And worry about inflation
Some hints on Cyprus problem attitudes
Sixty percent of Greek Cypriots mistrust big business, according to the Eurobarometer Autumn 2005 survey published last week, the highest level of mistrust for all public bodies apart from politicians, who are mistrusted by 76% of people.
The results are part of a biannual review of public opinion which puts questions to citizens across all EU25 member states, including northern Cyprus.
Under the Cyprus accession treaty, the area not under the control of the government of the Republic of Cyprus is part of EU territory, although the body of EU law (acquis communautaire) is suspended there.
The highest trust among Greek Cypriots is for the National Guard, which is trusted by 70% of people.
While trust in individual politicians is low, at only 17%, trust in the government is the second highest after the National Guard, at 66%.
Religious institutions come next, at 61%.
The media enjoy a fairly high degree of trust, though we hope that the lower score for the press (45% as against 55% for radio and 56% for TV) was not referring to the Financial Mirror.
Ambiguous attitudes towards EU
Attitudes towards the EU seem to be ambiguous. While hope in the EU was 59% for both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, and more than half of both communities trust the EU, only 41% of Greek Cypriots thought that membership of the EU is a good thing (compared with 71% of Turkish Cypriots) and 53% think that the country has not benefited from EU membership.
A large proportion of Greek Cypriots (69%) supports the constitution, compared with 51% of Turkish Cypriots and 53% of the EU25.
Worries about inflation
Greek Cypriots identified inflation as their number one concern, with 44% saying that this is the biggest problem facing the country, while for Turkish Cypriots, the biggest problem is unemployment.
Moreover, only 18% of Greek Cypriots thought their economic situation would improve in the next 12 months (60% thought it would get worse), compared with 41% of Turkish Cypriots and 25% in the EU25.
Some 62% of Greek Cypriots expected the employment situation to get worse too, compared with an EU25 average of 39%.
Hints about attitudes to the Cyprus problem
The head of the EU Representation in Cyprus, Themis Themistocleous, noted that since the Eurobarometer by nature does not ask country-specific questions (the questions are identical for everyone), it may over-state worries about the economy since it does not capture any worries about the Cyprus problem.
However, as one journalist at the press conference pointed out, maybe the hidden answer to that question was in support for Turkey’s EU membership: opposed by 80% of Greek Cypriots but supported by 86% of Turkish Cypriots.
Another hidden Cyprus problem question is support for the army. Although we have not seen the results, we understand that support for the (presumably Turkish) army in the north is as high as 90%.
Since dissemination of this kind of comparative analysis might help Cypriots understand one another better, it is a shame that the companies which interpreted the results by Synovate in the south and Kadem in the north–Cymar and Prolog respectively–were not encouraged by the Commission to work together so that results can be compared more easily.
Fiona Mullen
