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Party Policy and Group Affiliation in the European Parliament

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  • McElroy, Gail
  • Benoit, Kenneth

Abstract

Systematic empirical research has yet to explain how national parties join political groups in the European Parliament. This article first demonstrates, using original empirical measures from expert surveys of party positions, that EP party groups consist of national parties sharing similar policy positions. Secondly, using Bayesian/MCMC methods, the paper estimates the policy determinants of group affiliation using a (conditional) multinomial logit model to explain that ‘party group’ choice is largely driven by policy congruence. Finally, predictions from the model identify national parties not in their ‘ideally congruent’ EP groups. The findings suggest that the organization of and switching between EP groups is driven mainly by a concern to minimize policy incongruence between national and transnational levels.

Suggested Citation

  • McElroy, Gail & Benoit, Kenneth, 2010. "Party Policy and Group Affiliation in the European Parliament," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(2), pages 377-398, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:40:y:2010:i:02:p:377-398_99
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Steffen Hurka, 2013. "Changing the output: The logic of amendment success in the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee," European Union Politics, , vol. 14(2), pages 273-296, June.
    2. Fabio Sozzi, 2013. "National Parties, Political Processes and the EU democratic deficit: The Problem of Europarties Institutionalization," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 4, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    3. Edoardo Bressanelli & Christel Koop & Christine Reh, 2016. "The impact of informalisation: Early agreements and voting cohesion in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 17(1), pages 91-113, March.
    4. Matthias Diermeier & Hannah Frohwein & Aljoscha Nau, 2021. "Assessing One for one and none for all – The Radical Right in the European Parliament," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 167, European Institute, LSE.
    5. Heike Klüver & Iñaki Sagarzazu, 2013. "Ideological congruency and decision-making speed: The effect of partisanship across European Union institutions," European Union Politics, , vol. 14(3), pages 388-407, September.
    6. Lukas Obholzer & Steffen Hurka & Michael Kaeding, 2019. "Party group coordinators and rapporteurs: Discretion and agency loss along the European Parliament’s chains of delegation," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(2), pages 239-260, June.
    7. Blanca L Delgado-Márquez & Michael Kaeding & Antonio Palomares, 2013. "A more balanced composition of the European Parliament with degressive proportionality," European Union Politics, , vol. 14(3), pages 458-471, September.
    8. Zoe Lefkofridi & Alexia Katsanidou, 2014. "Multilevel representation in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 15(1), pages 108-131, March.
    9. Thomas Jensen & Thomas Winzen, 2012. "Legislative negotiations in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 13(1), pages 118-149, March.
    10. David M Willumsen, 2018. "The Council’s REACH? National governments’ influence in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(4), pages 663-683, December.
    11. Kira Killermann, 2016. "Loose Ties or Strong Bonds? The Effect of a Commissioner's Nationality and Partisanship on Voting in the Council," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(6), pages 1367-1383, November.
    12. Zoe Lefkofridi, 2020. "Competition in the European Arena: How the Rules of the Game Help Nationalists Gain," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 41-49.
    13. James Lo, 2018. "Dynamic ideal point estimation for the European Parliament, 1980–2009," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 229-246, July.
    14. Miriam Sorace, 2018. "Legislative Participation in the EU: An analysis of questions, speeches, motions and declarations in the 7th European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(2), pages 299-320, June.
    15. Gail McElroy & Kenneth Benoit, 2012. "Policy positioning in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 13(1), pages 150-167, March.
    16. Johanna Kantola & Cherry Miller, 2021. "Party Politics and Radical Right Populism in the European Parliament: Analysing Political Groups as Democratic Actors," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 782-801, July.
    17. René Lindstädt & Jonathan B Slapin & Ryan J Vander Wielen, 2012. "Adaptive behaviour in the European Parliament: Learning to balance competing demands," European Union Politics, , vol. 13(4), pages 465-486, December.
    18. Gerda Falkner & Georg Plattner, 2020. "EU Policies and Populist Radical Right Parties' Programmatic Claims: Foreign Policy, Anti‐discrimination and the Single Market," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 723-739, May.
    19. Marc Debus & Jochen Müller & Peter Obert, 2011. "Europeanization and government formation in multi-level systems: Evidence from the Czech Republic," European Union Politics, , vol. 12(3), pages 381-403, September.
    20. Daniel Finke, 2012. "Proposal stage coalition-building in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 13(4), pages 487-512, December.
    21. Johanna Kantola & Lise Rolandsen Agustín, 2019. "Gendering the Representative Work of the European Parliament: A Political Analysis of Women MEP's Perceptions of Gender Equality in Party Groups," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 768-786, July.

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