Barroso II

Barroso_report_06 02_v3 7/2/11 00:48 Page 1

THE 2010-2014EUROPEAN COMMISSION 1 YEAR ON...

01

Introduction

About you...

Your gender is... Your nationality is...

RReesstt ooff EEUU2244,,22%%

RReesstt ooff tthheeWWoorrlldd 55,,44%%

BBeellggiiaann77,,44%%

BBrriittiisshh1122%%

DDuuttcchh55,,66%%

FFrreenncchh1144,,55%%

GGeerrmmaann99%%GGrreeeekk

44,,66%%

IIttaalliiaann77,,77%%

SSppaanniisshh55,,99%%

RRoommaanniiaann33,,77%%

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%

Responses

Total Responses

6633,,99 3366,,11

220077 111177

332244

A year ago the Barroso II Commission took office. As the first Commission to do so under the Lisbon Treaty, BarrosoII faced the task of giving practical effect to the provisions of that text, as well as to its spirit - making the EU moredemocratic, more efficient, and better able to respond to the economic and political challenges of the day.

In addition to this perhaps daunting challenge, Commission President Barroso and his 26 colleagues have also had tolive up to the commitments they made to the European Parliament. At the time Burson-Marsteller recorded the visionsoutlined and policy pledges made to allow us all to follow the Commission’s progress.

In order to mark the Commission’s 1st Birthday we asked you, the actors in the world of EU policy-making, to tell ushow you thought they did. How did they perform in this first year? Did they live up to their policy commitments? Andwhat do you see as the most important policy challenges for the next year in office?

We received responses from across the policy-making spectrum, both in and outside of Brussels. We also opened thefloor to the future actors, those currently studying EU affairs, who provided some passionate opinions.

We hope that you find the answers interesting - we certainly did. And if you find you’d like to have more detail on howthe 1 year old Commission is perceived the full results are available on our website.

Enjoy!

.........................................David Earnshaw, CEO, Burson-Marsteller, Brussels


Your age bracket is...

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Education

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Justice &Fundamental Rights

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Climate

Budget

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Enlargement & EuropeanNeighbourhood Policy

Humanitarian Aid

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Your policy expertise

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20-30

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41-50

51-60

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Barroso II - How they did in 2010

How would you compare itto previous Commissionsbefore Barroso?

EDisappointing

%

DBelow

average

CAverage

BGood

AExcellent

35302520151050

1188,,33%%

2266,,77%%

3355,,44%%

1155,,55%%

44,,00%%

If you compare Barroso Ito Barroso II, thenBarroso II is...

How does Barroso II compare with yournational government?

................................................................. ................................................................. WWOORRSSEE ((4477,,55%%)) BBEETTTTEERR ((4455,,66%%))TTHHEE SSAAMMEE ((5511,,66%%))°

The Barroso II European Commission has been in office foralmost a year. On a scale of 1 - 5 (equivalent to E to A), howwould you rate its overall performance so far?OVERALL

INDIVIDUAL

03

CC++ ++

++

++

DD.............. ..............

EE EE.............. ..............

José Manuel Barroso

BB BB.............. ..............

Neelie Kroes

CC CC.............. ..............

Andris Piebalgs

BB CC.............. ..............

Olli Rehn

CC CC.............. ..............

Karel De Gucht

CC CC.............. ..............

Maros Sefcovicv vvv

CC CC.............. ..............

Androulla Vassiliou

v

BB CC.............. ..............

Janez Potocnikv

CC CC.............. ..............

Algirdas Semeta

CC CC.............. ..............

Antonio Tajani

BB CCBB.............. ..............

Michel Barnier

BB CC.............. ..............

Viviane Reding

BB CC.............. ..............

Joaquín Almunia

CC CC.............. ..............

Siim Kallas

Catherine Ashton

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

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Total Responses

332222 .................

-- --

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++

++ --

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--

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++

//


04

CC CC.............. ..............

Günther Oettinger

CC CC.............. ..............

John Dalli

BB BB.............. ..............

Kristalina Georgieva

CC CC.............. ..............

László Andor

CC CC.............. ..............

Janusz Lewandowski

CC CC.............. ..............

Connie Hedegaard

.............. ..............CC CCMaria Damanaki

CC CC.............. ..............

Stefan Füle

CC CC.............. ..............

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn

CC CC.............. ..............

Johannes Hahn

What is immediately striking about this survey is that the general perception of the first year of the Barroso II Commission,both as a whole and as individual Commissioners, is that it must do better!

One word captures the performance of the Barroso II College over its first year: average. This applies both in terms of overallperformance and for living up to the individual commitments made at the outset. Admittedly, Barroso II is only twelve monthsinto its life, with its members having another four years in which to excel. But on current perceptions, it appears that we needto be guarded about expectations of success.

