A survey conducted by Eurobarometre, the public opinion analysis sector of the European Commission, found that European citizens are happy with the euro, European policies, the drive for reforms (austerity) and that citizens are generally happy in the Eurozone, thus endowing the commission with their trust and confidence.
The people’s main dislike about the Eurozone is the use of small denomination coins that they would like to do away with at the cost of rounding up or down to the nearest 5 cents the prices of goods and services, the survey found.
Greek respondents also expressed an enthusiastic support for the Euro and the drive for reforms Europe encourages all country members to implement in order to increase the prosperity of all Europe’scitizens
61% of respondents across the euro area said that they thought the euro was good for their own country. This is the highest level of support since the introduction of the survey in 2002, up 4 percentage points since last year.
Support was highest in Luxembourg at 79%, followed by Ireland, which completed an EU-IMF economic adjustment programme in December 2013. 75% of Irish respondents said that the common currency was good for Ireland.
Appreciation has also risen in all other former or current economic adjustment programme countries led by Portugal, where 61% of respondents see the euro as good for their country (+ 11 percentage points) and Spain, where 64% share this view (+ 8pp). Support also rose in Cyprus to 50% (+ 8pp) and Greece to 65% (+6pp on the previous year and 4 percentage points above the EZ average. ). Support also rose among respondents in Italy by 6 percentage points to 49%.
Majority of euro area citizens continue to support economic reforms
Asked again about their views on economic reforms, 78% of respondents across the euro area said that they saw the need for significant reforms to improve the performance of the economy.
In Greece, 74% of the population were found to be in favour of establishing reforms to bolster the country’s economy.
Well done Europe. Some more of the same please.
- More than a fifth of Greece’s population are pensioners who saw their pensions reduced to an average of €833 from an average of €1,350 in 2009- further reductions are expected. ,
- Youth unemployment is 49.7%- average unemployment rates remain at over 25%
- Everyone else is evidently happy with the amount of taxes the government demands to repay the loans used to save banks
