Hix-Lord model for first half of the Sixth Parliament (see description for sources)
Positions of the political groups of the Sixth European Parliament from roll-call data on the Hix-Lord model for the period June 2004-December 2006. Contents 1 Hix-Lord model 2 Coloration 3 X and Y axes 4 G/EFA 5 UEN 6 EPP-ED 7 IND/DEM Hix-Lord model One of my concerns regarding EU politics is the lack of pan-European political definitions: terms like "conservative", "centre-right", "liberal" and even "eurosceptic" mean different things depending on whether one is in the UK, Denmark, Poland, Italy, and so on. Characterisations of political parties (and by extension, the political groups of the European Parliament) are usually done by people in nation X according to the definitions pertaining in nation X, which can cause problems when the party is in nation Y. In an attempt to get around this, I have looked for academic sources. Hix et al's work (see [1] and [2]) has provided analyses of EP votes that may help in this regard. One model for characterising EP groups is the Hix-Lord model: a political compass with anti-pro EU on the vertical axis, and left-right on the horizontal axis. It is not the only model (see [3]) but the axes are easily understood. Even better, the two sources above give Hix-Lord model data for the European Parliaments stretching back to 1979. This enables us to come up with academically backed characterisations for the groups per se, instead of having to deduce them from their constituent parties. This diagram is a Hix-Lord model for the political groups of the European Parliament for the first half of the Sixth European Parliament, based on data from page 32 of this and deconvolved. The picture and deconvolution were done by eye using textual sources, rather than transcribed/traced directly from maps. Because of this and the limitations of the Microsoft Paint software, it is acknowledged that the map is not precise to the level of +/- one pixel. Any Wikipedian/Commons user who may be able to do better is strongly urged by myself to create a better version. Coloration See convention established on en.Wikipedia for coloration. Index for each group is below:    Communist/Far Left Groups. In this case, EUL/NGL.    Socialist/Social Democrat Groups. In this case, PES.    Green/Regionalist Groups. In this case, G/EFA.    Green-only groups/subgroups. None in this case.    Mixed groups. None in this case.    Non-Inscrits. Not denoted.    Liberal/Centrist groups. In this case, ALDE.    Conservative/Christian Democratic Groups. In this case, EPP-ED.    Conservative-only groups/subgroups. In this case, ED.    Eurosceptic groups. In this case, IND/DEM.    National Conservative groups. In this case, UEN.    Far-Right Nationalist groups. None in this case. X and Y axes The NOMINATE software Hix uses (developed to analyse centuries-long US voting data) sorts the MEPs by the frequency they roll-call voted the same way: so points close together vote the same way lots of times, points further apart usually vote differently. It is a clever method, but it has two aspects that need to be noted. The first point is that the x and y-axis are not specified beforehand, but labeled afterwards. For this diagram, the Y axis is anti-pro EU: 0% is extremely anti-EU, 100% is extremely pro-EU. Users should note that there appears to be a government-opposition dynamic at work here (national parties become more pro-EU when in Government and more anti-EU when in opposition), skewing the figures slightly. The X axis is left-right, where 0% = extreme left, 100% = extreme right. It is believed that this applies to the economic left-right spectrum. (High tax/regulation vs. Low tax/deregulation). Users should note that the diagram would look different if the X axis was the social left-right spectrum. The second point is that the results fall within a circle (see page 31 for an example). Users should note that I have attempted to compensate for this by stretching the results on the diagonals towards the corners slightly (see deconvolution): the method is analogous to compensate for the distortion on a Mercator projection map (areas to the north/south are distorted compared to equatorial regions) by converting it to an equidistant cylindrical projection map (no distortion). G/EFA According to the the en.Wikipedia European Green Party page, the question of whether the Greens are eurosceptic or europhilic is the subject of "lively debate". According to the above diagram, it would seem that they are eurosceptic, at least in their roll-call votes. UEN According to Hix, UEN are almost centrist (although users should note that that is on an economic left-right scale: the picture would be different on a social left-right scale). I note in passing that the National conservative classification is useful for those parties in Europe that are socially (but not economically) right/very right wing, and offers a bridging classification between the Conservatives/Christian Democrats and the Far-Right Nationalists. EPP-ED Users should note that the ED subgroup voting record falls so far outside the EPP voting record as to justify a square of its own: the darker blue one towards the bottom-right. IND/DEM IND/DEM's roll-call votes fall into two distinct categories, one centrist europhobes, one euroneutral very-right-wing so two orange squares are used here. Surprisingly, the euroneutral very-right-wing subgroup appears to be UKIP (at least according to their roll-call votes: again, see Hix page 33). This is surprising because UKIP are ferociously eurosceptic in their speeches. Users should note that possible explanations include: IND/DEM are under the 40 seat threshold, and/or UKIP's Euroscepticism cannot find expression in the nuts-and-bolts discussions of the EP, and/or UKIP's become acclimatised (see this for accusations of same). Conversely, users should note that the data covers a period before Lega Nord and the League of Polish Families left IND/DEM, and that this may account for the difference instead.