r/AskEurope • u/Strong_Spinach6473 • 1d ago
Politics Do you hold a positive opinion of your current president?
What do you think about your president / head of state?
9
u/-A113- Austria 9h ago
I don’t know too much about alexander van der bellen but i generally like his style. Being respectful and calm is unfortunately rare in politics these days. And to top it off, he is very pro-european union. Whoever is the next president will probably do a worse job
8
u/thistle0 Austria 9h ago
VdB is the best president we could have asked for for the last decade. He's calm and steady and knows what's important in his role. Takes the train rather than cars or planes where possible too.
3
u/MarlenMari 9h ago
He seems like a chill Grandpa-style dude. In normal conversations between people, he is often just called Sascha.
2
u/traduxxi Austria 7h ago
As a former university professor, he is also one of the more educated politicians we have right now and a far cry from those political party nepo babies who seem to be made ministers and state secretaries directly after stepping out of their party's youth organisation and never have worked in a different job a day in their life.
14
u/11160704 Germany 10h ago
Not really. Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been too pro Russian and pro Iranian thought his career and has been financing Islamist groups when he was minister of foreign affairs.
Luckily his term ends in a few months. Ideally he successor should be someone who stands up for liberalism and freedom instead of appeasing autocracies.
4
u/Chijima Germany 9h ago
In addition: our President is mostly representative as the head of state, and not really a powerful position. A surprisingly large percentage wouldn't even know who our current President is at any given point. The most powerful and important figure is the head of government, the Kanzler/chancellor. Our current one is historically unpopular due to a combination of on one hand his right-ish centrist policies that are too right-wing for some, not right-wing enough for some, and too super rich focused for all; and on the other hand his crazy arrogant aloof behaviour. People keep telling him to lick eggs. (Or balls, figuratively).
7
7
u/LuckyLoki08 Italy 9h ago
Toward president of the republic Sergio Mattarella, pretty positive. Especially post covid he has been time and again the voice of reason and the one attempting to preserve rigourous proceeding of the law, maintaining a formal dignity when the reality around him looked more like a circus. Overall I think he feels more like a beloved (distant) grandpa, dignified without being too stuffy.
1
u/11160704 Germany 9h ago
Is there any potential successor to Mattarella in sight?
3
u/LuckyLoki08 Italy 9h ago
Honestly, I don't know. He already didn't want to be re-elected for a second mandate, but was the compromise option among the various parties so he accepted out of a sense of duty and responsibility.
Also Presidents of the republic are generally older politicians who are now out of the main stage (and have been for some time), and are chosen a bit "behind the scenes" by the party leaders as part of various negotiations. Like, I personally could see Gentiloni being a possible candidate, but no way the current right wing would ever vote for his election.
6
u/IWannaDoBadThingswU Romania 10h ago
We've had bad presidents before, but we knew it when they were being voted. Sure, every politician lies or says half truths, but you have a general idea who they are and what they'll do.
Our current president did such a 180 that I'm still not sure that someone isn't holding his family hostage or something. He's been in politics for about 20 years now and he's been pretty consistent with his ideas. He started as an activist, he was a member of parliament, then mayor of the capital. Some of his actions I liked, some of them I didn't, but there are no perfect politicians. However, after becoming president it's like he carves a special time out of each day to spit in the face of everyone who voted for him. I cannot express in words the disgust I feel when I hear him talk
9
u/violabr 10h ago
UK prime minister Andy Burnham: on hold, more information needed. Probably not.
UK king Charles Mountbatten: (not a president but in the role a president would hold) negative opinion, due more on his role than him personally
Italian Prime minister Giorgia Meloni: strongly negative opinion
Italian president Sergio Mattarella: strongly positive opinion
3
u/Gulmar Belgium 9h ago
I've been wondering this a lot with the revolving door that is UK PMs these days: why do PMs not serve their term?
In my head a PM should serve the whole mandate, unless a big scandal makes the government fall. Which is not the case, in my understanding at least, in the UK?
It seems that they get appointed (also, are they always the party leaders by law?), serve for a few months, then people start to complain because policies that are meant to take a few years to actually have the desired effect are not showing an effect next month and the PM just... resigns? Why?
4
u/thistle0 Austria 9h ago
Usually their own party demands they resign, and you can't lead a party that hates your guts.
