The European Parliament (EP) is the only directly-elected EU institution and one of the largest democratic assemblies in the world. Its 766 Members (751 after the 2014 elections) represent the EU's 500 million citizens. They are elected once every five years by voters from across the 28 Member States. It has been elected by direct universal suffrage since 1979. Before that it was a consultative assembly made up of representatives of the Member State parliaments. All EU citizens aged 18 or over (16 in Austria) are eligible to vote, even if they live in another EU Member State. EU citizens can also stand as a candidate in the election in any EU Member State. To know more about the origins of the EP, click here.
Once elected, Members organise in political groups along ideological lines, and not by nationality. Currently there are seven political groups: the European People's Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA), the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the European United Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL), and the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD). There are also currently 30 MEPs who don't belong to any political group, the so-called 'non-attached' Members. The EP does its work in the 24 official languages of the European Union, and every MEP has the right to speak in the official language of his/her choice. Click here to find out more about the EP’s organisation and work.
The European Parliament has its official seat in Strasbourg, but most of its meetings are held in Brussels. Most votes take place in Strasbourg during the monthly plenary sessions, which last four days. During that week MEPs voted on hundreds of amendments, paragraphs and reports. Most votes are held by show of hands, meaning that MEPs put up their hand to signal whether they are in favour or against a proposal or wish to abstain. The outcome of such votes is recorded, but not the individual vote expressed by each MEPs. However many votes, including all final votes on legislative dossiers, are held by 'roll call', meaning that the vote of each individual MEP is recorded. These votes, of which there have been over 4,000 since 2009, form the basis of the analysis done by VoteWatch Europe, and it's also the basis for the 15 votes displayed on this website.
