Juncker’s team is in the ring, battling it out on social media

‘Team Juncker’ – the college of Commissioners-designate proposed by Jean-Claude Juncker – has come under scrutiny from the European Parliament, led by its President Martin Schulz, for the last two weeks. With the hearings in the Parliament drawing to a close, TNS opinion’s European Leaders Watch sheds light on the battle taking place on Twitter.This week’s super-power index compares the performances of Jean-Claude Juncker and Martin Schulz on Twitter. At first glance, Juncker seems to dominate the debate with almost 8 times more mentions (101,262 vs. 13,145), ranking 5th amongst all EU leaders (while the German settles for 19th). Juncker also managed to increase his followers by +16%, compared to Schulz’s +4%, indicating that Juncker’s political presence is becoming more established. However, Schulz clearly outperforms Juncker in the number of followers (126,849 vs. 64,574), thanks to his previous experience in office. Schulz is also much more present on Twitter, having posted 25 tweets since the beginning of September, four times more than Juncker’s six messages.Although Juncker appears confident that his new team will be approved, some Commissioners-designate have been under the spotlight more than others, both in the hearings and on the twittersphere. Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner-designate for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Union, and Miguel Arias Cañete, nominee for the Climate Action and Energy Commissioner, both struggled to convince the European Parliament. This uncertainty is reflected in the European Leaders Watch, where the Twitter community reacted strongly at every step of their hearings, up until the final decision was reached.Having previously been in political office, Moscovici already benefits from a large base of 110,270 followers, compared to just 20,206 for Cañete. However, the Spaniard’s presence on Twitter is almost as strong as Moscovici’s, with 18,800 compared with 20,206 for Moscovici. Although the nomination of Federica Mogherini, the EU High Representative-designate in charge of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, hasn’t been controversial like her two colleagues, she still manages to rank at 3rd place in “Team Juncker” with 14,578 mentions. Having already been in office for more than two months has helped her build a strong base of 65,025 followers.The data was released by TNS opinion’s “European Leaders Watch” index, which monitors the social media debate about Europe’s political decision-makers. The results cover the period of Sept. 1st to Oct. 8th 2014.All results at a glance: Find the rankings and this time’s battle in the attached infographic. With its social media monitoring tool, TNS opinion – the European leader in political and social research – aims to provide an unfiltered picture of public opinion in real time. You can follow the social media debate on http://www.tns-opinion.com/content/european-leader-watch