On the question of the single currency and its survival, the majority -- 54 percent -- believes that Germany should not continue to fight to save the euro if it has to provide additional billions in aid. A sizeable minority (41 percent) disagrees, however, while 5 percent are undecided.
The survey revealed that this skepticism is shared by Germans of almost all political affiliations. Among respondents who support Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), 52 percent said it was almost pointless for Germany to continue fighting for the single currency, while 45 percent disagreed. The figures are similar among supporters of the opposition center-left Social Democratic party (54 percent versus 43 percent), which has generally supported Merkel in her efforts to fight the crisis.
The greatest skepticism was found among supporters of the far-left Left Party, 68 percent of whom felt it was pointless to keep fighting to save the euro. The most pro-European tendencies were found in the camp of the environmentalist Green Party. There, 64 percent thought Germany should keep trying to rescue the monetary union.
The divide in the responses mirrors a current debate among top economists in Germany. This week, influential German economist Hans-Werner Sinn published an open letter, signed by around 170 economists, criticizing the resolutions agreed upon at the most recent European Union summit and claiming that Merkel was "forced into" agreement at the meeting. Other leading economists, including Peter Bofinger, a member of the German Council of Economic Experts that advises the German government, have reacted by attacking the letter and defending Merkel's policies.
The survey was conducted by the pollster TNS on July 3-4. Around 1,000 Germans aged 18 and over took part.
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