According to an analysis published by EUmatrix.eu on Tuesday, 18 October, the German delegation in the European Parliament is the most influential delegation overall as well as one of the best-performing delegations in proportion to its size.
“The main factor is the strong German representation in leadership positions, which is due to the fact that the Germans are the biggest delegation in both the EPP and the Greens/EFA and one of the largest in S&D and The Left”, the study explains.
The analysis points out that, while the German delegation is—along with the French delegation—the most influential, the latter is much more fragmented, with about a third of the delegation belonging to the ID group, and adds that most of the elected representatives come from parties that are currently in opposition in France, which reduces their overall political weight in the European Parliament.
Among the small countries, the Maltese—notably thanks to Roberta Metsola’s presidency of the European Parliament—have the most influence in comparison with the size of their delegation, followed by Luxembourgers (who have the best voting performance on average) and Finns (who are strong with respect to their network and their legislative activities). Slovaks, Cypriots, and Slovenes are the worst-performing national groups.
As far as MEPs are concerned, the 10 most influential elected representatives are Roberta Metsola, EPP President Manfred Weber (German), Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finnish), S&D President Iratxe García Pérez (Spanish), Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgian), Juan Fernando López Aguilár (S&D, Spanish), Bernd Lange (S&D, German), Renew Europe President Stéphane Séjourné (French), Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Dutch), and Othmar Karas (EPP, Austrian).
EUmatrix.eu specifies that it measures influence using a combination of criteria, namely formal and informal leadership positions, actual legislative work, political network, committee membership, and voting behaviour.
See the study: https://aeur.eu/f/3o2 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)