Professionalised or not? An analysis of career patterns in the European parliament (1979–2019)

Due to the high levels of turnover displayed by its political personnel, the European parliament has been traditionally regarded as a relatively unstable institution. However, recent literature seems to hint at a re-evaluation of the EP as an increasingly desirable arena for long-term commitments. In this study we aim at confirming the effective degree of this process by observing the career patterns of every Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1979 to 2019. Relying on a stacked data matrix counting each representative term of each MEP as a single observation, we employ a negative binomial regression to ascertain that MEPs' time in the EP significantly increased over the decades. This new evidence signals the effective consolidation of a proper supranational parliamentary elite and could prompt researchers to further inquire about the extent of the EP's professionalisation.