Authoritarian right: research methodology and voting data
This is a short explanation of what we did and how we did it.
Click here to read the full report
Click here to see the voting data
Corporate Europe Observatory obtained the voting records of various authoritarian right-wing parties in the 2014-19 European Parliament for 14 plenary votes from VoteWatch Europe. In the accompanying table, a party’s record on a particular vote is classified according to the majority of those who voted; some individual MEPs in the parties studied may have voted differently. We focussed on areas which contradict the impression often given that these parties seek to stand up for working people and social rights. We have not analysed these parties’ views on migration, race relations, and other social matters where their abhorrent views are already well-known.
We contacted a senior MEP from each of the parties concerned in order to request an explanation of their party’s voting record, but to date, only the AfD from Germany replied. It argued that it wants to “return competences to the Member States, is opposed to any involvement of the EU in taxation sovereignty of the MS and wants to improve subsidiarity”. But the AfD is among nine parties featured here who all voted in support of a pan-EU three per cent digital services tax likely to cover Google, Facebook, and other digital platforms. These parties’ voting records cannot be solely explained by subsidiarity.
This report also makes substantial use of the report ‘Convenient Truths: Mapping climate agendas of right-wing populist parties in Europe’ by Stella Schaller and Alexander Carius, published in February 2019 by Adelphi Consult, henceforth referred to as the Adelphi report.
In terms of the parties covered in this study, we specifically wanted to look at those authoritarian-right parties already in the European Parliament and we found the Electoral Integrity Project’s analysis to be especially helpful. ANO (Czech Republic) is not always included in analysis of authoritarian parties, and is more frequently described as merely a populist party. Yet its leader has had no qualms in using language of the authoritarian right, amping up the threat of “the other”, and attacking the pillars of democracy to gain and keep power, and so it is additionally included in our analysis. We have not been able to cover all countries and all authoritarian right-wing parties, including some smaller parties, or those likely to be elected to the European Parliament for the first time in 2019, such as Vox in Spain.
We consider this type of research will continue to be relevant for the incoming Parliament, with some new extreme right parties to contend with. As this work requires significant investigative resources and local knowledge, we would be keen to hear from researchers who can help us to further build-up this picture of Europe’s authoritarian right in the future.
List of votes that we analysed
Support for directive establishing paid paternity leave of at least 10 working days and encouraging measures which enable fathers to exercise their right to achieve work-life balance (Paragraph 5 of text B8-0453/2015)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-8-2015-0453_EN.html?redirect
Roll-call vote:
Support for EU Strategic Framework on health and safety at work 2014-2020 (A8-0312/2015)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2015-0312_EN.html?redirect
Roll-call vote:
Food regulators should follow WHO recommendations to limit the intake of free sugar (Recital C, amendment 1 of text B8-0067/2016)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-8-2016-0067_EN.html
Roll-call vote:
Support for making country-by-country reporting accessible (amendment 41 of text A8-0157/2016)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2016-0157_EN.html
Roll-call vote:
Support for creating labour market conditions favorable for work-life balance (A8-0253/2016)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2016-0253_EN.html?redirect
Roll-call vote:
Calls on the Commission to propose a directive on decent working conditions for all workers (Paragraph 62 of text A8-0271/2017)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2017-0271_EN.html?redirect
Roll-call vote:
Support for the urgent establishment of a European authority empowered to fight tax evasion (Amendment 41 of text A8-0299/2017)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2017-0299_EN.html?redirect
Roll-call vote:
The Commission should put forward a proposal ensuring a minimum effective corporate tax rate of 25 % across Member States (Amendment 91 of text A8-0050/2018)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2018-0050_EN.html?redirect
Roll-call vote:
Support for directive on protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work (Amendment 32 of text A8-0142/2018)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2018-0142_EN.html
Roll-call vote:
Support for fixed DST (Digital Services Tax) rate at 3% (Amendment 63 A8-0428/2018)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2018-0428_EN.html
Roll-call vote:
Vote on a paragraph advocating for an improved access to justice in environmental matter (Paragraph 23 of text B8-0989/2015)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-8-2015-0989_EN.html?redirect
Roll-call vote:
Vote on an amendment calling for swift action to phase out fossil fuel subsidies (Amendment 1 of text A8-0319/2015)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2015-0319_EN.html?redirect
Roll-call vote: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+PV+20151202+RES-RCV+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN
Invites the Member States to ask companies to introduce internal mechanisms for the detection of gender pay gaps (Paragraph 22/3 of text A8-0046/2017)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2017-0046_EN.html?redirect
Roll-call vote: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+PV+20170314+RES-RCV+DOC+WORD+V0//EN&language=EN
Support for a taxation on the work performed by robots to fund retraining of unemployed workers (Recital K of text A8-0005/2017)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2017-0005_EN.html
Roll-call vote: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+PV+20170216+RES-RCV+DOC+WORD+V0//EN&language=EN
Click here to read the full report
Click here to see the voting data
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