NEW Poll says 67.8% of Greeks predict compromise with creditors

According to a new poll conducted by GPO and presented on the Anatropi talk show that is broadcasted on Monday nights on MEGA tv, almost 67.8% of Greek citizens believe that the government will make concessions in order to come to a compromise with the creditors. The majority also hold Greece’s partners and creditors responsible for the delays in reaching an agreement.

When participants were asked who is responsible for the fact that 4.5 months after the elections there as been no agreement between the Greek government and the country’s creditors, the respondents answered:

• The Greek government – 37.4%
• The creditors and partners – 56.3%
• I don’t know / no answer – 6.3%

When asked how they believe the negotiations will conclude, the respondents answered:
Rupture between Greece and creditors – 8.3%

• Compromise with Greek, primarily, concessions – 67.8%
• Compromise with creditor, primarily, concessions – 19.4%
• I don’t know / no answer – 4.5%

The survey also questioned respondents on the EU’s interests and necessity for an agreement
Greece must remain in Europe, despite the EU not representing the majority interests, to avoid isolation – 57.5%

• The EU represents progress and it is necessary that Greece remains a part of it – 18.8%
• The EU represents interests that do not serve Greece, therefore we must leave – 21.3%
• I don’t know – no answer – 2.4%

Source To Vima

NEW POLL - Support for euro at 71% - SYRIZA maintains lead over ND

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the ruling coalition's leading party SYRIZA maintained a clear lead over the opposition, according to a barometer poll conducted by Public Issue and published in the Sunday edition of the newspaper "Avghi". Estimated voter support for SYRIZA was more than double that for runner-up New Democracy at 48.5 pct, compared with 21 pct for ND, 6 pct for the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), 6 pct for far-right Golden Dawn, 5.5 pct for Potami, 4 pct for PASOK, 3.5 pct for junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL) and 5.5 pct for other parties.

Support for the government's stance in the negotiations was expressed by 54 pct, while 37 pct disagreed, and 56 pct were in favour of a ratification of any agreement by Parliament compared with 34 pct that favoured ratification by referendum. A further 37 pct said that the government must back down in the negotiations, while 58 pct said it should not give in.

On individual aspects of the negotiations, 89 pct were against any reduction in main pensions, 81 pct opposed removing restrictions on mass lay offs, 79 pct opposed reduction in supplementary pensions, 57 pct opposed retaining the Uniform Real Estate Ownership Tax, 52 pct were against imposing a single VAT rate of 18 pct, and 43 pct opposed privatisation of regional airports.

The prime minister retained high levels of popularity at 77 pct, with 63 pct judging him most suitable for prime minister, compared with just 20 pct for ND leader Antonis Samaras, whose popularity was at 28 pct.

On levels of satisfaction with the operation of the government, roughly 44 pct were still satisfied, with roughly 55 pct dissatisfied. Dissatisfaction with the operation of the opposition parties, by contrast, was running at roughly 88 pct, with a mere 11 pct expressing satisfaction.

Public opinion on the European Union was split, with 50 pct having a negative opinion and 48 pct having a positive opinion and 2 pct expressing no opinion. Support for remaining in the euro in the case of a referendum continued to be strong at 71 pct, with 25 pct against and 4 pct expressing no opinion.

Support for a return to the drachma, by contrast, stood at 19 pct, whereas 68 pct considered that a return to the drachma will probably make things worse, 10 pct considered that it would make no difference and 3 pct had no opinion.

ANA-MPA

New Poll Shows SYRIZA 14.8-point lead over New Democracy

The ruling SYRIZA party has a 14.-8 point lead over the main opposition party New Democracy party, according to a new survey that was conducted by MARC for ALPHA Tv. When participants were asked which party they would vote for if elections were called, they responded as follows:

•     SYRIZA – 35.6% (40.2%)
•     New Democracy – 20.8% (21%)
•     The River – 5.8% (4.3%)
•     Golden Dawn – 5.3% (4.8%)
•     KKE – 5.1% (4.9%)
•     Independent Greeks – 4.2% (4.5%)
•     PASOK – 2.8% (2.5%)
•     Centrists’ Union – 1.5% (1.8%)
•     Movement of Democrats Socialists – 1.4% (1.8%)
•     Other party – 3.8% (3.3%)
•     Undecided – 13.7%

(Figures in parentheses are results from a survey conducted on the March 18)

NEW POLL - SYRIZA holds 20pct lead over ND

SYRIZA holds a 20 percentage point lead over main opposition New Democracy, according to an opinion poll conducted by Marc for Alpha Tv. More precisely, when participants were asked who they would vote for if general elections would be held now, 40.2 of respondents said SYRIZA and only 21 pct said New Democracy.

