← Votes·2025-03-12

White paper on the future of European defence

Defence & Security87%★

Confidence: 87%

Assigned by: rule-based classifier

Evidence:

title/description contains "defence"
title/description contains "european defence"

Reviewed: yes

Methodology: topic-rules-v0.1

View all votes on Defence & Security →

Vote ID 172689Source: official EP roll-call records

Official roll-call results (EP minutes) ↗

/ 100

Importance Score

High importance

Why this vote stands out:

✓High-interest topic: Defence
✓Strong political group division
✓Significant national delegation divergence
✓Close result
✓High participation
✓Many MEPs voted against their group

Show full breakdown

Topic importance+15 / 15

Turnout+5 / 5

Vote type+0 / 25

Close vote+10 / 15

Legislative+0 / 15

Rebel votes+10 / 10

Group division+12 / 15

Country division+15 / 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 “White paper on the future of European defence”. S&D, Greens-EFA, Left, NI and ESN voted mostly in favour, while EPP and Renew voted mostly against. PfE and ECR mostly abstained. The motion was adopted by a narrow margin (286 for, 261 against, 129 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

286

Against

261

Abstain

129

Margin of victory

25 votes

Turnout (cast)

676

Absent

Participation rate

93.9%

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

Close vote analysis

The margin was 25 votes. 44 MEPs did not vote.

Could absences have changed the outcome? The number of absent MEPs (44) was larger than the 25-vote margin, so absences were numerically significant.

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

EPP185 MEPs

For 4Against 163Abstain 3Absent 15

S&D135 MEPs

For 121Against 9Abstain 3Absent 2

PfE81 MEPs

For 12Against 11Abstain 54Absent 4

ECR82 MEPs

For 7Against 12Abstain 56Absent 7

Renew79 MEPs

For 10Against 62Abstain 0Absent 7

Greens/EFA53 MEPs

For 50Against 0Abstain 1Absent 2

The Left45 MEPs

For 41Against 0Abstain 1Absent 3

NI30 MEPs

For 20Against 2Abstain 6Absent 2

ESN26 MEPs

For 19Against 1Abstain 4Absent 2

Country angle

Most in favour

Germany50
Italy41
France29
Spain29
Czech Republic12

Most against

Netherlands19
Romania17
Austria11
Sweden11
Portugal9

Divided delegations

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany

Full breakdown by all countries

Austria20 MEPs

For 7Against 11Abstain 0Absent 2

Belgium22 MEPs

For 10Against 7Abstain 3Absent 2

Bulgaria17 MEPs

For 7Against 7Abstain 1Absent 2

Croatia12 MEPs

For 4Against 7Abstain 0Absent 1

Cyprus6 MEPs

For 4Against 1Abstain 1Absent 0

Czech Republic21 MEPs

For 12Against 2Abstain 7Absent 0

Denmark15 MEPs

For 8Against 6Abstain 1Absent 0

Estonia7 MEPs

For 0Against 4Abstain 2Absent 1

Finland15 MEPs

For 6Against 8Abstain 1Absent 0

France82 MEPs

For 29Against 17Abstain 29Absent 7

Germany96 MEPs

For 50Against 38Abstain 1Absent 7

Greece21 MEPs

For 8Against 7Abstain 5Absent 1

Hungary21 MEPs

For 3Against 6Abstain 10Absent 2

Ireland14 MEPs

For 10Against 3Abstain 0Absent 1

Italy76 MEPs

For 41Against 9Abstain 21Absent 5

Latvia9 MEPs

For 2Against 3Abstain 4Absent 0

Lithuania11 MEPs

For 2Against 6Abstain 2Absent 1

Luxembourg6 MEPs

For 3Against 2Abstain 0Absent 1

Malta6 MEPs

For 3Against 2Abstain 0Absent 1

Netherlands31 MEPs

For 11Against 19Abstain 1Absent 0

Poland53 MEPs

For 3Against 24Abstain 25Absent 1

Portugal21 MEPs

For 8Against 9Abstain 2Absent 2

Romania33 MEPs

For 6Against 17Abstain 5Absent 5

Slovakia15 MEPs

For 8Against 7Abstain 0Absent 0

Slovenia9 MEPs

For 2Against 7Abstain 0Absent 0

Spain60 MEPs

For 29Against 21Abstain 8Absent 2

Sweden21 MEPs

For 10Against 11Abstain 0Absent 0

Individual MEP positions

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