by Magda Panoutsopoulou
ATHENS, Greece
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, leader of the left wing party SYRIZA has won backing both from his own party and from the general public for his handling of bailout negotiations.
Late on Monday, at a meeting of SYRIZA's central committee, which has 350 top party members, Tsipras was voted approval to move ahead in negotiations to release the next €7.2 billion ($7.8 billion) tranche of bailout funds -- Greece badly needs an injection of capital for funds to run its banks and its public services, and, without it, is expected to run out of cash by the middle of June. The government must find a total of about $2 billion for IMF repayments in the month of June.
Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said on Monday that the government would pay its obligations due on June 5 to the International Monetary Fund "to the extent that we are able to pay. We will keep repaying these obligations. It is the government’s responsibility to be able to repay all these obligations. It is also the responsibility of the creditors to be faithful to their loan obligations."
Despite pressure on the government to collect funds for loan repayments, Tspras is retaining a clear lead over the opposition, according to a poll conducted by Public Issue and published in the Sunday edition of the newspaper "Avghi".
The polls showed that many Greeks believe that Tsipras has the ability to do what is needed. This is what partially explains his continuing popularity. Furthermore, a large number of Greeks are still hopeful that Tsipras will be the only man that could bring the country back to how things were before the bailout and austerity began in 2010.
The voters that supported SYRIZA were more than double 48.5 percent, those for the runner-up New Democracy were at 21 percent, 6 percent for the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), 6 percent for the far-right Golden Dawn, 5.5 percent for Potami, 4 percent for PASOK, 3.5 percent for junior coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL) and 5.5 percent for other parties, according to the Public Issue poll.
The poll also showed that 54 percent expressed their support for the government's stance in the negotiations with European creditors, while 37 percent disagreed, and 56 percent were in favor of a ratification of any agreement by Parliament compared with 34 percent that favored ratification by referendum.
A further 37 percent said that the government must back down in the negotiations, while 58 percent said it should not give in.
On specific aspects of the negotiations, 89 percent were against any reduction in pensions, 81 percent opposed removing restrictions on mass layoffs, 79 percent opposed reductions in supplementary pensions, 57 percent opposed retaining the Uniform Real Estate Ownership Tax (ENFIA), 52 percent were against imposing a single VAT rate of 18 percent, and 43 percent opposed privatization of regional airports.
Ioannis Mantzikos a political analyst told Anadolu Agency that: “Alexis Tsipras has emerged (from party meetings) without any serious damage and with the majority of the party body backing his handling of negotiations with lenders. He is very careful in his choice of words: The average Greek does not want to hear about reform of the pension system, salary and pension reductions and Tsipras knows that very well."
All of these are sticking points in the negotiations with the Eurogroup.
The prime minister continued to hold high levels of personal popularity with a massive 77 percent supporting him, with 63 percent judging him most suitable for prime minister, compared with just 20 percent for New Democracy leader and former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, whose popularity was at 28 percent.
Regarding the levels of satisfaction with the operation of the government, roughly 44 percent were still satisfied, with roughly 55 percent dissatisfied. Dissatisfaction with the opposition parties, in contrast, was running at roughly 88 percent, with a mere 11 percent expressing satisfaction.
Public opinion on the European Union was split, with 50 percent having a negative opinion and 48 percent having a positive opinion and 2 percent expressing no opinion.
71 percent supported remaining in the euro in the case of a referendum, 25 percent against and 4 percent expressing no opinion.
68 percent considered that a return to the drachma would probably make things worse while 19 percent supported a return to the drachma, whereas, 10 percent considered that it would make no difference and 3 percent had no opinion.
