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DODS AUTUMN POLL In September 2008, Dods EU Polling conducted a survey of members of the European parliament (MEPs). Responses were collected via post or online in English, French and German. 6.3% of MEPs submitted completed surveys and were drawn from PES, EPP-ED, ALDE, IND/DEM, GUE-NGL, GreensEFA groups and non aligned MEPs. Simultaneously, Dods conducted a poll of its EU and UK political monitoring clients, theparliament.com and ePolitix.com stakeholders and daily bulletin subscribers. 217 individuals responded, including professionals from: EU institutions (excluding MEPs); public affairs & lobbying firms; the not for profit sector; A number of parliament’s political groups and the trade organisations; businesspeople; the media; editorial staff of The Parliament Magazine submitted students; and interested members of the public. questions to gauge opinion on women in the EU, electoral procedures, the seat of the European The next ten pages reveal what we learned. parliament and transnational voting lists. Dods Polling is a member of the British Polling Council. For more information, please contact Dods Polling on +44(0) 207 091 7652 or dodspolling@dods.co.uk. Executive summary: MEPs thought that there ought to be more female EU commissioners though they opposed a mandated 50/50 split on lists for parliamentary elections. A large majority of MEPs thought that the political groups should announce their preferred candidate(s) for the top EU posts in advance of the 2009 elections and a smaller majority said they would favour having some MEPs elected on transnational “European” lists. An overwhelming majority of MEPs thought that the EP should have the right to decide where it sits and favoured a single seat in Brussels. Stakeholders expressed less of a willingness to be proactive on gender issues than MEPs. Questions relating to the reform of European parliamentary institutions and procedures elicited similar responses from stakeholders compared to MEPs. DODS AUTUMN POLL Polled results include: Whether positive discrimination is a solution to gender inequality in the EU institutions; Who the best female candidate to fill one of the EU’s top posts would be; Whether Europe’s political groups should announce their preferred candidate(s) for the EUâ ������� ������� ������� ������� ������� ������� ������� ������ ������� ���� ������ ������� ������� ������� �� ������� ����� ���� ������� �� ����� ������� ����� ��� ��� ��� ����� �� ������� ��� ������ ������� ���� ������� �ï Do you need to find out what makes MEPs tick? How does it work? �� ����� ��� ������� ������� �� ������� ����� ��� ����� ������ ������� ������� ����� ï¿½ï¿½ï¿ DODS AUTUMN POLL In September 2008, Dods EU Polling conducted a survey of members of the European parliament (MEPs). Responses were collected via post or online in English, French and German. 6.3% of MEPs submitted completed surveys and were drawn from PES, EPP-ED, ALDE, IND/DEM, GUE-NGL, GreensEFA If and when the Lisbon treaty is fully ratified and enters into force, should EU leaders guarantee that at least one of the EU’s top posts be filled by a woman? 1 a Overall 53.2% 36.2% MEPs Male 83.3% Female 33.3% PES respondents were most supportive of this proposal, with 76.9% compared to Do you think that positive discrimination is a solution to the problem of gender inequality in the EU institutions? 2 a PES showed the most support for this initiative, with 84.6% in support compared to 40% for ALDE and 30% for EPP-ED. There was no statistically significant variation between old an How strongly do you agree with this statement? There should be more female commissioners than at present and there should be more women MEPs after the 2009 elections. 3 a Overall 34.0% 23.4% 23.4% 10.6% MEPs Male 66.7% Female 38.5% of PES members agreed strongly while the remainder agreed. This For accurate, real-time, tailored political information Dods EU Monitoring proudly delivers real–time and tailored monitoring to over 100 clients, across fifteen sectors, in the political and decision making community. An indispensable tool “We are really satisfied with the Dods service we rece How strongly do you agree with this statement? There should be an even split of male and female candidates on the electoral lists for the 2009 European parliament elections. 4 a Overall 70% of ALDE members disagreed or disagreed strongly that there should be an even split of male and female candida Who in your opinion would be the best woman to fill one of the EU’s top posts? 25% 41.7% 5 a MEPs 16.7% 16.7% Two British male MEPs suggested Margaret Thatcher. Margot Wallström Angela Merkel Margaret Thatcher Benita Ferrero Waldner Fig. 5a, a plurality of MEPs suggested Angela Do you think the European political groups should announce their preferred candidate(s) for the top EU posts in advance of the 2009 elections? 6 a 70.2% Support for this proposal did not show significant group variation, with 80% of ALDE, 76.9% of PES and 70% of EPP-ED respondents supportive. All n If the European parliament had the power to decide on it, would you vote in favour to have some MEPs elected on transnational “European” lists at the European elections? 7 a 51.1% MEPs Old EU minus UK 69.6% Overall UK New EU 62.5% 55.6% 40.4% Overall, MEPs responded that they would vote Do you think MEPs should be given the right to decide where the European parliament sits? 8 a 20.7% of MEPs having served 5 years or fewer disagreed with this statement compared to only 7.7% of more seasoned members. 30% of EPP-ED MEPs were against this proposal compared to 15.4% of PES respondents Do you think that the European Parliament should have only one seat? 9 a MEPs Old EU 100% New EU Overall 80.4% 74.2% 17.2% of new member state MEPs disagreed with this statement, compared to only 7.7% of old member state MEPs. 19.4% 13% 6.5% Fig. 9a, an overall majority of MEPs supported a Where do you think the European parliament’s seat should be located? 10 a One MEP suggested that it ought to move with the presidency. ALDE favoured the EP seat being in Brussels with 90% of this group’s respondents compared to 80% of EPP-ED and 69.2% of PES. MEPs 73.9% 8.7% 13% Fig. 10a,