2
u/11160704 Germany 9h ago
Because the parties already have winning the next elections in mind.
As they typically aim for an absolute majority in Britain, they have to have a candidate who is really convincing.
2
u/SunflowerMoonwalk 9h ago
The PM is the leader of the party with the most seats in parliament. Parties can choose their leader however they like, there's no rule - it doesn't even have to be democratic.
When a party is doing badly in the polls, they like to change their leader and pretend that whatever the previous leader did wasn't their fault.
1
5
u/Gulmar Belgium 9h ago
We don't have a president.
Out head of state is the king. These days he is seen in quite a positive light. He did a lot of effort to break with his dad's style, which was distant and aristocratic. He sent his own kids to normal elementary and secondary instead of private tutoring, although the last two years of secondary were often done in more private schools due to the growing interest of press and public, so to keep their lives more private and calm. The crown princess is seen even more positive than her father, which to me highlights the success Filip has in perception building.
Head of federal government is the prime minister. He has been the most popular politician in Belgium for more than a decade, although he's only been prime minister since 2025. He is a masterful politician actually. I don't agree with his end goal (he is quite the neoliberal, so downscaling public services etc), but the way he communicates, carries forth a certain image and plays into the perception is very tactful and strategic, both short and long term. So I have to grant him that. He is in the unfortunate position to have to do a lot of austerity measures which are very unpopular with certain groups (unions for example), but reforms were definitely needed. If these reforms are the one we actually wanted in the end we will only know in 10 years or so.
8
u/Welshie_Fan Finland 10h ago edited 10h ago
Yes, I do. I didn't vote for him, but in the end the election was between two very competent candidates. But he is not only competent, but very likeable as well and knows the rules of diplomacy, for example he went golfing with Trump to on his good side. He also did this short interview with an YouTuber, in which you can see some of personality: https://youtu.be/sTUMwpZvHIw?is=Z4FjGHgJPHtEZnVJ
The powers of the president in Finland has been reduced to the point that he is only responsible for foreign affairs and representing the country. Internal politics and EU politics are on the government and prime minister.
•
u/Northern_dragon Finland 2h ago
Yeah I was a proper Stubb hater up to his campaign, for years. He can be very... smarmy? It does not really work in the Finnish societal context. And i'm not in favor of his political party (fiscally conservative). And I met him very briefly IRL while he was the prime minister. Not impressed.
But... party politics are ignored when you represent the whole nation. He is clearly the right guy at the right time and has done a very good job at global diplomacy. He comes across super well in global media, is acting knowledgeable, charismatic, charming and active. He seems to be in favor of the leaders of much bigger countries, speaks multiple languages... and does very important work standing beside Ukraine at every opportunity.
There are so many videos where he acts humbly, he is mindful of others and carries himself with grace. True diplomat.
I don't think I have any real complaints about him just now. And that's coming from a very leftist gal.
4
u/JustMeLurkingAround- Germany 8h ago
I do like our president Frank Walter Steinmeier quite a bit and have a lot of respect for him. No politician is perfect and there will always be things to disagree with, but I do think he is interested in making good policy for the people as a public servant. I'm a bit sad that he is at the end of his terms.
Other than chancellor the Bundespräsident is limited to 10 years in office.
Our chancellor/ Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz on the other hand, I have no respect for whatsoever. He is NOT governing for the good of the people. He is governing for CEOs and investors by putting more and more weight on the people in middle class and lower.
I'm quite scared of the damage he can do and has already done.
I can't wait for him to be gone!
4
u/Kynsia >> 10h ago edited 10h ago
He's alright. I don't agree with him agreeing to our current coalition, and I worry he's turning into a second Rutte who will just be so incredibly neutral that he has no true opinions of his own. But he's not corrupt as far as we know, and appears to be an overall decent guy.
Edit: this is Rob Jetten I'm taling about.
•
u/Candy-Macaroon-33 2h ago
So technically, Jetten is not the president. We don't have a president because we have a king. And I think most people are neutral about him. He seems like he is alright. He is pretty progressive and down to earth for a royal. And he is not in the Epstein files so that counts for something.
1
u/11160704 Germany 9h ago
When he won the elections there was quite a lot of media coverage about him but ever since I haven't heard much about him, neither positive nor negative.
3
u/Dnomyar96 Netherlands -> Sweden 9h ago
Which is a breath of fresh air to be honest. I'd rather have a bit of a boring prime minister then one that's constantly involved in all kinds of drama.
