← 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 172825Source: 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
✓Some political group division
✓Some national delegation divergence
✓Very 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+15 / 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 “White paper on the future of European defence”. EPP, ECR, Renew and Greens-EFA voted mostly in favour, while S&D, PfE, Left, NI and ESN voted mostly against. The motion was rejected by a narrow margin (305 for, 309 against, 53 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

305

Against

309

Abstain

Margin of victory

4 votes

Turnout (cast)

667

Absent

Participation rate

92.6%

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

Close vote analysis

The margin was 4 votes. 53 MEPs did not vote.

Could absences have changed the outcome? The number of absent MEPs (53) was larger than the 4-vote margin, so absences were numerically significant.

Groups whose absences exceeded the margin

EPPhad 20 absent MEPs (margin was 4)
ECRhad 7 absent MEPs (margin was 4)
PfEhad 5 absent MEPs (margin was 4)
Renewhad 5 absent MEPs (margin was 4)

Countries whose absences exceeded the margin

Hungary (8 absent)Germany (7 absent)Italy (7 absent)France (5 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

EPP185 MEPs

For 149Against 7Abstain 9Absent 20

S&D135 MEPs

For 16Against 99Abstain 16Absent 4

PfE81 MEPs

For 1Against 68Abstain 7Absent 5

ECR82 MEPs

For 41Against 29Abstain 5Absent 7

Renew79 MEPs

For 64Against 8Abstain 2Absent 5

Greens/EFA53 MEPs

For 29Against 13Abstain 7Absent 4

The Left45 MEPs

For 0Against 39Abstain 3Absent 3

NI30 MEPs

For 3Against 25Abstain 1Absent 1

ESN26 MEPs

For 2Against 17Abstain 3Absent 4

Country angle

Most in favour

Germany48
Poland47
Netherlands21
Romania18
Sweden14

Most against

Italy56
France44
Spain36
Hungary13
Czech Republic12

Divided delegations

Belgium
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Germany
Greece
Luxembourg
Portugal
Romania

Full breakdown by all countries

Austria20 MEPs

For 1Against 10Abstain 6Absent 3

Belgium22 MEPs

For 8Against 9Abstain 3Absent 2

Bulgaria17 MEPs

For 9Against 4Abstain 2Absent 2

Croatia12 MEPs

For 8Against 3Abstain 0Absent 1

Cyprus6 MEPs

For 3Against 3Abstain 0Absent 0

Czech Republic21 MEPs

For 9Against 12Abstain 0Absent 0

Denmark15 MEPs

For 13Against 2Abstain 0Absent 0

Estonia7 MEPs

For 6Against 0Abstain 0Absent 1

Finland15 MEPs

For 10Against 3Abstain 2Absent 0

France82 MEPs

For 18Against 44Abstain 15Absent 5

Germany96 MEPs

For 48Against 37Abstain 4Absent 7

Greece21 MEPs

For 8Against 6Abstain 6Absent 1

Hungary21 MEPs

For 0Against 13Abstain 0Absent 8

Ireland14 MEPs

For 1Against 12Abstain 0Absent 1

Italy76 MEPs

For 6Against 56Abstain 7Absent 7

Latvia9 MEPs

For 7Against 2Abstain 0Absent 0

Lithuania11 MEPs

For 8Against 1Abstain 1Absent 1

Luxembourg6 MEPs

For 2Against 3Abstain 0Absent 1

Malta6 MEPs

For 0Against 3Abstain 2Absent 1

Netherlands31 MEPs

For 21Against 7Abstain 2Absent 1

Poland53 MEPs

For 47Against 4Abstain 0Absent 2

Portugal21 MEPs

For 9Against 10Abstain 0Absent 2

Romania33 MEPs

For 18Against 11Abstain 0Absent 4

Slovakia15 MEPs

For 5Against 8Abstain 2Absent 0

Slovenia9 MEPs

For 5Against 3Abstain 1Absent 0

Spain60 MEPs

For 21Against 36Abstain 0Absent 3

Sweden21 MEPs

For 14Against 7Abstain 0Absent 0

Individual MEP positions

Loading individual positions…