Every year, an index is published measuring the political influence of Members of the European Parliament. While Nils Torvalds (SFP/Renew) can once again be found towards the top of the list, it is important to take the results with a pinch of salt. The study gives an estimate but not absolute facts.
Naturally, the Vice-Presidents of the Parliament score highly on the index. Those who combine this position with chairing their country’s delegation receive further bonus points. The flipside of this method is that status-based rankings do not necessarily reflect a person’s daily work.
The top four Finnish MEPs on the list correspond fairly well to reality, however, with Heidi Hautala (Green), Vice-President of the European Parliament, coming up in first place, followed by Nils Torvalds (SFP/Renew) in second, Ville Niinistö (Green) in third and Elsi Katainen (Centre/Renew) in fourth. The results of the index show that a great weighting has been given to work on the green transition, which has especially involved the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI).
On the list of all 705 Members of the European Parliament, Hautala came in as the third most influential, while Torvalds was 37th, Niinistö 76th and Katainen 95th .
Link to report:
https://eumatrix.eu/en/blog/meps-influence-index-2022-top-100-most-politically-influential-meps
