German business backs Merkel’s euro strategy: poll

Nearly nine out of 10 top managers in Germany support Chancellor Angela Merkel’s strategy for tackling the eurozone debt crisis, according to a new survey published on Tuesday.
About 86 percent of business chiefs surveyed urged Merkel to stick to her guns during the eurozone crisis, despite hefty criticism from both inside and outside Europe, the Forsa poll for business daily Handelsblatt showed.
Business leaders appeared to be more pro-euro than the general population, the poll suggested, with 76 percent saying the euro should be maintained in its current form at any cost, compared to 41 percent of citizens holding this view.
There was broad optimism the crisis would be overcome, with 85 percent saying lasting solutions would be found. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64 percent) said the effects of the crisis were not being felt in their businesses.
Nevertheless, the financial market turmoil seemed to be affecting firms more than at the beginning of the year. In January, 67 percent of managers said they had not detected signs of an impact.
Forsa interviewed 641 leading business managers in Germany between June 19 and July 5 for the survey.
Merkel’s euro strategy is also popular amongst German voters.
According to a poll published on Friday, her popularity is at its highest since shortly after her 2009 re-election and nearly 60 percent of Germans back her euro crisis policies.