The results of a new opinion poll were released today making us less wise about what Greeks really want, or don’t want, regarding the country’s position in the European big picture.
With debt negotiations at a crucial stage and pensioners fearing that they may not get their pension at the end of May, the poll results show that Greek people are confused on what the situation actually is. That’s understandable, one might say, since the government is equally confused.
Greece’s European partners are trying to outdo the Greek government in confusing people as well. In the morning, EU officials say that a Grexit is out of the question and in the evening they castigate Athens for doing nothing to implement the reforms that would get the country out of recession and threaten to close the liquidity tap.
The new poll was aimed at determining how citizens would vote if debt negotiations failed and the government had to resort to a referendum. However, even though several cabinet officials and SYRIZA MPs have often talked of a referendum, they were never specific on what the referendum would be about. No one was clear on what the question on the ballot would be.
So, Skai television asked the University of Macedonia to conduct a survey asking Greek people if they want to stay in the euro zone in one question and under what conditions in another. Those were only two of the questions on the rather elaborate survey that also asked participants how they rate the government’s performance so far.
The first question required a simple yes or no answer: 66.5 percent of participants replied they want the euro. The second question was a bit trickier: Do you want to stay in the euro zone in exchange for some reforms? This time the number went down to 53.5 percent.
Later today, Greek officials announced that lenders are not backing down on anything and insist on austerity measures on which the government has drawn a red line. That brings the referendum solution a bit closer. Again, the question remains: What would the crucial question be?
Do we want to stay in the euro zone or do we want to go back to the drachma. Or, do we want to stay with the euro and keep getting more loans and European funding, or declare bankruptcy and go independent, whatever than means.
In other words, the referendum would be giving people the choice to decide what road the country should follow: default and let the chips fall as they may or make painful concessions, get more loans and stay afloat, albeit with our national pride wounded.
In the past few weeks, the Greek government has resorted to a discreet bashing of European partners. They keep telling Greek media that creditors are blackmailing the country to agree to horrid measures such as pension cuts and mass layoffs. It is as if they are preparing the ground for a head-on collision with Europe.
Creditors, on the other hand, say that Athens is not bringing equal measures to the table to replace their austere proposals. They say Athens is not cooperating. The truth must be somewhere in the middle.
Alexis Tsipras won the election with the promise to bring an end to the memorandums that have brought Greece to its knees while keeping the country in the euro zone. Now he may have to ask the Greek people again if they want to stay in the common currency bloc at a price.
The last time a Greek government went to a referendum was in 1974 with the simple question to the people: Do you want King Constantine II back? More than 69 percent had voted “no” to the king who had been ousted by the military junta. It was a referendum in which the outcome was certain and there was nothing serious at stake.
This time though, there is a lot at stake. It is possible that the results of a referendum would be in favor of the euro. That would bring the prime minister on a collision with the famous “SYRIZA left platform” that wants Greece out of the euro zone yesterday.
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