The European Commission’s approval rating is deeply split in the EU and alarmingly low in a handful of member states, new polling shows, raising questions over Ursula von der Leyen’s bid for a second term at the executive’s helm.
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00:00 A new Euronews/Ipsos exclusive poll reveals while most European citizens consider EU membership
00:09 of their country a good thing, just one third of them approve of the European Commission's
00:14 work.
00:17 Portugal and Spain are the most Euro-enthusiast countries, while Czech Republic is the only
00:22 member state where less than half the people appreciate being part of the EU. Slovakia,
00:26 France and Italy also have low rates. For expert Francesco Nicoli from Brugel, the results
00:32 are not surprising.
00:35 I think it is perfectly fine to have, you know, at the stage of European integration
00:39 as we are now, to have 60%, a bit more than 60% expressing a positive view and only about
00:46 15% expressing a negative view. Since it's about the performance, it's not really about
00:52 the polity itself. This is not a judgement about the European Union, it's a judgement
00:56 about the current outcomes of the European integration process.
01:01 37% of the respondents consider positively the work of the current European Commission,
01:07 led by Ursula von der Leyen, which has faced multiple crises, from the Covid-19 outbreak
01:12 to the war in Ukraine. 32% do not have an opinion, where 31% have a negative opinion.
01:18 In France, approval rates are particularly low.
01:22 I'm not surprised that if French people are turning against Macron, which is quite typical
01:26 at this stage of a French presidential, you know, parabola. I'm not surprised that voters
01:34 associate von der Leyen very closely to Macron and therefore they dislike Macron and therefore
01:39 they dislike von der Leyen.
01:41 Von der Leyen is mostly criticised by the left, ECR and ID voters, but also one fifth
01:47 of the electors of the European People's Party, her own political family, disapprove of her
01:52 legacy.
01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]