Von der Leyen’s Commission not winning most European hearts and minds, polling suggests
The European Fee’s approval score is deeply cut up within the EU and alarmingly low in a handful of member states, new polling reveals, elevating questions over Ursula von der Leyen’s bid for a second time period on the govt’s helm.
The unique polling for Euronews by Ipsos reveals {that a} majority of voters (63%) both view the Fee’s work negatively or don’t have any opinion, suggesting the EU govt will not be reducing by way of to most Europeans.
Of a pattern of 26,000 EU residents in 18 member states, 37% mentioned they considered the work of von der Leyen’s Fee positively, whereas 31% mentioned they see it negatively and 32% didn’t know.
It comes two months earlier than some 370 million eligible voters will elect new members to the European Parliament, sparking a race to steer the Fee, the EU’s highly effective govt department which holds sweeping powers to legislate on a spread of points together with tech, healthcare and social rights.
Von der Leyen, who was parachuted to the function of Fee President in 2019 regardless of not formally operating for the function, is at the moment tipped to safe a second five-year time period after the European Folks’s Social gathering (EPP) named her as its lead candidate.
To safe that second time period, she’s going to must be nominated by EU leaders and safe majority assist within the newly-elected European Parliament, a take a look at she handed by a slim margin of simply 9 votes again in 2019.
However whereas she has constructed a sturdy status amongst political circles, von der Leyen has been criticised for her scarce public appearances and reluctance to exit into the streets to fulfill voters, even on the marketing campaign path.
The result’s low notion of her govt throughout a overwhelming majority of member states. A majority of survey respondents had a optimistic view of her Fee in simply three of the member states surveyed: Portugal (61%), Denmark (54%) and Spain (54%).
The approval score plunges to a low of simply 18% in France, one of many EU’s founding members, the place 36% view the Fee’s work negatively and 46% don’t know.
Notion can be alarmingly low in central and japanese states akin to Austria, the place 41% see the Fee negatively, and Hungary and Czech Republic, the place 38% maintain a damaging view.
The outcomes additionally counsel round a 3rd of Europeans don’t know sufficient in regards to the Fee to have the ability to type an opinion on its work.
Fee unpopular with political fringes
A surge in assist for fringe events, notably on the far proper, additionally presents one thing of a status disaster for the Fee. These populist events typically blame Brussels for Europe’s financial downturn and social struggles, fuelling rising scepticism towards the establishment.
The survey reveals that voters of events belonging to the far-right Identification and Democracy (ID) group – akin to France’s Rassemblement Nationwide, Italy’s Lega or Various for Germany (AfD) – are essentially the most essential of the Fee’s work, with a staggering 61% seeing it as damaging, and simply 12% optimistic.
The Fee can be perceived negatively amongst a majority of conservative, eurosceptic voters (52%), and a considerable proportion of far left voters (39%). Its approval is at its highest among the many mainstream centre-left Socialists and von der Leyen’s personal centre-right European Folks’s Social gathering (EPP).
For a lot of hard-right, populist events, the Fee – embodied by von der Leyen – has grow to be a helpful totem of technocracy for them to assault with a view to sow anti-Brussels sentiment.
One consultant case is French frontrunner Rassemblement Nationwide’s focusing on of von der Leyen as a Macron ally, whom they accuse of “promoting off” European business to overseas powers, and even of undermining the usage of French because the lingua franca in European establishments.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz celebration is pursuing comparable ways, with the federal government in Budapest utilizing public cash to vilify von der Leyen in public billboard campaigns.
Of all professions, handbook employees are most definitely to have a damaging view of the Fee’s work (37%), adopted by self-employed and commodities house owners (35%).
Assist for EU membership nonetheless excessive
Regardless of the Fee fighting its status in lots of member states, EU membership nonetheless enjoys broad assist throughout member states, the polling suggests.
Requested whether or not EU membership is an effective or dangerous factor for his or her nation, a median of 62% of respondents mentioned ‘good’, with assist highest in Portugal, Spain and Denmark, and lowest within the Czech Republic, France and Italy.
Unsurprisingly, scepticism in direction of the advantages of EU membership is strongest amongst the voters of far-right populists belonging to the ID celebration, 37% of whom assume it’s a nasty factor for his or her nation.
That quantity falls to simply 3% amongst Inexperienced voters, 81% of whom see EU membership as factor.
Even amongst those that vote for events belonging to the ECR group – akin to Spain’s Vox, Italy’s Fratelli d’Italia or Poland’s Regulation and Justice – and who’re typically thought of Eurosceptics, 48% see EU membership as factor.
However throughout all teams of voters, EU membership is seen as significantly extra optimistic than the work of the Fee itself. Voters of events belonging to the Left, ECR or ID are round twice as prone to contemplate EU membership factor as they’re to think about the Fee’s work optimistic.
The info confirms what’s turning into obvious on the marketing campaign path in lots of EU nations: the Fee is the establishment most definitely to awaken emotions of euroscepticism amongst voters, and events on the perimeters of the political spectrum stand able to capitalise on this.