The Euro Zone Crisis and Economic Polls

Some European countries are being haunted by an ongoing economic crisis that started in 2007.  The main challenge for these countries is to raise the amount of money they needed to pay their debt, without involving a bailout from third-party groups like the European Union.

The World Bank has already warned the Euro Zone. With the controversial crisis, Andrew Burns of the international financial institution believes that the world is at a “very difficult juncture”. In the past few months, there were calls to create a new set of strategies that would help replenish the ailing economy of the involved European countries. Last week, Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund, advised for a very accommodating monetary policy, direct supports to banks and growth-friendly fiscal policies.

Europe Crisis Countries

The question is simple: should the European Union bailout its members that are in crisis or not? According to Debate Wise, if the EU will provide a bailout, a domino effect will take place. On the other hand, these countries will be forced to leave the Euro zone if they are left alone.

Last October 2011, a meeting in Paris tackled about a list of solutions to the debt crisis. Days after, finance ministers approved a bailout for Greece (second assistance for the once wealthy country). Banks were urged to raise more capital to protect them from losses resulting from any future government defaults.

In January 2012, France lost its top AAA credit rating from Standard and Poor’s.  The failure of Euro Zone leaders to deal with the debt crisis was blamed. Italy, Austria, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal were cut two notches.

Some experts were already claiming the Euro Zone crisis is triggering another global recession.  Unemployment in 17 EU countries rose to 10.7% in January 2012, from 10.6% in December.  In 27 EU countries, 24.3 million people are now unemployed. The European Central Bank provided further 530B Euros of low-interest loans to 800 banks across Europe to help in the crisis.

Last April, the Italian government cut its growth forecast for the economy in 2012. Spain found a new relief on the result of its recent bond auction. France also held a bond auction and was able to sell 10.5B Euros in medium-term debt.

Economic Surveys

Pew Global Attitudes Project released survey results in the last week of May 2012 on how favorable is the EU. Involved respondents are people from Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland and the Czech Republic. The “EU favorable” average rating turns out to be 60%. The “EU integration strengthened economy” average rating is 34%, and the “EC Bank favorable rating” is 39%.

The survey also tackled about some stereotyping issues in Europe. It was revealed that the known Most Hardworking is Germany, while most countries picked Greece to be the Least Hardworking. The most corrupt is Italy, while the least corrupt is Germany (unanimously).

Moreover, a Gallup Economy survey shows that 49% of Americans admitted of tracking news about the European financial situation. Only 29% said they are not following reports on the crisis in Europe.

The Guardian has been consistent in providing online economic polls to measure public opinion regarding the 4-year old crisis. Its recent poll discovers that 73.1% of respondents believe that Spain needs a bailout, while the remaining 26.9% insists that Spain does not need one. Another poll deals with the issue on whether the exit of Greece from the Euro Zone is inevitable or not. Fifty-nine point one percent chose “yes” while 40.9% picked “no”.

The world is worried about the future of the Euro Zone. The crisis has been causing massive unemployment, inflation, public debt and negative projections of Europe. PollPursuit a Facebook application, likes to know what the public thinks about the crisis.