The Communist Party (KKE) was third with 4.9 pct followed by the far-right Golden Dawn party with 4.8 pct, the Independent Greeks (ANEL) party with 4.5, the Potami party with 4.3 pct and (yes... miracles can happen) the PASOK with 2.5 pct; while George Papandreou's Democrats Socialists Movement only gained 1.8 pct.

New Poll Says 6 in 10 Greeks give government 'vote of confidence'

According to the findings of a new ALCO opinion poll, unveiled on Tuesday on the website topontiki.gr (a news site that has always supported the leftist party, as well as PASOK), six in 10 Greeks give the government a "vote of confidence".

The poll, which was conducted via phone interviews on February 9-10, using a random sample of 821 individuals above 18, was taken before the confidence vote in Parliament.

Replying to a question "Would you personally give the government a vote of confidence," 59% of participants said 'yes', 34% said 'no' and 7% declined to answer.

Asked to rate the policy statements unveiled by the Greek Prime Pinister in Parliament, 66% rated them "positively" or "very positively", 19% "neither positively or negatively" and 9% as "negative or very negative," while 6% did not answer.

To the question "How did you mostly feel while hearing the Prime Minister's policy statements," 48% said they felt either "enthusiasm" or "pride", 24% said "nothing in particular", 20% said "concern" and 2% "disappointment".

With regard to the Greek government's stance in the negotiations with Greece's partners and creditors, 75% said they were in agreement, 15% disagreed and 10% did not answer.

SYRIZA leads ND by 4-4.9 points in two new polls

The latest public opinion polls show that the main opposition Radical Left SYRIZA party is still in the lead over the conservative New Democracy party.

The first poll, which was conducted by Alco for the To Pontiki weekly newspaper shows SYRIZA at 32%, with New Democracy at 27.1%, followed by the River party at 5.6%, the far-right Golden Dawn party at 4.6%, the Greek Communist Party (KKE) at 4.1%, PASOK at 4%, the Independent Greeks party at barely 3%, the Movement of Democrats Socialists at 2%, the Greens/Democratic Left at only 1% and other parties at 2.9%. Of those questioned 5.3% said they would vote blank or abstain from voting, while the rate of those undecided was at 8.4%.

The second poll conducted by Pulse for the Action 24 television network showed SYRIZA at 31%, the New Democracy party at 27%, the River party at 6%, PASOK at 5.5%, the Golden Dawn party at 5.5%, KKE at 5%, the Independent Greek at 3% and George Papandreou's Movement of Democrats Socialists at 2.5%.

The same poll also showed that 64% of respondents believe that SYRIZA will claim victory on Sunday's general election as opposed to 26% which believes New Democracy will come first.

New Opinion poll Shows SYRIZA At 3.4% Lead of New Democracy

The radical leftist main opposition party SYRIZA has a 3.4% point lead over the conservative New Democracy party, according to the latest opinion poll from Alco.

The poll, which was published in Thursday's edition of the 'To Pontiki' newspaper and conducted nationwide from January 11-13, shows that 31.2% of those questioned answered that they intend to vote for SYRIZA in the January 25th elections and 27.8% for New Democracy.

In the previous poll from Alco, SYRIZA had 31.2% and New Democracy 28%, followed by the To Potami party with 5.1%, the far-right Golden Dawn party (GD) with 5%, the Greek Communist Party of Greece (KKE) with 4%, PASOK with 3.6%, the Independent Greeks (ANEL) party with 2.6% and the newly formed Movement of Democratic Socialists with 2.4%.

New opinion poll only gives SYRIZA 1.9% lead over New Democracy

A latest opinion poll conducted by Interview on behalf of northern Greece's Vergina TV shows that the gap between the conservative New Democracy (ND) and the Radical Left main opposition party SYRIZA has narrowed to almost 1.9%.

