Votewatch.eu is an independent website set up to promote better debates and greater transparency in EU decision-making by providing easy access to, and analysis of, the political decisions and activities of the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. Votewatch.eu uses the European Parliament's own attendance, voting and activity data - available through the Parliament's website - to give a full overview of MEP activities, broken down by nationality, national political party and European party grouping. Using sophisticated statistical methods developed by political scientists from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the website covers the Parliament's activities during the entire 2004-2009 term and, starting with the 2009-2014 term, it is updated following each voting session in plenary. Please sign up for our news feed if you are interested in receiving immediate updates.
Votewatch.eu will be expanded in a second phase to also include information on governments' decision records in the Council of Ministers. This second phase is planned for mid 2010.
Mission
Votewatch.eu is a non-partisan not-for-profit organisation. Its goal is to increase transparency in EU decision-making by making information on decision-making by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers available in a user-friendly format that can be accessed digested by citizens, the media, NGOs, the private sector and anyone else interested in EU affairs.
Votewatch.eu believes that by making it easier for voters to follow the activities of the EU's legislative bodies, they will gain a better understanding of, and greater interest in, how EU politics affects their daily lives.
Team
Votewatch.eu was founded by a small team that combines skills and expertise in EU affairs, with extensive experience in the development and use of transparency online tools by civil society to monitor the work of governmental institutions.
Doru Frantescu leads the development of the VoteWatch.eu website and related activities and is the representative of VoteWatch.eu in Brussels. Doru has worked extensively in civil society in Romania, becoming well known for his work monitoring the activities of Members of the Romanian Parliament and Members of the European Parliament from his country (doru@VoteWatch.eu).
Sara Hagemann heads the VoteWatch.eu project. Sara is Lecturer in EU Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science and has previously worked in think-tanks in Brussels and governmental institutions in Denmark. Sara frequently participates in policy debates and has published extensively on EU governance and democracy. (sara@VoteWatch.eu).
Simon Hix is Professor of European and Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Simon is an expert on EU politics, comparative democratic institutions, parliamentary voting behaviour, and parties and elections. Among other things, Simon is Director of the Political Science and Political Economy research group at the LSE.
Abdul G. Noury is Associate Professor of Political Economy at New York University (NYU-AD). Abdul is an expert on European Political Economy, Legislatures, and Applied Statistics, which he also teaches at NYU. Abdul has published extensively on legislatures and economic aspects European integration.
All results and information presented on www.VoteWatch.eu draws on public records from the EU Institutions. The website's authors have carefully checked all information regarding the accuracy of the MEPs' activities, voting records and political allegiances. Although they are confident the information provided on the website is accurate and up-to-date, they have pledged to immediately correct any factual errors brought to their attention.
VoteWatch.eu is built on a solid technical platform that allows the display of real-time statistics with the support of automatic data feeds implemented by FYB Romania (fyb.ro).
VoteWatch is sponsored by the Open Society Institute, Burson-Marsteller and ElectionMall.com.
