MEP Influence Index 2024: Top MEPs shaping Information & communication

This analysis measures the influence that Members of the European Parliament are exerting over EU legislation and documents that shape EU information & communication. It is part of a series of reports that includes:

This research measures MEPs’ influence through a combination of criteria clustered in the following categories: formal and informal leadership positions, actual legislative work, political network, committee membership and voting behaviour.

Disclaimer: this is an assessment based on our team's 15+ years of experience in interpreting relevant EU socio-political data. The aim of this research is not to provide an "absolute truth", but rather to provide an indicative overview. As in any such research, the weighing of the criteria may contain an intrinsic degree of subjectivity, which we aimed to reduce by consulting with a wide range of analysts and practitioners.To read the full methodology, click here.

Key findings:

The top most influential MEPs on information & communication have been: Axel Voss (JURI EPP Coordinator and active legislator especially on Artificial Intelligence), Javier Zarzalejos (top legislator with a special emphasis on combating child sexual abuse and processing of personal data), Andreas Schwab (IMCO EPP Coordinator active legislator, importantly on the Digital Market Acts), Ibán García Del Blanco (JURI S&D Coordinator and key legislator, especially on the ethical framework of AI) and Christel Schaldemose (IMCO Coordinator for S&D and key legislator, notably on Digital Services Act). See the full top 10 below.
Although the top ranking is dominated by EPP and S&D members, Renew MEPs are punching above their weight the most with regards to proportional influence. Digital-savvy Estonians top the country ranking, followed by other delegations from the Baltic region. See the full stats below.

More details on the above findings can be found below.

Important: when tracking influence over EU policies, always bear in mind that while individual MEPs are the visible signatories of initiatives or amendments, they are not operating in an information vacuum. Rather, their views and actions are shaped by a wide range of political and societal stakeholders that engage with them.

To understand the full picture, you need to look at the strength of these forces and the direction in which they are pushing and pulling. For example, the chart below shows the level of influence of all MEPs on information & communication issues, but also the direction in which each of them is working to influence debates such as the regulation of Artificial Intelligence, e.g. whether they support a regulatory approach or a more market approach. Particular attention should be paid to the MEPs who are in the middle, i.e. which have both a fair level of influence and their views are moderate, because in the current (and future) fragmented political landscape, these MEPs (the swing voters) are the ones that make the difference, i.e. their votes are the ones that decide whether a key paragraph is approved or not.

Note: the positions of the MEPs in the chart below on the horizontal axis is based on an assessment of their voting behavior on a wide range of paragraphs and amendments on this particular sector.

Note: in the chart above, only the names of top MEPs are visible. If interested in more, contact us at [email protected].

The visual below shows our assessment of the most influential 10 MEPs in this sector (scroll to the right to see the full list).

The list is also available as a table format here.

NB: at least 4 of these top 10 MEPs are likely to come back after the elections. Would you like to know which ones? Contact us at [email protected] for more information on our EP2024 elections info-pack (which includes likely MEPs, Commissioners, policy impact, and much more).

In addition to the top 10 most influential MEPs, we have found it interesting to identify the MEPs from each group that has had the most "personalised" views (i.e. different from those of their political group), on either side of the debate. In other words, who is the most to the right and to the left of their political group on this chart. This is based on the analysis of their voting behavior on a wide range of relevant paragraphs and amendments impacting on this sector. These findings are represented below.

Trends by political group

Although the top 10 is dominated by EPP and S&D members, on average, MEPs from Renew are proportionally the most influential on this policy area. Similarly to other policy areas, Renew members are able to leverage their central position to swing the outcome of key decisions.

Trends by country

Unsurprisingly, the digitally-savvy Estonians lead the ranking of proportional influence on digital policy, followed by other delegations from the Baltic region, such as Latvians, Finnish and Danish. When looking at the broader continent, Bulgarians and Portuguese also stand out for their engagement with information & communication topics.

If you are an institutional or socio-economic stakeholder and you are interested in a workshop about EU elections and/or the functioning of the EU institutions, contact us at [email protected].

Scroll back up to check our research in other sectors.

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