8

Today the 31st of January 2019 there was a vote in the European Parliament on the topic of transparency with regards to contacts with lobbyists (link in swedish). This vote was decided to be cast anonymously, which can be done if more than one fifth of the MEP's want to.

Who voted for having an anonymous vote? Official sources are a great plus.

I cannot find the vote at the European Parliament web page.

VoteWatch.eu as suggested in another answer gives a 502 error, so this is not an option.

Improve this question
3
  • What was the result?
    – M i ech
    Feb 4, 2019 at 8:56
  • The result of which vote?
    – Hektor-Waartgard
    Feb 5, 2019 at 10:22
  • 2
    The vote for transparency passed. The EVP is furios.
    – miep
    Feb 5, 2019 at 11:34

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
9

According to this source (German newspaper), the German part of the EVP (CDU/CSU) voted for anonymous votes. Which isn't surprising, as this party tends to favor companies who coincidentally gifted large amounts of money to them. They have absolutely no interest in people knowing who's paying them how much and who visits them how often. Neither in Germany nor in the EU.

One case of this here (also German newspaper, but I think it's hard to find English sources to a mainly German topic.)

EDIT: This problem is sometimes referred to as "legal corruption" and is, depending on who you're asking, either completely fine (because it's legal) or a democratic disaster (as those politicians are effectively bought).

An English source here

Improve this answer
4
  • Thanks for the answer. This answers it nicely from a German perspective. But what about MEP's from Greece, Netherlands, or any other country? Is there no official source where I can see all votes, without having to go through local newspapers of every member country?
    – Hektor-Waartgard
    Feb 5, 2019 at 10:21
  • Your sources (votewatch and the EP web-page) would be the best for this. If they can't help you, it will be difficult. But the German CDU is very powerful so I'm sure they convinced other members of the EVP to vote for this, too. As said, they have influential "sponsors" which surely will back their "argument" up.
    – miep
    Feb 5, 2019 at 11:18
  • I found some other sources which simply say "the conservatives" which probably means the EVP.
    – miep
    Feb 5, 2019 at 11:35
  • Did some more research and well... All are saying "conservatives", "German conservatives" or "CDU" so yes, the CDU was the main factor here.
    – miep
    Feb 5, 2019 at 11:41

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .