MOST GERMANS across the political spectrum support Chancellor Angela Merkel’s insistence that the euro zone stick with tough austerity measures to reduce its heavy debt load, according to a poll.
The results of the Infratest Dimap survey, published yesterday in Die Welt newspaper, will provide political cover for Merkel as she faces more calls in the euro zone for a softening of fiscal discipline and a greater emphasis on boosting economic growth.
The poll showed 55 per cent of Germans favour keeping the focus on budget discipline – including a majority of those supporting the main opposition parties – and only 33 per cent back growth initiatives funded by new credits.
German taxpayers are unhappy about having to bail out heavily indebted countries such as Greece, which many regard as spendthrift and feckless.