Germans are the most likely to think their government are doing a bad job

Key takeaways

  • Most people in each of the five largest EU member countries - France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain - say their government is handling energy prices badly
  • Germans are particularly likely to feel this way, with 56% saying the government are doing "very badly"
  • 63-85% say that the EU and their own governments need to be doing more on energy prices
  • There has generally been an improvement in national leaders' ratings for handling the US-Iran crisis, although in France, Germany and Italy it remains negative overall

With US-Iran conflict causing an almost complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz, consumers across the world have been hit by higher oil prices, with the situation likely to get worse still if the conflict continues.

While Europeans will be aware that the circumstances of the fighting were not caused by their own governments, it nevertheless falls to their leaders to mitigate the impact for everyday people. The latest edition of YouGov’s European Political Monthly survey examines how Europeans in five countries (France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland) feel that their national governments, and the wider EU, are handling energy price prices.

In each country, a majority feel their government is doing a bad job of handling energy prices. This is felt most strongly in Germany, where 84% say the government is tackling this issue badly, including 56% who think they are doing a “very bad” job – this latter figure is a significantly worse rating than in the other four countries.

There is also overall negativity when asking about the EU’s handling of energy prices – between 50-71% of respondents feel the EU is doing badly, with the Italians being the most negative.

In both instances, Poles are the most likely to feel that the EU (31%) and their own government (38%) are doing well, although this is still outweighed by the proportion who think they are doing badly (50% and 54% respectively).

There is also a feeling amongst Europeans that both national governments and the EU should be taking more action to tackle higher energy prices, with the large majority in all countries (63-85%) saying each should be doing more.

Do Europeans think national governments or the EU have the responsibility for tackling energy prices?

In all five countries, the most common belief among Europeans (45-58%) is that the EU and national governments are equally responsible for tackling rising energy prices in Europe.

Amongst those that feel one or the other has the most responsibility, Germans and French people tend to lean more towards the belief that this rests with their national government, while Spaniards and Italians are more inclined to think it is the EU. Poles are largely split.

How do Europeans say their national leaders are handling their countries’ response to the US-Iran conflict?

Opinion is fairly divided on how well or badly national leaders are handling their country’s response to the US-Iran conflict, although there has been some positive movement since we last asked in March.

The Germans are most negative about Merz’s approach so far, with 54% saying he is doing a bad job of handling their national response. The French and Italians are similarly disappointed in their respective leaders (49% and 51%), although there have been small shifts in the proportion of respondents saying that Macron (36%, up from 30%) and Meloni (34%, up from 29%) are doing a good job, compared to March.

Spaniards and Poles are divided on their national leaders. Half (48%) of Spaniards say Sánchez is handling the conflict well (up from 41% in March), although 45% say he is doing a bad job. In Poland, 40% say Tusk is doing well (up from 31%), and 39% say he is doing badly.

In all instances, these movements coincide with similarly-sized reductions in the number answering “don’t know”, rather than representing fewer Europeans now thinking their leaders are handling the crisis badly.

See full results here

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Photo: Getty

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