← 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 172857Source: 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+12 / 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, ECR and Left voted mostly in favour, while EPP, Renew, Greens-EFA and NI voted mostly against. PfE and ESN mostly abstained. The motion was rejected by a narrow margin (279 for, 301 against, 94 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

279

Against

301

Abstain

Margin of victory

22 votes

Turnout (cast)

674

Absent

Participation rate

93.6%

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

Close vote analysis

The margin was 22 votes. 46 MEPs did not vote.

Could absences have changed the outcome? The number of absent MEPs (46) was larger than the 22-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 13Against 161Abstain 1Absent 10

S&D135 MEPs

For 128Against 3Abstain 0Absent 4

ECR82 MEPs

For 66Against 3Abstain 6Absent 7

PfE81 MEPs

For 4Against 19Abstain 51Absent 7

Renew79 MEPs

For 12Against 59Abstain 0Absent 8

Greens/EFA53 MEPs

For 12Against 36Abstain 3Absent 2

The Left45 MEPs

For 38Against 1Abstain 2Absent 4

NI30 MEPs

For 5Against 16Abstain 8Absent 1

ESN26 MEPs

For 0Against 3Abstain 21Absent 2

Country angle

Most in favour

Italy53
Spain30
Poland23
Sweden19
Romania15

Most against

Germany61
Netherlands16
Austria13
Czech Republic12
Slovakia11

Divided delegations

Belgium
Croatia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Ireland

Full breakdown by all countries

Austria20 MEPs

For 5Against 13Abstain 0Absent 2

Belgium22 MEPs

For 7Against 8Abstain 5Absent 2

Bulgaria17 MEPs

For 2Against 8Abstain 5Absent 2

Croatia12 MEPs

For 4Against 6Abstain 1Absent 1

Cyprus6 MEPs

For 1Against 2Abstain 3Absent 0

Czech Republic21 MEPs

For 6Against 12Abstain 2Absent 1

Denmark15 MEPs

For 5Against 8Abstain 1Absent 1

Estonia7 MEPs

For 3Against 3Abstain 0Absent 1

Finland15 MEPs

For 8Against 7Abstain 0Absent 0

France82 MEPs

For 25Against 18Abstain 33Absent 6

Germany96 MEPs

For 21Against 61Abstain 10Absent 4

Greece21 MEPs

For 7Against 10Abstain 2Absent 2

Hungary21 MEPs

For 2Against 7Abstain 11Absent 1

Ireland14 MEPs

For 8Against 6Abstain 0Absent 0

Italy76 MEPs

For 53Against 18Abstain 0Absent 5

Latvia9 MEPs

For 4Against 3Abstain 2Absent 0

Lithuania11 MEPs

For 3Against 6Abstain 1Absent 1

Luxembourg6 MEPs

For 3Against 2Abstain 0Absent 1

Malta6 MEPs

For 3Against 2Abstain 0Absent 1

Netherlands31 MEPs

For 8Against 16Abstain 5Absent 2

Poland53 MEPs

For 23Against 23Abstain 5Absent 2

Portugal21 MEPs

For 13Against 4Abstain 2Absent 2

Romania33 MEPs

For 15Against 14Abstain 0Absent 4

Slovakia15 MEPs

For 0Against 11Abstain 3Absent 1

Slovenia9 MEPs

For 1Against 8Abstain 0Absent 0

Spain60 MEPs

For 30Against 23Abstain 3Absent 4

Sweden21 MEPs

For 19Against 2Abstain 0Absent 0

Individual MEP positions

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