By the narrowest of margins - 221 in favour to 213 against, with 12 abstentions, a gap of just 8 votes - the plenary agreed to keep a paragraph on "Surveillance by illegal spyware", requested by the Greens/EFA and The Left, on Wednesday's agenda. The Greens/EFA, The Left, S&D and Renew voted unanimously to maintain it; the EPP and PfE voted almost solidly against, and the ECR mostly opposed it. This was a procedural agenda decision rather than a substantive resolution, so it has no legal effect of its own: it settled only whether the House would set aside time to debate the topic. The tight result reflected a clean left-of-centre versus right split, with the centre-left and centrist groups on one side and the EPP, PfE and most of the ECR on the other. The non-attached Members (NI) and the ESN provided the small extra margin that tipped the balance, with the NI splitting 14 for to 5 against.
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