The poll, which was conducted between the period January 9-11 on a sample of 1,000 people concludes that SYRIZA remained in the lead, with 28.3%, followed by the New Democracy party with 26.4%, The (media backed) To Potami party at 5.5%, the far-right Golden Dawn party (GD) at 5.1%, the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and the PASOK party at 4.1% each, George Papandreou's newly-formed Movement of Democratic Socialists (KIDISO) at some 2%, the Independent Greeks party (ANEL) at 1.7% and the Democratic Left party (DIMAR) at a mere 0.2%.

In the same poll, participants said that they believe that the scenario of Greece's exit from the eurozone is more likely to happen under a SYRIZA-led government and less likely under a New Democracy-led government (10%).

At least 41% of participants also said they are convinced that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras can better negotiate with the country's lenders rather than SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras (32%).

SYRIZA Lead Over ND Narrowing

According to the latest opinion poll conducted by GPO the difference between the New Democracy party and SYRIZA stands at 3.2%, while according to ALCO the difference is 3.3% – and 2% according to INTERVIEW.

All three polls clearly indicate that SYRIZA’s lead over ND is starting to narrow.

More analytically, SYRIZA reaches 28.5% – New Democracy 25.3% – The POTAMI 5.8% – The Central Communist party KKE 5.7% – Golden Dawn 5.4% – PASOK 5% – ANEL 2.7% – Socialist Democrats movement 2.6% and LAOS 2%.

About 40.3% of respondents said they prefer Antonis Samaras for Prime Minister and only 34.9% prefer Alexis Tsipras.

The good news: All three polls conclude that the newly formed Socialist Democrats movement of George Papandreou, Karatzaferis' LAOS party and maybe even the Independent Greeks party will stay out of the Parliament.

New Democracy election campaign focuses on “responsibility” & “truth”

The general elections at the end of January are critical for both the conservative New Democracy and its party leader Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. The new election campaign, according to press reports, will focus on “responsibility” and “truth”.

The conservatives may have consistently trailed behind the main opposition SYRIZA party in opinion polls, but Samaras has continued to be a more suitable Premier. It is thus expected that this will ultimately sway voters to reject SYRIZA and disprove the recent polls. This fact alone has begun shrinking the gap between the two contending parties.

It is expected that this will also reign in Samaras' rhetoric throughout the election campaign.

He has already noted that SYRIZA aims to pull out Greece from the Eurozone and bankrupt the country.

Samaras is also expected to be the central figure in New Democracy’s campaign, in an effort to attract undecided voters who abstained from the 2012 elections. However, this will not be enough, so the strategy will also focus on attracting centrist voters who are concerned over political stability.

New poll: SYRIZA leads ND By 3.5%

According to a Pulse poll the main opposition SYRIZA party holds a 3.5% lead over the conservative New Democracy in the “who would you vote for” question. The results of the new poll, which was conducted between the period December 19-21 for a local TV channel, are basically unchanged compared to the company’s previous poll conducted in mid-December.

The radical Left SYRIZA party apparently received 28.5% of the votes (vs. 27.5% in the previous poll) with New Democracy reaching 25.0% (vs. 24% previously).

GAP NARROWING - SYRIZA lead Over ND Now At 3.4 pct

The radical Left main opposition party (SYRIZA) may continue to lead over the conservative ruling New Democracy (ND), but the gap is narrowing according to a new opinion poll conducted by Rass which was featured in the Sunday edition of the Eleftheros Typos newspaper.

Unlike several months ago, SYRIZA is now only leading the ND party by 3.4 percentage points. In the poll, some participants said that SYRIZA would win if national elections were held in the near future, however, current prime minister Antonis Samaras is still the more suitable candidate for prime minister.

According to the poll results the third place goes to Potami with 5.8 percent followed by the Communist Party (KKE) with 5.3 percent, PASOK with 4.6 percent, Golden Dawn with 4.4 percent, Independent Greeks with 2.8 percent followed by Ecologists-Greens with 1.5 percent and ANTARSYA with 1.1 percent. 4.4 percent of the respondents said the will vote for another party and 16.2 percent did not answer.

People are more afraid of SYRIZA and its strategy of reversal (41.9 pct) followed by ND (37.2 pct).

Moreover, two days before the second round of the presidential elections, 43.2 pct has positive opinion for candidate Stavros Dimas and 32.5 pct negative.

