← Votes·2024-03-14

Return of Romanian national treasure illegally appropriated by Russia

Russia95%★

Confidence: 95%

Assigned by: rule-based classifier

Evidence:

title mentions "russia"

Reviewed: yes

Methodology: topic-rules-v0.1

View all votes on Russia →

Foreign Affairs75%

Confidence: 75%

Assigned by: rule-based classifier

Evidence:

"russia" is a non-EU country topic

Reviewed: yes

Methodology: topic-rules-v0.1

View all votes on Foreign Affairs →

Vote ID 166732Source: official EP roll-call records

Official roll-call results (EP minutes) ↗

/ 100

Importance Score

Medium importance

Why this vote stands out:

✓High-interest topic: Russia
✓Some political group division
✓Some national delegation divergence
✓Very close result
✓Many MEPs voted against their group

Show full breakdown

Topic importance+15 / 15

Turnout+2 / 5

Vote type+0 / 25

Close vote+12 / 15

Legislative+0 / 15

Rebel votes+10 / 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 “Return of Romanian national treasure illegally appropriated by Russia”. Renew, Greens-EFA, PfE and ECR voted mostly in favour, while EPP, S&D, Left and NI voted mostly against. ESN mostly abstained. The motion was rejected by a narrow margin (250 for, 257 against, 20 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

250

Against

257

Abstain

Margin of victory

7 votes

Turnout (cast)

527

Absent

178

Participation rate

74.8%

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

Close vote analysis

The margin was 7 votes. 178 MEPs did not vote.

Could absences have changed the outcome? The number of absent MEPs (178) was larger than the 7-vote margin, so absences were numerically significant.

Groups whose absences exceeded the margin

EPPhad 46 absent MEPs (margin was 7)
S&Dhad 35 absent MEPs (margin was 7)
Renewhad 22 absent MEPs (margin was 7)
NIhad 22 absent MEPs (margin was 7)
ECRhad 16 absent MEPs (margin was 7)
PfEhad 14 absent MEPs (margin was 7)
Lefthad 12 absent MEPs (margin was 7)
Greens-EFAhad 11 absent MEPs (margin was 7)

Countries whose absences exceeded the margin

Italy (26 absent)Germany (20 absent)Greece (17 absent)Romania (16 absent)Spain (11 absent)France (10 absent)Hungary (9 absent)Bulgaria (8 absent)

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 32Against 99Abstain 2Absent 46

S&D136 MEPs

For 5Against 95Abstain 1Absent 35

Renew100 MEPs

For 75Against 3Abstain 0Absent 22

Greens/EFA70 MEPs

For 57Against 2Abstain 0Absent 11

PfE64 MEPs

For 22Against 20Abstain 8Absent 14

ECR65 MEPs

For 49Against 0Abstain 0Absent 16

The Left38 MEPs

For 1Against 23Abstain 2Absent 12

NI46 MEPs

For 6Against 14Abstain 4Absent 22

ESN4 MEPs

For 0Against 1Abstain 3Absent 0

Country angle

Most in favour

Poland45
Italy28
Czech Republic14
Netherlands13
Sweden13

Most against

Germany38
France37
Spain37
Portugal16
Romania11

Divided delegations

Belgium
Bulgaria
Denmark
Estonia
France
Germany
Italy
Lithuania

Full breakdown by all countries

Austria19 MEPs

For 2Against 7Abstain 3Absent 7

Belgium21 MEPs

For 11Against 7Abstain 0Absent 3

Bulgaria17 MEPs

For 4Against 4Abstain 1Absent 8

Croatia12 MEPs

For 1Against 9Abstain 2Absent 0

Cyprus6 MEPs

For 0Against 0Abstain 0Absent 6

Czech Republic21 MEPs

For 14Against 3Abstain 2Absent 2

Denmark14 MEPs

For 6Against 5Abstain 0Absent 3

Estonia7 MEPs

For 4Against 3Abstain 0Absent 0

Finland14 MEPs

For 7Against 3Abstain 0Absent 4

France79 MEPs

For 30Against 37Abstain 2Absent 10

Germany96 MEPs

For 30Against 38Abstain 8Absent 20

Greece21 MEPs

For 1Against 2Abstain 1Absent 17

Hungary21 MEPs

For 3Against 9Abstain 0Absent 9

Ireland13 MEPs

For 4Against 9Abstain 0Absent 0

Italy76 MEPs

For 28Against 22Abstain 0Absent 26

Latvia8 MEPs

For 4Against 1Abstain 0Absent 3

Lithuania11 MEPs

For 4Against 5Abstain 0Absent 2

Luxembourg6 MEPs

For 3Against 2Abstain 0Absent 1

Malta6 MEPs

For 0Against 2Abstain 0Absent 4

Netherlands29 MEPs

For 13Against 13Abstain 0Absent 3

Poland52 MEPs

For 45Against 0Abstain 0Absent 7

Portugal21 MEPs

For 1Against 16Abstain 0Absent 4

Romania33 MEPs

For 6Against 11Abstain 0Absent 16

Slovakia14 MEPs

For 3Against 6Abstain 1Absent 4

Slovenia8 MEPs

For 2Against 5Abstain 0Absent 1

Spain59 MEPs

For 11Against 37Abstain 0Absent 11

Sweden21 MEPs

For 13Against 1Abstain 0Absent 7

Individual MEP positions

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