Quest Greek Islands

Public Trust In The Greek Government Decreases As A New Poll Shows

The University of Macedonia, on behalf of the TV channel SKAI has conducted a public poll between 13th and 15th of May to acquire feedback on the public sentiment regarding the government’s negotiations.

The majority of citizens perceive the government’s stance as incorrect, while the popularity of the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has decreased since the elections, even though the leading party SYRIZA keeps a steady lead against opponents when it comes to voting intentions, being 21% points ahead from opposition party Nea Dimokratia.  

Back in February, polls showed that 72% of the respondents agreed with the government’s position and negotiation process, while the new poll demonstrated that 41% of respondents have the opinion that the strategy followed by the Greek State is not satisfactory, and on the other hand, 35% believe that the strategy followed is correct. 

What is surprising, is that only 35% of the people asked stated that the government should be adamant and only deliver what it promised during the pre-election period, with 61% believing that the government should mitigate its commitments given the new set of circumstances.

But what is the public’s opinion if the government does not agree with the proposal on the table? 28% stated that the agreement should be put forward in a referendum, 27% suggest the designation of a national unity government, while 30% believe that the decision on the agreement should be voted upon in the House of Parliament.

On the other hand, the government supports that the agreement is underway. The Minister of Finance, Yiannis Varoufakis, made a public statement in a TV interview while present in the show ‘Ston Eniko’ on the 18th of May, declaring that the agreement with the country's creditors is already at an advanced stage. He said: "I think we are very close. Nobody ever knows until the deal actually takes place. Let's say that it will be done in a week’s time. There is no excuse as to leaving the process of negotiation uncompleted and not reach a mutually beneficial agreement".

He again differentiated the present government’s position from previous ones, attesting that all previous governments have been doing what they had been asked for which brought deeper levels of recession for the country, sinking the Greek economy to the bottom.

The Minister said emphatically that the aim is not to continue this ‘lending game’ but to stop it, clarifying that in negotiations there is always the option for saying ‘no’ and refusing to the offer, since if acceptance was pre-conditioned you wouldn’t be ‘negotiating’ but ‘requesting’. With a characteristic straightforwardness, Varoufakis also stated: "I prefer to go bankrupt to our creditors and the IMF and not towards employees and pensioners”.