By Nikos Marantzidis and George Siakas*
PORU conducted a study commissioned by the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy ELIAMEP on 23-25 January, 2018 regarding the relations between Greece and FYRO Macedonia and it was presented in the Greek newspaper Kathimerini (http://www.kathimerini.gr/).
The Greek public opinion has been particularly interested in the topic concerning the long-standing FYROM-name dispute. According to the survey’s findings, more than six-in-ten consider this issue to be “very important”, while more than seven-in-ten (71.5%) oppose the use of the term “Macedonia” in the name of the neighboring country.
Compared to the same survey which was conducted in 2016 -when the issue was not a matter of the political agenda- the percentage of those who did not accept the use of the term “Macedonia” was 57%. At that time 38% of the Greeks accepted a compound name including the word “Macedonia”.
However, the findings of the latest survey indicate important differences between the population. In Northern Greece 77% of the population seems intractable to accept any reference to the term “Macedonia”, while in Attica the 64.5% share the same opinion.
It is also noticeable, that those who consider themselves to be Leftists represent the marginal majority in favor of a compound name, whilst the outstanting majority that rejects the use of the term “Macedonia” place themselves to the right side of the political axis (80-85%).
*Nikos Marantzidis is teaching political science in the University of Macedonia and George Siakas is the Research Director of the Public Opinion Research Unit.
*The official report was presented in Greek and you could find it here: https://goo.gl/GkAxdx