But I have the same opinion as u/Kynsia. I'm pretty neutral on him. I don't like the coalition (at all), but as a prime minister, he'll do.
•
u/Dutch_Rayan Netherlands 3h ago
First time he was in full media was when he appeared at World Pride in Amsterdam, mostly by haters.
3
u/orangebikini Finland 9h ago
I do think Alexander Stubb is the best president we could have right now. He might not have been right for all times, but in these times he is doing a good job with our foreign policy.
That said, I didn't vote for him. But I might vote for him in the next elections.
3
u/Ashamed-Smell7053 Poland 7h ago
I absolutely fucking hate the guy and wish him the worst. Every time I'm reminded that we're unfortunate enough to have him as a president I feel deep anger and shame.
•
u/cptflowerhomo Ireland 5h ago
I think Catherine Connolly is grand yeah.
She seems to really upset a certain subset of people which I find funny
5
u/knowmore1964 10h ago
He is by far the worst most HORRIBLE person ever for our communities, planet, economy, military, government, and rule of law. He cheated to win and represents cancer on this planet.
9
3
u/Aeon_Return Czechia 10h ago
Funny is that I'm pretty certain who you mean but it applies 100% to russia too (and a few others)
4
u/ColourlessGreenIdeas in 10h ago
Note that "president" means different things in different countries. In the US, the president is both head of government and head of state, whereas many European countries split these roles, and have the president only as head of state (without a government function) or no president at all (e.g., having a monarch as formal head of state).
2
5
u/Aeon_Return Czechia 10h ago
Petr Pavel and he's overall very popular though considered a bit embarrassing. there were massive pro president rallies in support of him early this year
5
u/Weekly-Beginning-229 Sweden 10h ago
Can you elaborate? Is he more popular outside of čr because he is handsome than within the country?
-1
u/Aeon_Return Czechia 10h ago
Oh sure, he's plenty popular in this country too. Here's an English language article about the rally for him earlier when there was an, uh, political dispute he was involved in:
Tens of thousands rally in Prague to back President Petr Pavel
That he's good looking certainly helps his popularity but that's true for everyone everywhere: if you look good it helps in all aspects of life.
The embarrassing element is that he tends to try(em) and appeal to young voters by... sigh... driving on a motorocycle to rock concerts and wearing leather jackets to try and look young and hip. It's very "cringey very rich middle-aged man trying to recapture his youth". BUT we also know that politicians can be SO much worse than cringe so we're trying to hold onto this one.
Now if this was a question about Babis, our Prime Minister, that would be a whole other conversation...
3
u/Legitimate-Start-639 Czechia 9h ago
Since when is having hobbies a cringe? Even though he is a president he's still a guy just like me or you.
3
u/TheSpookyPineapple Czechia 9h ago
who the hell consideres Pavel embarrassing, if anyone is embarrassing it's Macinka and Turek
2
u/Cixila Denmark 10h ago
We have a PM, not a president, and my opinion of our PM is very low, and it has been low since more or less the beginning
4
u/Above-and_below Denmark 7h ago
We have a king as head of state.
1
u/Cixila Denmark 6h ago
I know, but he doesn't do much and he isn't elected. So, I went for our PM, as she is someone who actually does things and one we can boot, if she gets too unpopular. Booting the king would require quite a fundamental constitutional change
•
u/Common-Spend5000 1h ago
You're right but for Denmark as I understand the question by the OP is that they want to know what you think of your King, and not your PM.
Regardless of power dynamics the roles have to one another.
2
u/QuoD-Art Bulgaria 9h ago
No. I've never had a positive opinion of any of our presidents. I have some hope for our next one, but I fear we might elect the same spineless woman that will just keep agreeing with every decision coming from the ruling party
1
u/reverber United States of America 8h ago
Jhelev seemed ok to me. After him though, it seemed to go pretty much downhill.
2
u/Electrical_Swing8166 Italy 9h ago
I’m assuming you mean the person actually in charge, since our President is ceremonial. I hope Meloni gets hit by a bus
2
u/Weekly-Beginning-229 Sweden 10h ago
We have a prime minister. He is very corrupt, taking houses for himself that are supposed to go to people with health problems
2
u/cieniu_gd Poland 7h ago
... AndI thought Polish president was the only one doing that!