This general perception of Barroso II is clear across all groups of respondents but with some small nuances here and there. So,for example, NGOs and students have the most negative opinion of the Commission as a whole, with higher percentages than inother categories ranking it as “disappointing” or “below average”.

While hardly comforting, it is also true however that the image crisis facing the Barroso II Commission is apparently noworse than that faced by national governments in Europe: compared with the national government they know best, nearly 75 percent of respondents ranked the Commission as “better” or the “same”.

But compared with its predecessors, nearly half of all respondents considered Barroso II to be “worse”. Intriguingly, respondentsfrom the “consultant” category were slightly more polite and heavily ranked this Commission as being the “same”as its predecessors.

Not surprisingly after a horrendous first year Vice President Ashton came lowest overall and in terms of living up to hercommitments. But this needs to be measured against the unique challenges of her post-Lisbon role and the (diverging)expectations that there are for it. No other European politician will ever face the same mixture of organizational, diplomaticand policy challenges as those facing the first incumbent of this position. Indeed, some guarded optimism might be in order forthe future: national officials in particular were slightly more positive about her performance.

Overall, there is not much good news for the Barroso II Commission coming out of this survey. Barroso II is now at the end ofits first full year – but it can hardly be judged to have hit the ground running. It is far too early to reach a definitive judgementbut according to the results of this survey some considerable additional effort is required.

v

CC CC.............. ..............

Cecilia Malmström

CC CC.............. ..............

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

overall commitments

For the detailed results andmethodology, please go to:

www.bmbrussels.eu

A Excellent B Good C Average D Below average E Disappointing

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cDacian Ciolos

Overall Assessment:must do better



Barroso II - Looking ahead in 2011

OVERALL

INDIVIDUAL

05

Andris Piebalgs

Olli Rehn Karel De Gucht

Maros Sefcovicv vvv Androulla Vassiliou

v

Janez Potocnikv Algirdas Semeta

Antonio Tajani

Neelie Kroes

Michel Barnier

Viviane Reding

Joaquín Almunia

Siim Kallas

Catherine Ashton

José Manuel Barroso

Climate change

Future financing of the EU

Banking crisis

Relations with third countries(such as China, India, USA)

Demography(ageing population, immigration)

Creating growth and jobs

Other

77,,11%%

2266,,77%%

2200,,22%%

55,,00%%

22,,88%%

2299,,55%%

88,,77%%

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Total Responses

332222 .................

What do you consider to bethe Barroso II Commission’smost important overall policychallenge in its second yearin office?

IInnnnoovvaattiioonn UUnniioonn

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((4400,,22%%))

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((4422,,55%%))

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AA ssttaabbllee EEuurroo ((6688,,55%%))


06

Günther OettingerJohn Dalli

Kristalina Georgieva László Andor

Janusz Lewandowski Connie Hedegaard

Maria Damanaki Stefan Füle

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn Johannes Hahn

v

Cecilia Malmström

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MMiiggrraattiioonn ((4455%%))

One challenge stands out for President Barroso as he enters the second year of his second term of office: theneed to demonstrate vision and leadership. Overwhelmingly, respondents to this survey focused on the vacuumof leadership which they consider that this Commission contains. Key words which appear again and again inrespondents’comments are the need for “courage”, “leadership”, “better communication”, “more ambition” and“explanation”. Similarly, the need to challenge national governments (even occasionally) rings out loud and clearin the comments submitted by respondents.

There is a clear winner for the most important policy challenge facing the Commission, namely, creating growthand jobs, with both future financing of the EU and addressing the banking crisis coming close as the second andthird “most important” policy challenges.

There is little surprising about perceptions of the main policy challenges for some Commissioners but thestrength of feeling among respondents for some of these priorities is impressive: the need for Olli Rehn to focuson a stable Euro, Maria Damanaki on preventing over-fishing and ecosystem degradation, and Dacian Ciolos on CAPreform all score very highly. For other Commissioners the importance of different priorities was more balanced andvaried greatly depending on respondents’ profession, age and even gender. Though achieving lower scores, respondentsclearly endorsed, nevertheless, the need for John Dalli to prioritise GMOs, nanotech and cloned food, Algirdas Semeta toexamine the taxation of the financial sector, and Janez Potocnik to address resource efficiency.

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For the detailed results andmethodology, please go to:

www.bmbrussels.eu

cc

Dacian Ciolos

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37 Square de Meeûs1000 Brussels - BelgiumTel. +32 2 7436611Fax. +32 2 7336611

www.bmbrussels.eu#ECSurvey

Follow the launch of the survey on 9 Feb. 2011 on


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Barroso II