EP work during the corona

The graphic below left aims to compare the Parliament’s activity in 2020, much of it affected by the coronavirus crisis, with the equivalent first full calendar year of the preceding term (2015). On the left below, in blue, are data for 2015, and, in orange, for 2020. The graphic below right shows monthly data for the two years in question. In 2020, the Parliament sat for slightly fewer days than in 2015, and for barely half the hours of the earlier year. Despite the reduced sitting time, the Parliament held almost the same number of votes in 2020 as in 2015, using a remote voting procedure introduced in March 2020. Moreover, it both adopted and rejected significantly more amendments in 2020 than in 2015, although overall it adopted fewer texts than it had five years earlier. In 2021, plenary sessions continued with the remote voting system, with significantly reduced sitting time than in 2016, although not by as much as in 2020. There were only three-quarters the number of votes in 2021 as in 2016, and fewer amendments, but overall the numbers of texts and legislative acts adopted in plenary were almost identical in the two years.