European Parliament results
Using data-driven insights, the BCW Influence Index reveals who has the most influence on the political decisions shaping Europe.
Scores and rankings are based on two independent dimensions of influence, looking holistically across all EU policies:
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Parliamentary influence measures the ability to impact legislation, shape the political agenda, win votes and gain positions of power.
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Public influence examines the ability to cultivate visibility with European citizens, reach audiences online and in the media and shape public conversations.
Data was analysed for a period of 12 months, from July 2022 to June 2023.
Key findings
What does the Influence Index reveal about political discourse at the EU level?
MEPs from centrist groups have the strongest impact on policy outcomes, while MEPs at the extremes of the political spectrum secure higher public visibility via digital and social media.
Analysing parliamentary influence by country, those with a large national delegation from the centre-left to the centre-right (S&D, Renew and EPP) have more impact on shaping policy. Spain (largest S&D delegation) and Germany (largest EPP delegation) are the highest ranked national delegations relative to their share of seats.
Conversely, large national delegations of conservative/far-right parties (ECR and ID) tend to have less impact on policy outcomes. For this reason, Italy (largest ID delegation), Hungary (largest number of non-attached members following the departure of Fidesz from the EPP), and France (second largest ID delegation) rank lower on parliamentary influence, relative to their share of seats.
In terms of public influence, Spain, France, and Malta rank highly relative to the size of their national delegations, given they have a number of MEPs who reach a wide audience. While Malta's score is driven by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, the overall position of France and Spain stems from the extremes of the political spectrum, in particular from far-right conservative MEPs.
Although fewer Female MEPs feature in the top rankings for parliamentary influence, they outperform their male counterparts overall, when considering their respective share of seats. The opposite is true on public influence, where male MEPs secure higher visibility compared to their female counterparts.
The BCW Influence Index is not an assessment of a group/MEPs work ethic or loyalty to their constituents, the rankings represent empirical measures and are not an endorsement of groups/MEPs or their positions. The BCW Influence Index does not make a judgement or normative assumption regarding the concept of “influence”. When using this term, we refer to a politician’s capacity to make a political impact, whether that be through shaping legislative outcomes or steering public conversations. Find out more about our methodology.
Rankings and analysis
