Political Schizophrenics

Greek election reflects country’s differences with the EU

By Bruce Stokes

January 27, 2015
PewResearch

Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece’s Syriza party, signs a book as he is sworn in as Greek Prime Minister in Athens. (ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

The outcome of the Greek parliamentary election Sunday, which gave power to Syriza, the left-wing, anti-austerity party that has pledged to restructure Greece’s crushing government debt, should have come as no surprise given the views of the Greek public about the European Union. Likewise, other Europeans’ views of Greeks suggest the difficulty the new government in Athens faces in getting a better deal from its European partners.

1 Greeks have little regard for the EU. Only about a third of Greeks have a positive view of the EU, according to a spring 2014 Pew Research Center survey. Just 17% think that European economic integration has been good for Greece.

2 Despite their frustrations with the EU, and in the face of speculation that restructuring of Greek debt could lead to abandonment of the common European currency, 69% of Greeks want to keep the euro and not return to the drachma. 


3 Greeks feel abandoned by their EU partners. An overwhelming majority of Greeks (85%) say that the EU does not understand the needs of its citizens. And 74% judge as inadequate the financial assistance the EU has provided to member countries, such as Greece, that are experiencing major financial problems.

4 Greeks oppose the EU meddling in Greek affairs. More than eight-in-ten Greeks (86%) say the EU is intruding in their country’s business and two-thirds (67%) think it’s inefficient. There’s little wonder, then, that 71% of Greeks oppose giving more decision-making power to the EU to deal with Europe’s economic problems.

5 Greeks see themselves differently than others see them. Contradictory stereotypes may complicate any resolution of the new Greek crisis.

Greeks see themselves as the most hardworking Europeans, according to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey. The British, the Germans, the Spanish, the Poles and the Czechs all see the Greeks as the least hardworking. And the Greeks see themselves as the most trustworthy of Europeans, while the French, the Germans and the Czechs voice the view that Greeks are the least trustworthy, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey.

[The Greeks appear to be living in a non-parallel universe.  Notice a majority in every country in Europe said they believed Germany was the most hardworking and the most trustworthy nation--except Greece, which recorded itself--Greece--as the most hardworking and the most trustworthy.  We offer some tentative predictions:

a.) Alexis Tsipras was elected by offering bribes and "goodies" to the electorate upon which he cannot possibly deliver.  Therefore, as was the case with President Hollande in France, we expect him to be the most loathed Greek Prime Minister in modern times within nine months.  Hell hath no fury like a jilted voter taken for a ride.

b.) Greek voters were rubes awaiting a con-job.  Since they believed Greece to be the most hardworking and trusting nation in Europe, it follows that they were easily persuaded Europe owes them--debt relief, more lending, more money, more support, more stimulation because they deserve it.  

c.) Greece will prove to be Angela Merkel's downfall.  The ultimate political schizophrenic, she will be unable to resolve the irreconcilable commitments to maintain the EU, on the one hand, and Germany's hard money and fiscal austerity, on the other.  The alleged most powerful woman in the world will turn out to be a papier-mâché doll.  Our expectation is that when it comes to acceding to Greek demands for debt relief, she will fold in order to maintain the EU.  Germany will never forgive her. Ed.]