Programmatic and Voting Cohesion of European Political Groups in the 7th European Political Parliament | Darina Gancheva

This study diagnoses whether European parties fulfill their function as the primary mechanism for European representation and delegation. The EU party system functions at two levels: national and supranational. At the European elections, EU citizens vote for a national party of their choice. After the elections, the national parties that have received enough votes enter the EP and join one of the transnational European political groups (“EP factions”). These groups are conglomerates of different national parties and form coalitions based on – what they claim to be – a shared ideology. This study examines 1) whether the EP factions are programmatically cohesive, and 2) whether programmatic cohesion, rather than intra-faction pressure, is what explains the high voting cohesion rates of EP factions. Discriminant analysis based on the programmatic profiles of national parties suggests that EP factions are programmatically cohesive units. Variation in the voting agreement rates, however, is mostly due to intra-faction pressure, more prominent in the mainstream pro-EU factions. This intensification of programmatic closeness to achieve voting discipline is familiar in the national context. The programmatic cohesion and voting efficacy of EP factions prove that EP elections and the legislative process are becoming increasingly European and decreasingly national.

Read article here.