How does the composition of the European Parliament shape its role in EU decision-making?

If the European Parliament (EP) is responsive to electoral outcomes, then the positions it takes during negotiations on policy issues with other EU institutions will reflect its ideological composition. However, the dominance of a grand coalition of the centrist party groups may limit the extent to which changes in the composition of the EP affect the policy positions that it adopts. The EP may also suffer from an integrationist bias, as further integration enhances its power. This paper tests whether the positions taken by the EP in legislative negotiations reflect its ideological composition, drawing on data covering the period 1999–2019. The findings indicate that the policy positions adopted by the EP more closely reflect the ideological profile of the grand coalition than the median MEP. While the EP generally adopts pro-integration positions, this is in line with its ideological composition; there is no evidence of systematic policy drift in this direction.