Greeks warm to France, turn cold on Germany, says Kappa poll

France is the most admired country among Greeks, usurping Germany whose popularity has collapsed in the wake of a growing diplomatic spat between the two countries, an opinion poll published on Thursday showed.
Many Greeks have been angered by hostile German media coverage of its debt crisis, including suggestions the country cheated its way into joining the euro in 2001, and by Chancellor Angela Merkel's opposition to supporting her EU partner. The poll by Kappa Research for newspaper To Vima showed Greeks felt most positively about France, Russia and India with Germany, Britain and Turkey scoring the lowest on a list of nine countries published in the newspaper.
There was a big change in attitude towards Germany which scored a positive rating of 28.8%, down from 78.4% in a 2005 poll when it sat top of the table.
In a sign that the change in feelings might be mutual, German carrier Air Berlin said on Thursday that it had seen a massive drop in holiday bookings to Greece.
Politicians and media from the two countries have been trading insults ever since it emerged Greece had not been telling the full story on the state of its public finances, rocking confidence in the entire euro zone.
The opinion poll conducted from March 19 to 22 was based on a sample of 840 people nationwide.
Of those surveyed 83.9% said they had positive feelings towards France, up from 77.5% five years ago.
Although he has moved closer to Merkel's stance in recent days, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has received broadly positive coverage in Greece after making encouraging noises of support earlier this month.
Based on the poll, Greeks also think trade relations with China, Russia and the United Arab Emirates were important. (Reuters)