The European Parliament is not a home of democracy, but an assembly of carefully-screened placemen sent there to vote according to orders (Frederick Forsyth in Daily Express, November 2004)
Independent research has shown that MEPs vote far more often in line with their political grouping in the European Parliament than on the basis of their nationality.
Over 170 political parties from 25 Member States are represented in the European Parliament. As far as the UK is concerned, there are 78 MEPs representing 10 different national parties. In the European Parliament, these 78 sit either in one of the 7 political groupings or as independents. There is no overall majority for any one political grouping in the European Parliament. |