The European Parliament and Trade Policy: A New Dataset on MEP Voting Behavior (2004-2018)

Research on the impact of the European Parliament’s new powers on EU trade policy mostly draws on qualitative in-depth case studies to assess when, where and how the European Parliament shapes EU trade policymaking and outcomes. While it has produced valuable case-specific insights, it does not offer a comprehensive account of how the European Parliament votes on trade policy and how its voting behaviour has evolved over time and in the light of its empowerment under the Treaty of Lisbon. This paper seeks to close this research gap and introduces a new dataset that encompasses approximately 300.000 observations of individual votes casted by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) between 2004 and 2018. We find that the empowerment of the European Parliament under the Lisbon Treaty first and foremost triggered a phase of institutional learning. MEP patterns markedly shifted over time with greater party cohesion and growing support for EU trade projects. Whereas most scholars explore how the European Parliament affects pre-existing policymaking dynamics and thus outcomes, this paper thus draws attention to how its empowerment changed the European Parliament itself and thereby ultimately EU trade policy.