Portugal in the European Parliament: Assessing the performance

and behaviour of Portuguese MEPs during the 8th EP term

The dataset attached to this report provides quantitative information on the activities of the
Portuguese Members of the European Parliament during the 8th legislative term (2014 – 2019).
The figures in the dataset were calculated by VoteWatch Europe, based on data collected from
official sources of the European Parliament.
The dataset is structured as follows:

1 – Performance of the Portuguese delegation as a whole;

2 – Voting attendance of individual Portuguese MEPs;
3 – Alignment of voting behaviour of individual Portuguese MEPs with their national parties/
EU political groups;
4 – Level of influence, within the European Parliament, of individual Portuguese MEPs;
5 – Alignment of voting behaviour of Portuguese national parties with their EU political
groups;
6 – Coalition buildings dynamics between Portuguese parties;
7 – Winning rates of Portuguese parties in the European Parliament.

When looking at the numbers, please keep in mind that most of the scores are based on over
10.000 roll-call votes in the European Parliament. While differences of a few percentage points
might seem small to some, each % point represents about one hundred votes. The following
sections will provide information on the meaning of the figures, the methodology and the most
interesting patterns.

1) Performance of the Portuguese delegation as a whole

The performance of the Portuguese delegation as a whole is quite positive, when compared to
other national delegations. The Portuguese MEPs are the 6th most participative national group
in the voting sessions in the plenary of the European Parliament (on average) and the 8th most
influential national group (on average) on in the European Parliament.
Participation is calculated based on how many times Portuguese MEPs cast votes in the
European Parliament, in the case of roll-call votes. Voting participation is a more accurate
measurement of MEPs’ attendance than the signing of the attendance register, since the former
requires MEPs to take part in the voting session itself. Conversely, MEPs have a strong
incentive to sign the attendance register in order to get their flat-rate allowances, but they can
still decide to skip some of the voting sessions, since this would not lead to major financial
losses.
Our influence assessment is based on a set of criteria that were weighted based on the insights
of hundreds of EU experts. The criteria are grouped in three different categories:
- Legislative activities: drafting reports, opinion reports, shadow rapporteurships, etc…
- Leadership positions: positions within political groups, EP committees, EP bureau, etc…
- Network: seniority, belonging to parties in government, affiliation to influential groups, etc…
More details can be found in our latest update from 2017. Our next update will be publish in
mid-April 2019.
Our data shows that there are not big differences with regards to the performance of Portuguese
MEPs when it comes to contributing to shape legislation and getting leadership positions in the
EP. Please note that we refer to average scores of Portuguese MEPs, which put them on a level
playing field with bigger (and smaller) national delegations in the EP.
Overall, the Portuguese delegation seems to benefit from the absence of right-wing nationalists
members (which currently tend to be more isolated, and consequently, exert less influence) and
the concentration of most Portuguese members within the two largest (and more influential)
groups, the EPP and S&D.

2) Voting attendance of individual Portuguese MEPs

As explained in the previous paragraph, participation is calculated based on how many times
Portuguese MEPs cast votes in the European Parliament, when voting took place by roll-call.
Three Portuguese are among the top 100 most participative MEPs during the 8th term: Carlos
Zorrinho (Partido Socialista), Pedro Silva Pereira (Partido Socialista), Sofia Ribeiro (Partido
Social Democrata) and Carlos Coelho (Partido Social Democrata). Out of 21 Portuguese
members, 15 are in the top half of the overall ranking. Conversely, Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar
(Partido Social Democrata) had the lowest voting attendance from among Portuguese MEPs.
As a note of caution, it should be considered that participation by MEPs in external official
activities on behalf of the European Parliament can have an impact on the roll-call votes
participation rate.

3) Alignment of voting behaviour of individual Portuguese MEPs with

their national parties & EU political groups

The scores reflect the % of times MEPs voted alongside their political groups (alignment with
political group), as well as % of times MEPs voted alongside their national party colleagues
(alignment with national party). The position of a political group is defined as the position of
a plurality of MEPs belonging to the political group. Likewise, the position of a national party
is defined as the position of a plurality of MEPs belonging to the national party.
The views of 15 Portuguese members are more often aligned with those of their political groups
than the EP average. A rather high rate of alignment is observed among Socialist MEPs, with
Maria João Rodrigues having the 5th highest alignment rate with her own political group in the
EP.
However, only two MEPs, namely Maria João Rodrigues and Ana Gomes, have voted more
often in line with their European groups than their national parties, whereas in all other cases,
not surprisingly, MEPs prioritise the line of their national parties over that of their European
groups.
Quite interestingly, in many cases we observe an inverse correlation between the two different
rates of alignments. Several Socialist and Social Democrat members have a lower rate of
alignment with their national parties than the EP average. Conversely, Communist MEPs
almost always follow their party lines, whereas they are way more often at odds with the
positions of their European group, GUE/NGL.
Members of parties with only one MEP are always completely aligned with themselves (this is
why their alignment score is 100%). However, MEPs elected in the list of Partido de Terra are
more often at odds with the views of their political groups than the other Portuguese MEPs.
José Inácio Faria even switched political group (from ALDE to EPP) in the middle of the term.

