← Votes·2020-10-20

Proposal for a Recommendation to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on relations with Belarus

Foreign Affairs75%★

Confidence: 75%

Assigned by: rule-based classifier

Evidence:

title/description contains "foreign affairs"
title contains non-EU country "belarus"

Reviewed: yes

Methodology: topic-rules-v0.1

View all votes on Foreign Affairs →

Vote ID 118839Source: official EP roll-call records

Official roll-call results (EP minutes) ↗

/ 100

Importance Score

Medium importance

Why this vote stands out:

✓Some political group division
✓Some national delegation divergence
✓Close result
✓High participation
✓Many MEPs voted against their group

Show full breakdown

Topic importance+8 / 15

Turnout+5 / 5

Vote type+0 / 25

Close vote+10 / 15

Legislative+0 / 15

Rebel votes+7 / 10

Group division+10 / 15

Country division+8 / 15

Methodology: importance-v0.1 · The Importance Score is a prioritisation indicator. It does not judge whether a vote is good or bad.

What was this vote about?

This vote concerned “Proposal for a Recommendation to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on relations with Belarus”. EPP, PfE, ECR, NI and ESN voted mostly in favour, while S&D, Renew, Greens-EFA and Left voted mostly against. The motion was rejected by a narrow margin (323 for, 349 against, 12 abstentions).

Automated summary generated from official vote metadata and observed voting patterns. Not a legal interpretation.

Why it matters

This is a substantive vote (such as an amendment or resolution) that contributes to shaping the final position of the Parliament on a dossier. It reflects the political direction taken on specific provisions. The outcome was close, which makes individual choices and absences especially consequential.

Result analysis

For

323

Against

349

Abstain

Margin of victory

26 votes

Turnout (cast)

684

Absent

Participation rate

97.3%

⚠️This was a close vote — the margin was small relative to the votes cast.

Close vote analysis

The margin was 26 votes. 19 MEPs did not vote.

Could absences have changed the outcome? The number of absent MEPs (19) was not larger than the 26-vote margin.

Absences larger than the margin are numerically significant but do NOT imply the outcome would have changed. That would require modelling how each absent member would have voted, which this analysis does not do.

By political group

EPP179 MEPs

For 159Against 15Abstain 2Absent 3

S&D135 MEPs

For 4Against 123Abstain 2Absent 6

Renew101 MEPs

For 5Against 94Abstain 1Absent 1

Greens/EFA71 MEPs

For 4Against 67Abstain 0Absent 0

PfE66 MEPs

For 64Against 1Abstain 0Absent 1

ECR63 MEPs

For 61Against 0Abstain 0Absent 2

NI44 MEPs

For 22Against 12Abstain 4Absent 6

The Left38 MEPs

For 1Against 35Abstain 2Absent 0

ESN4 MEPs

For 3Against 0Abstain 1Absent 0

Country angle

Most in favour

Italy55
Poland41
Hungary14
Austria10
Czech Republic10

Most against

Germany57
France49
Spain38
Romania18
Netherlands17

Divided delegations

Austria
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Finland
France
Germany

Full breakdown by all countries

Austria19 MEPs

For 10Against 9Abstain 0Absent 0

Belgium21 MEPs

For 6Against 13Abstain 1Absent 1

Bulgaria17 MEPs

For 8Against 8Abstain 0Absent 1

Croatia12 MEPs

For 6Against 4Abstain 1Absent 1

Cyprus6 MEPs

For 3Against 3Abstain 0Absent 0

Czech Republic21 MEPs

For 10Against 10Abstain 1Absent 0

Denmark14 MEPs

For 2Against 11Abstain 0Absent 1

Estonia7 MEPs

For 2Against 5Abstain 0Absent 0

Finland14 MEPs

For 5Against 8Abstain 1Absent 0

France79 MEPs

For 29Against 49Abstain 0Absent 1

Germany96 MEPs

For 37Against 57Abstain 0Absent 2

Greece21 MEPs

For 10Against 8Abstain 0Absent 3

Hungary21 MEPs

For 14Against 7Abstain 0Absent 0

Ireland12 MEPs

For 4Against 7Abstain 1Absent 0

Italy76 MEPs

For 55Against 18Abstain 0Absent 3

Latvia8 MEPs

For 4Against 3Abstain 0Absent 1

Lithuania11 MEPs

For 4Against 6Abstain 0Absent 1

Luxembourg6 MEPs

For 2Against 4Abstain 0Absent 0

Malta5 MEPs

For 3Against 1Abstain 1Absent 0

Netherlands29 MEPs

For 11Against 17Abstain 1Absent 0

Poland52 MEPs

For 41Against 9Abstain 0Absent 2

Portugal21 MEPs

For 7Against 14Abstain 0Absent 0

Romania33 MEPs

For 15Against 18Abstain 0Absent 0

Slovakia14 MEPs

For 6Against 6Abstain 2Absent 0

Slovenia8 MEPs

For 4Against 4Abstain 0Absent 0

Spain59 MEPs

For 17Against 38Abstain 3Absent 1

Sweden21 MEPs

For 8Against 12Abstain 0Absent 1

Individual MEP positions

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