GAP CLOSING - New Poll shows SYRIZA 3.2 points ahead of New Democracy

The gap between the ruling New Democracy party and the radical left main opposition party SYRIZA is narrowing. In a recent poll conducted between the 11th and 14th of December 2014 by VCITIZENS, and which is published in Wednesday’s edition of the Efimerida ton Syntakton newspaper, SYRIZA is only leading ND by a 3.2-point lead. At a first glance, the Golden Dawn party will hold its forces, while ANEL and DIMAR are not going to enter Parliament. PASOK, on the other, is at an all time low and it is still uncertain whether they will be able to generate the votes needed to make it into Parliament. The good news: Neither will George Papandreou's unnamed party (which some have said will be similar to that of the Democratic party in the US).

When participants were asked which party they intend to vote for in the next national elections, the responses were as follows:

• SYRIZA – 23.3%
• New Democracy – 20.1%
• Golden Dawn – 6.1%
• KKE – 4.9%
• The River – 4.2%
• PASOK – 3.1%
• Independent Greeks (ANEL) – 2.4%
• Democratic Left (DIMAR) – 1%
• Other party – 4.1%
• Abstain/blank – 15.6%
• Undecided/No answer – 15.2%

The “other party” category in greater detail shows the following:

• ANTARSYA – 0.7%
• Green Ecologists/Pirate Party 0.6%
• George Papandreou’s unnamed party – 0.5%
• EPAM – 0.5%
• George Lykoudis’ party – 0.4%
• Greek Hunter Party – 0.2%
• Centrist Union – 0.2%
• Unspecified other party – 1%

Papandreou Wants To Help Reconstruction of Center Left, & Work With SYRIZA!

While invited to speak by the Hertie School of Governance at a conference dedicated to administrative management in Europe, and while giving an interview Deutsche Welle, former leader of the PASOK party George Papandreou did not rule out the possibility of forming a coalition with SYRIZA in the future in order to what he said would be towards the recovery of the center left.

He specifically told the German magazine that he is ready and more than willing to contribute towards the recovery of center left, since it suffered significant loses over the past few years. Papandreou then said that since many former PASOK officers have joined SYRIZA, the possibility of a left and center left coalition is not unlikely (leaving it to be understood that it should not be ruled out).

Papandreou, who recently returned to Greece -to conduct his usual three-month holidays after travelling the globe and giving canned and prepared speeches to wannabe audiences (who actually paid to listen to him) has just vindicated HellasFrappe once more.

Have we or have we not warned our readers that Papandreou parked his voters at SYRIZA? Have we or have we not warned all of you that good old George is still on a power trip and wants to play political games in Greece?

Well, how much more proof do you need?

In all fairness, for this to happen Evangelos (or Evan-jello) Venizelos must step down from PASOK's leadership. Venizelos is a political enemy of SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras and the number one rival of Papandreou. (Tsipras and Papandreou monkey see monkey do). This is no easy task since Venizelos came out stronger through the recent elections and reactions inside PASOK are not negative against him any longer, but rather calmer. If Venizelos manages to also place some of these veteran PASOK-ers in the new government after Antonis Samaras holds a reshuffle, then things will be even smoother for him.

In any case, everything will become clear after the summer when PASOK holds its party conference since there will certainly be a question of leadership. If Venizelos succeeds and sets his own line, he will once again be elected as PASOK President and finally wash his hands clean of Papandreou.

If such a scenario occurs... then expect to see George siding with SYRIZA almost immediately. Now SYRIZA might claim that they are not interested in working with good old George... But we must not forget that George's people have been working with SYRIZA since day one. If you do hear such a claim, then ask yourselves why SYRIZA has sworn to protect Papandreou on more than one occasion in the Greek parliament and why Tsipras is liked by the same American interests that helped good old George rise to fame.

Getting back to his interview with the German magazine, Papandreou said that the rise of far-right parties in Europe is “especially worrying” and he noted that this is in part to the strict austerity measures that have been forced on Europeans as a result of the crisis.

He also referred to a “democratic deficit” in the European Union which Papandreou believes fuels the sense of marginalization shared by Euro-skeptics.

