Majority Of Germans Oppose New Greek Bailout Deal, Many Prefer 'Grexit': Poll

A majority of Germans think that a proposed deal with Greece over the country's mountainous debt is bad, and a substantial minority would have preferred to see the country exit the euro zone, according to a new opinion poll.

The data comes from a YouGov survey of 1,380 Germans, seen by newspaper Welt am Sonntag and cited by Reuters. It revealed that 56 percent of respondents said they thought the plan for such a deal with Greece was bad, with just over one fifth of those saying it was very bad.

Only two percent deemed the proposed deal to be positive, while another 27 percent said they thought it was somewhat positive. In addition, the poll found that 48 percent of Germans would have liked to see Greece quit the euro zone.

Germany's parliament on Friday approved a measure to allow negotiations with Greece to proceed. Though the vote passed 439 votes to 119, it was a subject of bitter debate in the chamber, and almost a fifth of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives voted “No”, Deutsche Welle reported. Germany was the last of the euro zone countries that needed to give parliamentary approval before talks could begin.

Public opposition to the deal in Germany is just the latest in a string of objections being raised against it in recent days from various quarters.

On Saturday, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis reiterated his opposition to the deal in an interview with the BBC. He said that the proposed deal had “failed already,” and predicted it would "go down in history as the greatest disaster of macroeconomic management ever".

In addition, IMF Chief Christine Lagarde on Friday expressed her opposition to the deal in unambiguous terms. Asked if the proposed bailout deal was viable, Lagarde told an interviewer, "The response is quite categorical: No."

The IMF sent shock waves through Europe earlier this week when it announced that it wold not participate in future bailout deals for Greece if the country was not offered some kind of debt relief. In its analysis, many of the key assumptions underpinning the deal, including what kind of budget surpluses Greece will be able to achieve and how much its economy can grow in the coming years, were unrealistic.