The "MEP entrepreneur index", a new tool launched by Eurochambres and VoteWatch Europe on Wednesday 6 March, aimed at increasing the transparency and accountability of MEPs towards European citizens, does not convince everyone, as does the NGO Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO).
With less than three months to go before the European elections, this tool gives each Member of the European Parliament a score, ranging from 0 to 100, depending on their votes, between 2014 and 2019, on a range of topics considered important for entrepreneurs, such as access to capital and a skilled workforce or the reduction of non-tariff barriers between Member States.
Thus, the higher the score, the more the MEP supports EU policies aimed at creating an environment conducive to entrepreneurship, promoting open global trade and reducing the regulation of economic activities.
According to Christoph Leitl, President of Eurochambres, this tool, by providing public access to data on the "electoral behaviour of politicians", enhances the transparency and accountability of MEPs, and will help European citizens to vote "in an informed way".
But Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), an NGO whose main objective is to increase the transparency of European policy-making, is far from sharing this enthusiasm.
Although it recognises the importance of having data on the voting behaviour of MEPs, in order to enable citizens to then "hold them to account", the NGO considers that this index has serious shortcomings.
"The MEP entrepreneur index uses a very narrow lens to judge MEPs as 'good' or 'bad' in relation to a limited number of votes used as indicators, including votes that are highly controversial," said Pia Eberhardt, trade policy researcher at CEO.
And then to illustrate her words: "Parliamentarians who voted in favour of the EU-Canada trade deal [’CETA’], for example, get a thumbs up [and therefore points] for trying to establish a more stimulating environment for enterprising, while those that voted against get zero points. How does that fit with the CETA opposition of quite a few small and medium-sized businesses [or] of public water companies because it threatens their business model?"
Consult the tool: https://bit.ly/2J7yRuG. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot - intern)