Two-thirds of Germans doubt Greece willing to save

Two thirds of Germans voiced doubt in a poll published yesterday that heavily-indebted Greece is serious in its commitment to pare down its spending in order to receive a bailout and avoid bankruptcy.

Some 27 per cent said they believed serious efforts would be made to implement austerity measures hammered out by rival Greek politicians, while 66 per cent were sceptical, according to the poll for ZDF public television.

Nearly half of those asked said other eurozone countries should accept that Greece faced bankruptcy without further aid, while 62 per cent expect that if that happens, the German economy will suffer as a result, it showed.

Eurozone finance ministers, unconvinced by the austerity package, have given Athens until next Wednesday to meet further conditions in return for €130 billion in aid.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also got an overwhelming thumbs-up for her handling of the eurozone’s debt crisis, with 69 per cent judging her performance as basically good, the poll showed.

An earlier poll released Wednesday by the Forsa polling institute for Stern magazine revealed Mrs Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats were at their most popular since winning a second term in 2009.

The survey on Greece was conducted by polling institute “Forschungsgruppe Wahlen” for ZDF between February 7 and 9 among 1,272 people.