Maltese MEPs registered the second highest participation rate in votes cast in the European Parliament, according to Vote Watch – a leading international NGO which monitors MEPs’ voting practices.

This has been calculated through each individual MEP’s voting participation, and then each country is given an average.

First on the list, with an attendance rate for EP plenary sessions where votes are cast of 95.69% is Austria, followed by Malta at 95.08% and Croatia at 94.67%. In addition to such a high attendance score, Malta has also seen the sharpest increase of participation, up 19.85% from the previous legislature.

Italy experienced the second sharpest increase in the rate of participation for EP voting, at 13.28%. The member states which registered the worst participation rates are Bulgaria, Latvia, the United Kingdom and Greece.

Ultimately, in order for EU policies to be made into law, it must go through the EP plenary – therefore, an MEP has the highest chance of shaping the decision making process by participating in the voting plenary sessions. It therefore stands to reason that MEPs who are not active with regard to voting are giving other member states a louder voice within the EP sphere.

Greece, which has been bailed out on a number of occasions by international organisations and has had a turbulent relationship with its fellow member states due to the disastrous state of its public finances, is arguably the country who’s MEPs should be the most vocal. Greece has the lowest participation rate however – which could be attributed to tensions between the two.

Vote Watch found that overall, the MEPs are more active than in the previous legislature. Interestingly, with the exception of Austria, it is the newer member states registering higher levels of participation – such as Malta (second), Croatia (third), Czech Republic (fourth) and Estonia (fifth).

The Maltese MEP with the highest participation in roll-call voted is Labour party affiliated MEP Miriam Dalli – at 99.21%, ranking 38^th out of 751 MEPs. Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola came in second at 97.75% - ranking 105^th, in third place is PL MEP Marlene Mizzi at 97.56% - ranking 113^th, in fourth is PL MEP Alfred Sant at 96.33% - ranking 182^nd, fifth and sixth are both PN MEPs – Therese Comodini Cachia and David Casa – at 93.81% and 88.35% respectively. Dr Comodini Cachia ranked 296^th while Mr Casa came in at 496^th out of 751 MEPs.