4) Level of influence of individual Portuguese MEPs;

As described in the first section, our influence assessment is based on a complex algorithm that
takes into account several activities and positions of MEPs.
According to our algorithm, José Manuel Fernandes (PSD) is the most influential Portuguese
MEP. From among the Socialists, Carlos Zorrinho had the greatest impact in the EP, followed
by Ricardo Serrao Santos. We also found that 14 Portuguese MEPs are more influential than
the average MEP.
As previously mentioned, this is not an assessment of the best and the worst, or the good and
the bad. “Influence” is a neutral term in this context, indicating the level of power that an MEP
masters in order to get things done at this point in time. Changes in the overall coalition-
building dynamics in the EP also affects the influence of individual MEPs, since members of
marginalized groups have less chances to shape legislation than their fellow colleagues from
other groups.

5) Alignment of voting behaviour of Portuguese national parties with

their EU political groups
The scores reflect the % of times Portuguese national parties voted alongside their political
groups (alignment with political group), as well as % of times MEPs voted alongside their
national party colleagues (alignment with national party). The position of a political group is
defined as the position of a plurality of MEPs belonging to the political group. Likewise, the
position of a national party is defined as the position of a plurality of MEPs belonging to the
national party.
Partido Socialista is the most closely aligned with the positions of its group, S&D, followed by
the other large Portuguese party, Partido Social Democrata. On the opposite end, Partido
Comunista Português disagreed with the position of GUE/NGL almost 25% of times. The,
often observed, lower level of alignment of smaller partier with their respective groups might
be due to the lower level of influence that smaller parties exert within their groups.
Our dataset also shows the rates of alignment across different policy areas. For instance, Partido
Socialista has a lower rate of alignment with S&D on Transport & Tourism, whereas Partido
Social Democrata has a lower rate of alignment with EPP on Gender Equality.

6) Coalition buildings dynamics between Portuguese parties

This section provides a multitude of data on the % of times Portuguese national parties voted
alongside one another. The position of a national party is defined as the position of a plurality
of MEPs belonging to that national party.
The rows in yellow display the overall agreement rates between different Portuguese parties
(Party 1 and Party 2). Partido Social Democrata and Partido Popular are the closest from among
the Portuguese parties, they agreed with each other almost 95% of times. This is not surprising
since they belong to the same political group, the EPP.
However, Bloco de Esquerda agreed with Partido Comunista Português less than 75% of times,
despite being part of the same group, GUE/NGL. The best match for Partido Socialista is
Partido Democrático Republicano (ALDE), followed by Partido de Terra. Additionally, the
Socialists agreed more often with the Portuguese EPP members rather than with the left-wing
parties in GUE/NGL.
However, there are differences from across the policy areas. The rows in white provide you
with the full picture. While PS and PSD often agreed on Regional Development (95%) and
Budget (89%), while more seldomly agreeing on Environment and Public Health (55%).
Conversely, PS often voted in the same way as Bloco de Esquerda on Gender Equality, whereas
they rarely agreed on International Trade (38%).
As for PSD and PP, they agreed the least on Gender Equality (74%), but they also saw some
disagreement when it came to Employment & Social Affairs (88%).

7) Winning rates of Portuguese parties in the European Parliament

This final section shows how often (in %) Portuguese national parties were on the winning side
in the European Parliament. Partido Socialista was most frequently on the winning side (87%),
followed by Partido Social Democrata (85%). Conversely, the two left-wing parties belonging
to GUE/NGL have been more frequently on the losing side rather than the winning one.
Our dataset also shows the rates of alignment across different policy areas. For instance, Partido
Social Democrata has the highest winning rate (from among the Portuguese parties) on
economic matters such as International Trade, Budget, Employment and Social Affairs, etc.
Conversely, Partido Socialista gets the upper hand on some issues, such as Civil Liberties,
Justice and Home Affairs, Gender Equality, Development, etc.