Papandreou then expressed his belief that the European Commission is just “too weak”, even though he knows that it has adopted significant initiatives to convince the citizens of Europe that it achieves its goals. He then hinted that the European Council took the major decisions and argued that Germany’s opinions prevailed in the council decisions.

When questioned about the recent elections in Greece and the chances of early general elections, the former PASOK leader expressed his reservation about the possibility of an early vote, but estimated that the government parties must take the outcome of the recent elections seriously and consider changes in the management of natural resources and the workforce.

(We understand that he wants his people to be planted in the new government scheme and not Venizelos' men, following a rumored government reshuffle, or... else perhaps?)

As for revelations regarding the possibility and talks of a “Grexit” in 2011, Papandreou denied being presented with a similar plan. He then claimed that should he had gone through with his referendum, he is certain that the vast majority of people would have supported the bailout program.

Finally he had the audacity to state that had Greece’s European partners been as determined in 2010 as they are today in saving Greece, then the bailout may not have been needed after all.

This from the man who was already speaking -and working underground- with the IMF several months before he handed our country over to the Troika.

(Editor's Note: Keep in mind Frappers that PASOK has a Masters in the art of propaganda. All of the above could be hogwash and loose information that was released by the interests that support Venizelos in order to create a climate of sympathy for him ahead of an announced party conference this fall. We know that he and Papandreou are not on the best of terms, and we accept that Papandreou has probably used the same tactics to strike back at Evanjello but we also are quite aware about how media giants work and the manner in which they generate lies and propaganda to influence and sway public opinion. That is why we suggest that you consume this news with a grain of salt, meaning that maybe it was interpreted this way in Greece by the people who actually want Venizelos in the position he is in so as to achieve their own interests, because with a new leader at the head of PASOK they would have to share with other interests. In our opinion, no one should sympathize with anyone that is associated and/or affiliated with PASOK. This could be Venizelos, Papandreou, The River Party, DIMAR and even Tsipras! This can even be whacked up neo-cons of the Right who by far are helping Venizelos to remain in power. The new party which might call itself "Elia" today (Olive), or Oranges tomorrow has to be clipped of its wings. We have to rid our society of PASOK and all of its garbage. In fact, PASOK needs to crumble and crumble hard. It needs to get down from its high horse and stop feeling that it is exceptional amongst other parties and the only force that should govern this nation because as we all have seen it is the force that actually sent our economy spiraling to begin with. It is the force that backed a wannabe generation and created a bloated and incompetent public sector. In fact, it is the only party in Greek history that has been signaled out for the most crimes against the Greek nation. Bribery, kickbacks, scandals and corruption at all levels... That is what PASOK is, and whether or not Venizelos or Papandreou is in control is something that is totally irrelevant to us. They have to be stopped. And the conservatives have to turn to their right if they want to stay in the game, or else they too will be punished by the real patriots of this country which are the veteran conservatives of Karamanlis, otherwise known as the "Karamanlikoi".)

Public Opinion Poll Shows Small Difference Between SYRIZA & New Democracy

A few days before the elections, Greeks appear to be divided regarding the criterion on which they will vote, while the percentage of undecided voters still remains remarkably high, or at least 12%.

According to the results of a new poll conducted by Alco for the ProtoThema newspaper, and conducted between May 10-14, roughly 41% of the respondents said that their choice in European elections is going to be based on the desire to overthrow the government, while 37% stated that they are going to vote for political stability.

At the same time, 41% of the participants are convinced that Greece is now on the path of recovery, whereas 37% said they believe the complete opposite. Also, 23% said that Greek economy is more stable today than it was six months ago, while one out of seven participants stated the exact opposite.

The poll also showed that SYRIZA is presently holding a small lead over all the other political parties, or by 23.4 %, and gaining 1.1% as opposed to a previous poll conducted by the same polling company. On the other, the ruling conservative New Democracy party is trailing shortly behind with 22%. This is followed by the Golden Dawn party with 7.3 %, the To Potami party with 7%, the Elia party with 5.1%, the Greek Communist Party (KKE) with 5%, the Independent Greeks party with 4.6 % and the Democratic Left (DIMAR) with 2.4 %.

Among the smaller parties that participate in European elections, LAOS, the Union for the Country and the People and Ecologist party gained 1%, ANTARSYA gained 0.9 % , National Front gained 0.5 % whereas other parties gained 1.9 %.

