Nine in 10 Greeks are dissatisfied with the way the socialist government of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has handled the country’s economic crisis. In a poll, 91% of people said they were dissatisfied with the way the government has managed the country’s economic crisis, while 82% said the country was headed in the wrong direction. The survey was conducted by researcher VPRC for Epikaira magazine.
Almost three-quarters, 71%, said they were dissatisfied with the policies put forward by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who replaced George Papaconstantinou in a June 17 cabinet reshuffle.
Venizelos expects Greece’s economy to shrink by about 5% this year, worse than the June estimate of 3.8% from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, and a deeper contraction than in the past two years. Greece is aiming at an additional 6.4 billion euros in savings through the end of the year to meet the 2011 deficit target, part of a 78 billion-euro package of state-asset sales and budget measures to avert a default.
According to the poll, 83% of people expect mass demonstrations against austerity measures in the next few months while 78% said their personal financial situation has worsened during the past year. When asked which type of government would be best for the country at this point, 4% said the ruling Pasok party, 4% said the opposition New Democracy Party, 15% said a coalition between the two main parties, 11% said a coalition of left-leaning parties and 44% said none of the choices was acceptable. A total of 1,003 people were surveyed from August 31 to September 5 and the poll has a margin of error of 3.16%.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