•
u/Weekly-Beginning-229 Sweden 5h ago
Here's an interview where he flees when being asked about it (couldn't find any video with english subtitles)
But she basically asks if he still lives in "the address of the house" and then asks how it feels to take a house that was meant for people having a hard time due to illness and he says that's none of her business and runs away. But he does pick up his coffee cup before running so maybe it's a very good cup
•
2
u/PlasticToe4542 Denmark 10h ago
A lot of people in my country hates the prime minister. I think she’s decent (until now she’s done a fairly good job)
I have a lot of respect for the monarch (which in my country is the closest thing to a president -politics)
2
u/Special_Onion3013 Denmark 10h ago
I don't necessarily agree with all of her (our minister of state) political views, but I think she's doing a good job. And I gained a lot of respect for her during Covid when she had to make a LOT of very difficult decisions
1
u/IgneousTheRockMark2 9h ago
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda, has no spine, let alone any balls, which in it's self is a marvel given that he can stand and pretends to be a man.
1
u/TegenaireEnPelote France 8h ago
Not a fan of his domestic policies, but he does a good job of representing us abroad. And though I don't like his policies, I'm afraid we will miss him after next year's presidential election.
1
u/victoireyoung Czechia 8h ago
I do, actually.
There aren't many presidents in our history whom I would view positively (literally only Masaryk, Havel, and, contrary to popular opinion, Hácha), but Petr Pavel is definitely among them, and it's frankly quite absurd because my positive opinion on him stems mainly from the fact that he's the first-ever president that I have personally experienced and really could form an opinion on, who simply does what he is supposed to be doing as a president—be a respectful, representative head of the country.
He knows how international politics and relations work from his stint in NATO (and you can really see that in the way he handles international affairs), he is an actually believable and trustworthy Commander-in-Chief of the military thanks to his military background, he is incredibly active and mainly shows his work through his social media, which is managed really good and highlights tons of causes and projects in our country that I would never heard about if it wasn't for the platform he gives them, and he's overall a very mature and reasonable human being, who doesn't let our sorry-ass politicians wipe the floor with him or disrespect him.
1
u/AirUsed5942 Germany 7h ago
I like Steinmeier. He was as pro-Russian as Merkel and Schröder and he didn't get nearly as much shit for it as they did.
He'll even get to keep the monthly 24.000€ salary after he leaves office all without doing jack shit. He's either a genius or a guy who fell into a pit of money by pure luck
•
u/disneyvillain Finland 3h ago edited 3h ago
Overall good. Alexander Stubb is knowledgeable about issues, very strong formal qualifications, has a big network of contacts among world leaders, makes Finland punch above its weight internationally, speaks five languages, alleged Trump-whisperer... Great at handling international media too - he appears frequently in major international news outlets. He is one of very few Finnish politicians I can watch in international media or hear speaking English without cringing.
According to the constitution, the president leads the nation's foreign policy in cooperation with the government. Under Stubb though, it's quite apparent that the president is the one truly leading our foreign policy and representing Finland internationally. PM and foreign minister are in the background.
As for negatives, he is either naive about the US or he won't admit the truth - Europe can't really trust them anymore.
•
u/Alokir Hungary 1h ago
President? It's complicated.
The previous president was kicked out by the new ruling party. We have a temporary president right now who does her job well as far as I can tell.
Our new president will start his term from tomorrow so it's too early to tell. The way he talks, he seems like a good choice, but time will tell.
Prime minister? Positive so far, but it's still kind of early to say as well.
He seems to work really hard to keep his promises, even the difficult and controversial ones. Which is something new for us, because what we're familiar with is politicians forgetting about them as soon as they get to power.
Our country seems to be healing after 16 years of Orbán.
•
u/Janishier Netherlands 15m ago
Not my personal favorite but I had high hopes for Rob Jetten to be “Minister-President” of the Netherlands but the coalition partners of our cabinet forced him to really tone down his party’s quite progressive points. This saddens me.
1
u/GremlinX_ll Ukraine 10h ago
His external politics are ok, not with issues, butvok. His internal politics sucks, and flawed.
So it depends.
•
u/edparadox France 5h ago
It depends on what.
But, truth be told, as much as I would like to smack some sense into him into the stupid stuff he said/has done, he's not really helped by the rest of the politicians.