The percentage of undecided voters remains high reaching 11.4 %, whereas the trend for abstinence seems to be lower reaching 3.4 % and the blank vote is expected at 1.9 %.

Regarding the popularity of political leaders, Antonis Samaras (New Democracy) leads with 34% followed by Stavros Theodorakis (To Potami) with 29% and Alexis Tsipras (SYRIZA) with 28%.

7 out of ten Greeks remain pessimistic about the future

The government may be thrilled with its alleged 'success story' but few Greeks appear to share its optimism. According to a poll by Public Issue on behalf of the Efimerida Ton Syntakton, a significant majority of Greeks are unhappy with their financial situation and remain pessimistic about the future.

In New Democracy’s latest campaign ad none other than the US President can be heard saying, “the Greek people see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

It would be nice, if it only it were true.

As it turned out Barack Obama didn’t actually say that. And no amount of wishful thinking will change the fact that the majority of Greeks have yet to be convinced that the country has indeed turned a corner. With the economy still shrinking and unemployment sky-high the outlook for most Greeks remains as bleak as ever.

According to the survey conducted by Public Issue, 7 out of 10 Greeks said that they are unhappy with the lives that they are living today. Furthermore they continue when asked how they feel about their future ‘in the coming years’ only 26% responded that they felt ‘secure’. A whopping 71% said they felt insecure.

Greeks personal finances are also in dire straits with 73% saying that their financial situation had worsened. Only 3% of respondents said that their financial situation had improved.

Almost 1 in 2 Greeks also believe that unemployment (currently hovering around 27%) will get worse over the next 12 months. 28% predicted that it would remain steady, whereas only 23% believe that the unemployment rate will fall in the next year.

Press Project

New Opinion Poll: SYRIZA Has Marginal Lead Over ND

According to poll results for national elections that was condicted by Public Issue -and released at the weekend- the main opposition party SYRIZA leads among those questioned with 28.5 percent, followed by ND with 28 percent. The ultra-right Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avghi) followed in third place with 10 percent, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) with 7.5 percent, the POTAMI party with 7 percent (the number of which should be questioned since this party was only formed several weeks ago), PASOK with 5.5 percent, the Independent Greeks party with 5 percent and the Democratic Left party (DIMAR) with 3.5 percent while 5 percent was expressed preference to other parties. 

Poll On MEGA Channel Profiles Golden Dawn Voters!

MEGA channel is going all out, in its frenzy to help Evangelos the Large to stay afloat in the political scene, it is now claiming that a good portion of the voters of Golden Dawn are in all reality socialists! The station, that has traditionally always supported the PASOK party, on Monday night presented the results of a recent study that more or less profiles the average Golden Dawn voter. The poll, which was conducted by the GPO polling company, claims that the average voter of the Golden Dawn party is of a young age, in most cases it is a male, of low income. and someone who identifies himself as centrist or center-leftist.

(Nice try Evangelos the Large to soak up some votes from the Right but it ain't gonna work.)

The study, which was presented in a late-night evening chat show with Yannis Pretenderis, shows that 67% of Golden Dawn voters are male and 63% are on a low income. About 43% of Golden Dawn voters are aged 25 to 39, 24% are aged 40 to50 and 15% is aged 55 to 64. Perhaps one of the more remarkable findings in study is that 38.3% define themselves as center-leftists and a further 35% as centrists.

The imprisoned Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos has also seen his popularity drop from an 18.1% high in February 2013 to 9.4% a year later.

Quite interestingly, 77.3% of those polled said they believe that even though Golden Dawn may be characterized as a criminal organization, it still maintains its presence due to the people’s dissatisfaction with the system as well as the ongoing financial crisis.

Reference in Greek - Imerisia
Video of the show - MEGA Channel

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SYRIZA Slightly Ahead of ND in New Poll

The main opposition SYRIZA party is slightly ahead of the New Democracy party in the latest public opinion poll, which was conducted by Public Issue in early February and published in the Efimerida ton Syntakton newspaper.

According to the results, SYRIZA in first place with a 30% share (compared to 31.5% in January), followed by New Democracy with 28.5% (from 28%). The Golden Dawn party is ranked third with 8.5% (from 10%), the Greek Communist party (KKE) came in fourth with 7.5% (from 6.5%), PASOK with 7% (from 6.5%), the Indepedent Greeks party with 6% (from 4.5%) and DIMAR with 3.5% (unchanged). About 9% of respondents chose other parties.

