Greek citizens are apparently unmoved by the leftist government’s near celebratory reaction to last week’s Eurogroup decision, which finally concluded a second review of the bailout program and further clarified possible debt relief measures for the still bailout-dependent country.
According to results of an opinion poll published in the Friday edition of the Athens daily “Efimerida ton Syntakton” (Ef.Syn), 67 percent of respondents characterized the agreement as “probably bad or bad”, with only 19 percent of respondents considering it “probably good or good”; 14 percent of respondents answered “don’t know/NA”.
The “spin” that emerged in Athens on the part of the coalition government, after the Eurogroup decision, revolved around a certainty that the country will soon exit creditors’ supervision, in tandem with greater growth prospects for the recession-battered Greek economy.
The specific poll, conducted by the Athens-based Prorata firm for the left-leaning newspaper, gauged “electoral influence” instead of the customary “voter intent”, which showed the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party reaching a 36-percent figure, up from 30 percent in the previous such poll (May 2017). Conversely, ruling SYRIZA remained stuck at 20 percent in terms of voter influence.
As far as lesser parties are concerned, ones represented in the current Parliament and out-of-Parliament groupings, a socialist PASOK-led grouping garnered a 14-percent “electoral influence” result, up from 11 percent in the previous poll; the Communist Party (KKE) was at 13 percent (9 percent previously); centrist Potami 8 percent (8 percent); the out-of-Parliament Popular Unity party 4 percent (2 percent); another new far-left party established by former Pariament president Zoe Konstantopoulou also garnered 4 percent; the rightist-populist Independent Greeks’ (AN.EL) party, the junior coalition partner, received 2 percent (5 percent), which put it under the 3-percent threshold needed to enter Parliament in a general election.
Finally, a long-time far-leftist grouping, radical Antarsya, pooled 6 percent of respondents’ preferences, which if repeated during an upcoming general election would translate into its Parliament entry.
According to the newspaper, one indicative figure showed that 55 percent of respondents who said they voted for leftist SYRIZA in 2015 consider that the recent Eurogroup decision is “bad or probably bad”, as opposed to 30 percent of the same sample group that agreed with position that it was “good or probably good”.
Additionally, 35 percent of respondents said they felt “disappointment” with the agreement; 16 percent said they were “indifferent”; 15 percent said the Eurogroup compromise generated a feeling of “stress”; 12 percent “anger”, and only 10 percent of respondents agreed declared “relief”; 4 percent replied they were “optimistic”.
