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How eco-friendly is your MEP? Upgraded EU Vote Watch shows different picture, showing the relevance of MEPs voting in Plenary

With the European elections on the doorstep, Friends of the Earth Europe, in collaboration with Greenpeace, the European Environmental Bureau, the European Federation for Transport and Environment, Climate Action Network Europe, and International Friends of Nature, proudly presents the upgraded version of EU Vote Watch
www.EU-VoteWatch.org .

In April EU Vote Watch was launched, publishing the voting records of all Members of European Parliamentarians (MEPs) on ten key environmental decisions. These ten key decisions were agreed upon within the environmental movement (1).

What's new in the upgraded version?

• distinguish between MEPs not being present for a vote and a person not being an MEP yet/anymore
• search by national political party, in addition to searching by the 15 old EU Member States and EU-political group
• new rankings with percentages of environmentally unfriendly votes, abstentions and 'no-shows'
• all rankings are with new data, now taking into account MEPs not being present for a vote (see annexes below)
• now available in French, German, English, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese and Italian

The original rankings have changed due to the improved method of calculating environmental scores by taking into account not being present for a vote (see annexes below). Italy has taken over the last place in the list, scoring worst on environmentally friendly votes. This clearly reflects that being present for a vote makes a big difference on the outcome of votes in the European Parliament, which has tremendous impact on the development of EU legislation.

Reactions to EU Vote Watch have been overwhelming and mixed, particularly from the European Parliament itself. Unfortunately, not many MEPs have used EU Vote Watch's option to put online comments on their own voting record.

EU Vote Watch received a lot of interest from people attending the DG Environment's Green Week (1 st -4 th of June).

Contact:

Martin Rocholl, Director, Friends of the Earth Europe, tel: 02 542 0183, mobile: 0485 656675
Jorgo Riss, Greenpeace European Unit, tel: 02 274 1907, mobile: 0496 122109
Stefan Scheuer, European Environmental Bureau, tel: 02 289 1304, mobile: 0496 258682
Chris Nobel, EU Vote Watch project, christian.nobel@foeeurope.org

Notes:

(1) The 10 key environmental decisions are Nuclear, Energy Tax, Liability, GMOs, Transport, Recycling, Chemicals, Air Quality,Water and Pesticides.

Annexes - key new results of the EU Vote Watch Project: download them here
It Includes new rankings with percentages of environmentally unfriendly votes, abstentions and 'no-shows'