Poland in the EU

Would you like to know who is the laziest MEP in your country? Now it's easy. For Poland the answer is: Krzysztof Hołowczyc, otherwise know for his career in car racing. 

A new website www.votewatch.eu aggregates data made available by the European Parliament concerning not only the attendance of MEPs, but also how they voted. An invaluable source for us journalists.

The issue of absences is indeed a sticky one. A previous website www.parlorama.eu , which had only data on attendance had to close "due to the overwhelming volume of compaints", as it now states.

If my recollection is right, the data on the two sites was not exactly the same. A different method of calculating what is "one" presence, perhaps.

But the general trends, at least regarding Polish MEPs at which I looked closely, are confirmed. The laziest one is by far Mr. Hołowczyc. According to votewatch.eu he was present 34,38 % of the time. Parlorama put him as the second to last among all MEPs. Apart from asking a few questions he did almost nothing.

I cannot help but wonder: why did Mr. Hołowczyc take the post? (He did when another Polish MEP Ms. Barbara Kudrycka left to join the government after the 2007 elections). Certainly a mandate wasted, which is now too late to repair. But also: did he accept a sallary for the work he was NOT doing? If so, perhaps he should return it.