Prague, Oct 19 (CTK) – The Czech MEPs have been the third most hardworking in the European Parliament (EP) in the past year, after Croats and Swedes, according to an analysis released by the European Values non-government think-tank Monday.
The study monitors the first year of the EP’s new election term beginning in mid-2014.
It highlights MEPs’ attendance at the meetings of EP committees and subcommittees.
It shows that members of Eurosceptic parties prevail among the MEPs with the attendance rate below 20 percent.
“Those who want to change something tend to shun the committee meetings,” said the study’s expert spokesman Jan Kovar.
The poorest attendance was that of the Europe of Nations and Freedom faction co-chaired by French nationalist politician Marine Le Pen, he said.
“Some MEPs like to speak at plenary sessions but they do not participate in committees’ work much,” European Values deputy director Jakub Janda told journalists.
The Czech MEPs’ attendance at the meetings of committees and sub-committees reached nearly 76 percent, while almost a half of EU members, including France and Britain, ended below the EU average of 68 percent.
Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria fared the worst in this respect, and also Slovakia that finished the fourth worst of all.
Of the 21 Czech MEPs, the lowest attendance at the committee meetings was that of Free Citizens Party chairman Petr Mach (31 percent), followed by Communist (KSCM) Jan Mastalka.
Stanislav Polcak (TOP 09) had the highest attendance (93 percent), followed by Olga Sehnalova (Social Democrats, CSSD), Pavel Svoboda (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL), Katerina Konecna (KSCM) and Jan Keller (CSSD) who also crossed the 90 percent level.
The comparison of the activity of MEPs from the 28 EU countries is available on http://hlidame.je/, launched by the Euruopean Values in cooperation with KohoVolit.eu and the Open Society Foundation.