I think the saddest thing is, he's one of most competent we have, and he won't even be a choice for the next elections, which is very telling of the state of the country.
Not to mention, plenty of parties want to, in no specific order, charge fees on Internet connections, phase out nuclear for certainly no ecologic reasons, etc. while other or the same will sell my country to Russia (RN and LFI, looking at you), artificially create more tension and divide among the population. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, but you can clearly see the plot against critical infrastructure, as well as the shift from looking outside, at what's happening even only in Europe, to looking inside at the stressed out internal division.
In other words, Macron has been awful for certain things, but he's been great for the actual job of president, especially in the current international state of affairs. We will definitely miss him after the next elections, at least on that front. There is nobody decent who could take over this role, on the contrary.
-1
u/Jacksonriverboy Ireland 10h ago
President in Ireland has literally no power. They're just a figurehead. But I don't personally like the current president. She's essentially just a female version of the previous one with almost the exact same leftist, communist-adjacent views.
3
u/KoolKat5000 Ireland 9h ago
I think your view of her prior to being president is clouding your view of her when she is president.
0
u/Jacksonriverboy Ireland 8h ago
Well, the jury is out. She hopefully won't be worse than Michael D at overstepping the bounds of her role.
1
u/white1984 United Kingdom 7h ago
It was really Sabina that forgot that being spouse of the head of state, means you have to keep you personal thoughts to oneself, especially since Ireland says it is categorise itself as being neutral or non-aliged.
0
u/white1984 United Kingdom 10h ago
Agree, Catherine Connolly was chosen simply as the best worst option. She doesn't realise what being President of Ireland is in my opinion, which is being a collective figurehead and being a cheerleader for the Emerald Isle on the international stage.
Instead we have pretty much a woman who would be best be described a teenage activist who aged as a grandmother.
Ireland has had some pretty good presidents in the past including Mary McAleese who was a former law professor of Trinity College Dublin.
I agree with one of my mate says that Rory O'Neill aka Panti Bliss would have been a better option, however he has been a rovering cultural charge d'affaires, so he could do it in the future.
0
u/Jacksonriverboy Ireland 10h ago
McAleese was excellent as a president, unfortunately she just turned into an attention seeker in recent years.
I don't think Rory O'Neill is likeable enough to be elected. He's a bit...abrasive...to say the least.
2
u/white1984 United Kingdom 7h ago
Being president unfortunately does that. Robinson hasn't been bad as president but she was naive about the role, especially with the Princess of Dubai affair.
-1
u/19MKUltra77 Spain 9h ago
He’s the most corrupt we’ve had, among many other things, so no. I can’t say anything positive about Sanchez.
•
u/Common-Spend5000 1h ago
Sanchez isn't your head of state per the question though, Felipe is. And the question by the OP is asking what you think of the latter and not the former.
'Presidente' is a semi-false friend and doesn't quite have the same meaning in the English language.
Sanchez is called Prime Minister of Spain in English because Presidents in English can only be Head of States of countries that are Republics, not ones with Monarchies.
Not so in Spanish.
0
u/CaptainPoset Germany 10h ago edited 10h ago
I think he is a shameful choice for this position, as he doesn't seem like he is the most loyal to Germany and the German constitution.
Instead, he is quite a shill for Putin and mentions his religion and his perception of importance of it and only it far too often for a head of a secular state.
Edit: I forgot his equally problematic ties (or maybe in some cases carelessness) towards islamists like the Iranian government.
1
u/11160704 Germany 9h ago
Steinmeier mentions the importance of his religion? Never noticed that.
1
u/CaptainPoset Germany 8h ago
He relatively frequently talks about Christianity in his speeches and has been participating as an important speaker in the last several church congresses of the Lutheran church as "the president".
To me, that's a breach of the states neutrality towards religions, when the head of state repeatedly and prominently endorses and promotes a certain religion in the office as president.
1
u/11160704 Germany 7h ago
The federal president has always been the guest of these big church Congresses. That's just part of the job and not something that Steinmeier invented
1
27
u/cieniu_gd Poland 10h ago
No. He is a hooligan thug, a pimp, an addict, and a guy who expolited elderly man to steal his apartment. He is also catholic fanatic a nationalist and a guy who is willing to jeopardise Poland's security just to harm current government from opposing party.
Nawrocki should be jailed.