| 1) | Go to the top of the page; there is a pull-down menu with the text 'select search method' | |
| 2) | Select a search method. You can search by country, by EU Group (most national political parties affiliate to a political group on a European level, which is called an EU Group), or by a political party in a country (coming soon) | |
| 3) | Select the country or EU Group you want to search for | |
| 4) | If searching for a national political party, first select a country and then select a political party from that country |
| What the results mean |
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Don't draw conclusions too quickly!
There are many considerations a Member of European Parliament (MEP) makes before he or she votes in the European Parliament (EP). Sometimes MEPs vote tactically and 'sacrifice' a certain vote in order to win another, one of greater importance to them. Also, MEPs may vote against an environmentally friendly piece of legislation because they think it should have been even stricter.
Therefore, a member with a 
for a certain topic may not necessarily have an unfriendly attitude towards environmental issues. Friends of the Earth Europe and its partner organisations have tried carefully to avoid this kind of misunderstanding, yet do not guarantee that an individual MEP's voting record directly reflects that individual's attitude towards the environment.
It should also be noted that in order to provide European voters with meaningful information, we based our information on behaviour on a selection of controversial votes in which the European Parliament was split. Votes in which the entire parliament voted in favour of the environment might therefore be underrepresented. In general, the European Parliament has often played a constructive role in strengthening environmental legislation.
This gives the voter all the more reason for voting in the upcoming election! A high turn-out will strengthen the authority of the European Parliament in leading decision making in Europe.
So, besides looking at individual MEPs, we suggest voters to also consider the overall voting results of national political parties, EU political groups in the EP, and Member States.
In addition, MEPs are invited to comment on their voting records. Comments will be put on the webpage without editing. We suggest that EU Vote Watch visitors look at these comments before drawing conclusions.