention to how they react to and interact with it. Empirically, we propose an original and innovative research design to identify and measure recognition with the help of social media data. Our measurement strategy constitutes a significant improvement insofar that it reduces the challenges of measurement bias usually associated with self‐reported data generated through interviews, surveys, or the textual analysis of newspaper articles and official documents. Our research design allows using fine‐grained measures of key dependent and explanatory variables and offers the very first analysis of MEP interest group recognition that holds across decision‐making events and policy areas. We test our argument on a new dataset with 4 million observations recording the recognition of more than 7,000 organizations by 80 per cent of MEPs serving in EP8. We find that MEPs are more likely to recognize organizations from their Member State, particularly under flexible‐ and open‐list electoral institutions. MEPs are also more likely to recognize organizations that share their ideological affinities and are prominent actors in policy areas legislators specialize in.

Who is fighting against the EU's energy and climate policy in the European Parliament? The contribution of the Visegrad Group

Our research focuses on EU energy and climate policy by examining the voting behaviour of Visegrad members of European Parliament (MEPs) during the Eighth Parliament (covering the period 1 July 2014–18 April 2019). In contrast to the main streams of literature, which primarily analyse the Visegrad countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) as an example of a regional coalition and their role in the EU, we focus on the internal coherence of the group and especially issues on which they vote differently as well as their voting affiliation with political groups within the European Parliament. Our research is methodologically based on the analysis of roll-call votes (RCV). We conclude that there is considerable heterogeneity evident in MEP voting behaviour and thus we can assume that the relative proximity among Visegrad countries’ positions is not apparent in the European Parliament. Moreover, we have confirmed that hard Eurosceptic MEPs are not a homogenous group and in the EP seeking support for legislative approval is more difficult than may be expected.

The voting of EU members for common consolidated corporate tax base and the tax benefits

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between the voting behaviour of European Parliament members on the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) proposal and economic characteristics of their respective countries. We are concerned about the political and economy factors behind policy and decision making of CCCTB in European Parliament. The analysis is conducted with Logit model identifying factors affecting the voting consultation decision of the Parliament of the European Union in 2018. Particularly, we investigate the impact of four components taken from tax benefit index proposed by W. Orłowski. We have found that economic factors alone are responsible the voting behaviour of the European Union deputies, not their personal characteristics.

European Affiliations or National Interests? Analyses of Voting Patterns on Trade Policy in European Parliament

AbstractThis article examines the determinants of voting patterns within the European Parliament for EU trade legislations including EU trade agreements. Given that trade is a very sensitive issue for particular Member States, our question is to verify whether members of European Parliament (MEP) tend to vote in line with their political affiliation or national identity prevails in voting for trade-related issues. Our results from EU trade agreements with Korea and Columbia/Peru show that MEPs tend to vote with others in their political groups in trade legislations and their voting pattern is not very different from the overall voting pattern observed in other policy areas. This trend is confirmed by both the comparison of intra-voting cohesion index and the empirical test based on the probit model. Country-specific variables do not explain well the voting behavior of MEPs in trade issues. However, it is noteworthy that some MEPs voted in line with their national interests in case of EU-Korea FTA.

Playing a critical role in expanding Europe's horizons

The Horizon 2020 programme is the largest and most ambitious research and innovation programme ever undertaken by the EU, which has committed to investing almost €80 billion in thousands of projects between 2014 and 2020. The Programme seeks to promote research and innovation and to boost the number of breakthroughs, discoveries and groundbreaking developments achieved in Europe, as well as to facilitate the process of taking this progress from the laboratory to the marketplace. As the means for driving economic growth and creating jobs in a bid to secure Europe's global competitiveness, Horizon 2020 is backed by Europe's leaders and members of the European Parliament. The critical role played by research sets it at the very heart of this programme's investments in the future of citizens of the EU.

Trade Protectionism as the Achilles Heel of International Cooperation and Countermeasures Focused on the EU – Japan FTA

Intensified trade protectionism led by the Trump administration in the U.S.negated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) AgreementuntilJapanese Prime Minister Abe restored it in 2018 without U.S. participation. At present, the trade wars between China and the U.S. and between the European Union (EU) and the U.S. are still ongoing processes and no one can predict exactly what the results will be for the global economy. Eventually, trade protectionism may be regarded as the Achilles heel of global economic cooperation. Despite the protectionist atmosphere, there is a pro free trade movement in the global economy. The EU and Japan started negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) in 2012 and finalized their agreement in December 2017 after 18 rounds of negotiation. The two parties agreed in principle on the main elements of the EU-Japan FTA. After a legal verification and translation process, the European Commission submitted the agreement for the approval of the European Parliament and EU members. As a highly developed economy and a major global trader and investor, Japan is one of the most important partners for the EU. The EU-Japan FTA will lead to extensive economic cooperation accounting for approximately 30% of global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017. Moreover, the EU-Japan FTA removes many barriers and establishes global trade rules in line with the high standards of free trade and shared values. In addition, it sends a powerful signal that two major economies reject the protectionism that has arisen since the global financial crisis in 2008 in general and the Trump administration in 2017 in particular. This article focuses on the EU-Japan FTA and examines whether it will boost economic growth and provide benefits for both parties. It also investigates and analyzes which industrial sectors will profit the most in the two economies. Finally, it estimates the impact of the EU-Japan FTA on the global trade environment.