When participants were asked who they think will win in the upcoming elections, about 55% of respondents answered SYRIZA (from 52% in January), while 31% said New Democracy (from 35%). The majority of respondents estimated that SYRIZA would win the elections “by a small margin”.

Article in Greek - news247

How geopolitics, pride and lies got Greece to where it is today

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Ward (The Slog) - In a new blog post from Greek crisis veteran commentator Yannis Koutsomitis, 2010 documents show how, had reality rather than greed, pride and geopolitics been applied in early IMF negotiations, Greece would be in a far more advantageous economic and fiscal place than the debt-hole it occupies today.

Koutsomitis has obtained access to an explosive memo that establishes how relatively easy it would have been at that stage to organise debt restructuring, given the opinions of key IMF States:

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But despite this, for some reason(s) the Greeks – led by George Papandreou – turned this down:

At some point in this process (as posted to the sound of universal ridicule at the time) influences from Berlin via Paris to Washington intervened to arm-lock the Greek contingent out of accepting debt restructuring. It’s not hard to see why: German and French banks were hugely exposed to Greek debt, and America was paranoid about Wall Street banking firms and debt insurers being able to withstand the hit.

Clearly, that influence has continued….and helps explain some odd decisions by Greek Finance minister Yannis Stournaras of late.

Now that senior EU bods are confirmed to have been holding less than secret meetings about staving off a Greek default yet again in May 2014, it was interesting to note that Stournaras was not actually invited to the meetings concerned, as such.The Stournaras approach thus far has been as follows:

1. He doesn’t trust the IMF, who are (in case you hadn’t spotted it) behind on their promised loan aid. This partly explains his recent rejection of Christine Lagarde’s offer to break away from the Troika’s clutches, and help her persuade the other two prongs to give Athens massive debt relief. (Which would also reduce the depth of the hole she’s in). It also further suggests warnings and promises being given by Americans and Germans respectively.

2. Yannis doesn’t trust the non-ECB/EC lenders, because they keep on upping the demands and introducing new ones: hence their early departure from Athens last time, and unwillingness to return. As Ekathimerini reports, ‘It is worrisome to hear the lenders keep moving the goalposts on some matters and sometimes bring up more issues. Some outsiders think this is part of the negotiation process as they try to exert more pressure on the government to honor its previous commitments or/and delay some important decisions, i.e. debt relief, until after the May elections.’

3. In that context of balls-sqeezing, Yannis staked his all on the EC/Berlin promise of debt relief at Christmas… relief that could’ve been trumpeted to the Greeks as evidence that all would be well….and enable New Democracy to regain its long-lost lead in the polls. But once the German election was in the bag, they reneged on the deal.

Looking back over this saga, the Greeks have been consistently lied to (first by the Germans, then the Americans, then the EC, and now the EC/Berlin axis again) while Washington has tried at every stage to protect its banking and insurance interests from debt restructuring… and the banking firms who tell the White House what to do have in turn kept Greek negotiators on tilt by constantly changing the rules of the game – and occasionally the game itself.

The leading EU powers want their financial institutions protected, and the euro not to fail. The American political élite wants to protect its institutions and push for Grexit as a means of massively increasing its influence in the region. And the US institutions themselves want the best deal they can get on the Dollar.

What Greece might need has never – not for a single minute – been a serious consideration.

In the game of geopolitical chess, Samaras and Stournaras have been completely outclassed… and now hung out to dry. Samaras has been made to look ridiculous, and his Finance minister a hapless pawn. But as always when it comes to Weltpolitik, the megalomaniacs underestimate the importance of regional reaction by the citizens involved.

Between now and May, the Troika has one last golden opportunity to do the decent thing in relation to Greek debt: to make it realistic and repayable. My money says, firmly, that they will simply keep the sparrow within reach of the cat, with one leg broken to avoid any chance of escape.

Sometimes you see, the past is an excellent guide to the future.

Greed, global aspirations, pride and energy obsession among the Troikanauts will push the Greeks further into a corner. That will destroy the only allies the major powers have left in Greece. And at some point thereafter, it will all come tumbling down.

But the Troika will not take the opportunity. Their sort never does.