- 80% of respondents think it is important for their country that the debt crisis in the Eurozone is solved
- 42% of Brits and 56% of Germans think it is wrong to spend money trying to save the Eurozone. However, there is support for committing money in France and Denmark
- Widespread confidence in Angela Merkel but more mixed feelings towards Nicholas Sarkozy and David Cameron and fewer than 1 in 10 respondents expressed confidence in Silvio Berlusconi
Our poll, conducted across France, Germany, Britain and Denmark shows that while people think it is important the crisis is solved and that a collapse of the single currency would be damaging, it finds doubts over whether it is right to spend money on saving the Euro. Asked about how much confidence they had in Europe's leaders to solve the crisis we found widespread confidence in Angela Merkel to make the right decisions, but fewer than 1 in 10 respondents expressed confidence in Silvio Berlusconi.
Across all four countries, over 80% of respondents think it is important for their country that the debt crisis in the Eurozone is solved. Even in Great Britain and Denmark, both outside the Eurozone, people tend to think the collapse of the single currency would be bad for their country. Respondents in Britain think it would be bad by 42% to 18%, respondents in Denmark by 58% to 12%.
There are, however, sharp contrasts in opinion on whether it is right for so much money to be spent trying to save the Eurozone. In France and Denmark there is support for committing money to save the Eurozone - 54% of French respondents and 56% of Danish respondents think it is the right thing to do.
42% of respondents in Great Britain however think it is wrong to spend money trying to save the Eurozone, with only 34% supporting it. Respondents from Germany (who are ultimately likely to make the biggest financial contribution to any bailout) are the most opposed - only 27% support spending money to save the Eurozone, with 56% opposed.
In all the countries surveyed, Angela Merkel was the major European leader who respondents had the most confidence in to make the right decisions on solving the crisis. 54% of British respondents, 56% of German respondents, 63% of French respondents and 81% of Danish respondents expressed confidence in her decisions.
There were more mixed feelings towards Nicholas Sarkozy and David Cameron. 57% of Danish respondents said they had confidence in Sarkozy, but French and German respondents were evenly split on whether they had confidence in his decisions, and only 36% of British respondents had confidence in him.
63% of Danish respondents had confidence in British Prime Minister David Cameron, compared to 42% of British respondents. There was far less confidence in the British Prime Minister amongst the two Eurozone countries surveyed - 53% of German respondents and 52% of French respondents said they had not a lot or no confidence at all in his decisions.
Hardly any respondents expressed confidence in Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi or outgoing Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to make the right decisions to solve the crisis. In all four countries less than ten per cent of respondents expressed confidence in them.
The idea of a referendum in Greece on whether or not to accept the bailout offer was rejected by respondents in Britain, Germany and Denmark. French respondents were narrowly in favour of the idea by 42% to 40%. Respondents in all countries said that, were they in Greece's shoes, they would vote in favour of the bailout.
