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Greeks trust the military and private business the most

09 September 2014 / 17:09:11  GRReporter
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The past five years marked by the severe financial crisis have had a significant impact on the views and behaviour of Greek society, as shown by the results of a survey conducted by Kappa Research agency.

The majority of Greeks believe that the economic conditions in Greece are worsening each year (40.5%), the difference in the percentage of those who believe that they have not changed being small, namely 34.1%, whereas 25.1% believe that the economy is improving.

The comparative analysis of the responses to the survey in 2013 and 2014 gives a clearer picture of the changing trends. While, 76.4% were convinced in February 2013 that the economy would deteriorate, their number decreased to 46.9% in September 2014.

Regarding the memorandum for financial assistance to Greece demonized by the opposition, the negative attitude continues to prevail compared to the positive. 42.4% of Greeks believe that the effects of the applied policy are negative to the economy, 35.3% report both good and bad results and only 5.4% are of the opinion that the results are only positive.

The crisis has changed the consumer habits of the Greeks and 91.2% state they choose products and services according to how economical they are in terms of their use. 82.3% indicate that they only buy essentials, 71.7% prefer Greek products to imported goods, 64.7% reject branded products and prefer "unknown" ones, and 58.1% buy cheaper goods.

Entrepreneurs in turn are more optimistic about the future of their companies, although only 3.4% of them are absolute optimists. The percentage of those who state that they are not at all optimistic declined from 27.4% in August 2012 to 20.8% in September 2014. At the same time, the number of those who are "very optimistic" increased from 31.6% to 37.9%.

59.6% of Greeks are ready to change their profession if this can secure a job for them. 44.1% are ready to work part-time and 41.9% will not refuse to work without insurance.

In order to tackle the high unemployment rate, 53.9% support the establishment of large companies with a staff of over 500 people, even if their salaries are lower, and 40.1% are opposed to this option.
Unemployment is the major problem in Greece, which is shown by the fact that 79.1% of the respondents believe that the country's main priority should be the creation of new jobs. 19.7% believe that the most important thing is to reduce the budget deficits and the huge government debt.

The study shows that the initial shock and angry reactions were followed by a long period of adjustment that had gradually led to changes in attitudes and stereotypes thus forming new perceptions of the economy, state, employment, production, consumption, investment, and Greece's position on the world map in general.

According to the Greeks the ranking of the social and professional groups that can contribute the most towards economic growth in the coming years is as follows: farmers, businessmen, educated youths, ship owners, wealthy members of the Greek Diaspora, traders, ordinary employees, civil servants, members of the academic community, presidents and members of bank managements, politicians, artists, journalists, etc.

At the top of the ranking of confidence in the institutions are the military with 43% followed by the companies (40%), police (33.7%), justice (28.8%), education (28.7%), the church (20.8%), local governments (18%), non-governmental organizations (17.8%), the supervisory Troika (17.4%), the Parliament (15.4%), government (14.5%), public sector (13.3%), banks (12.6%), political parties (7.6%), trade unions (5.7%) and the media (1.9%).

Interesting is the attitude towards taxes the recent increase of which has been significant to say the least. The corporate tax (93.6%) is defined as the most reasonable as well as the income tax (93.2%), the excise duties on tobacco and alcohol (86.8%), VAT (85.3%) and the local taxes (83.1%).

Among the most unfair taxes is the public television charge (82.6%) followed by the extra "Solidarity" tax (802%) and the excise duty on heating oil (75.5%).

More than half of the Greeks (51.6%) believe that Greece should side with the West regarding the Ukrainian crisis compared to 27.7% who support Russia. 20.7% respond that they have no specific opinion on this issue.

Tags: SocietyPollEconomyUnemploymentConfidence in institutions
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