The increasing powers of the European Parliament in recent decades have made it a more attractive institution for ambitious politicians keen to build their political career in the EU's multi‐level system. A key contribution to the debate about the career paths of MEPs is made by Scarrow (). Her work, which identified three different career paths taken by MEPs, has been widely cited and used as a basis for other studies on this topic. Building on Scarrow's work, this paper describes two additional categories of MEPs – former national politicians and ‘one‐off’ MEPs – and links MEPs’ careers with their activities in Parliament. It finds that over and above the factors that have previously been identified as influential on an MEP's behaviour, his or her career path and ambitions are relevant in explaining certain legislative behaviour across Member States and party groups.