Party Groups and Policy Positions in the European Parliament

Party Positions in the EP -- p9

right space appears to consist of four sets of party groups. First, the GUE and Verts appear on
the far left, with a small degree of overlap in their 95% confidence intervals. Second, the PES
inhabits the moderate centre left. Third, two political groups, the ELDR and the EPP, form a
grouping with a substantial degree of overlap just right of the centre. Finally, the UEN and the
EDD occupy the solid right position, with their positions being statistically indistinguishable.

[Figure 1 about here]

Specific Policy Results

Looking further at Table 2, we see more specific policy results for the party groupings. On the
taxes v. spending economic dimension of policy, the rankings are the same from left to right
as for the general left-right policy dimension, although there is both more variation (higher
standard errors) and higher overlap. On taxes and spending, two groupings of parties whose
estimated positions overlap one another appear: the GUE/Verts/PES on the left, and the
ELDR, EPP, UEN, and EDD on the right. (We explore this pattern further below.) This broad
grouping into economic left and economic right is matched by the results on deregulation, a
result which we expect given the very high correlation between their mean scores (0.99).

On issues related to the authority and institutions of the European Union, we observe a
pattern different from that of the economic left-right. On the pro-integration end of the
spectrum, we find the PES and the ELDR most strongly supporting a federal vision of the
European Union (mean 6.1 and 6.3 respectively), followed by the EPP (7.4) and the Greens
(8.4). Positioned right at the centre of this issue is the GUE at 10.8. On the far right,
preferring instead a union of nation-states, is the UEN and the EDD (16.6 and 19.9
respectively). On the EU Authority dimension, a very similar grouping of pro-European
parties emerges. On the left end of the scale favouring increasing the areas in which the EU
may set policy, we find the PES, Greens, EPP, and the ELDR being basically
indistinguishable with mean scores ranging from 6.3 to 7.5. Once again the Greens are nearly
at the centre at 9.5 (SE .82), and the UEN and EDD are found at the Euro-sceptic end
favouring reducing the range of areas in which the EU may set policy (17.7 and 18.9

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