On Feb. 22, Papandreou referred to the government’s announced measures, saying, “Even though there are austerity measures and they do hurt, the government has the support right now of about 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the population. What we’re seeing here, and I haven’t seen this except during the Olympic Games in 2004, is a real sense of unity by the Greek people of wanting to make a change.”
Polling Data
Do you think the recent measures implemented by the government will lead the country out of the fiscal crisis?
| Yes | 51.3% |
| No | 43.0% |
Source: MARC / Ethnos
Methodology: Interviews with 1,000 Greek adults, conducted in February 2010. No margin of error was provided.
via Most Greeks Endorse Government Fiscal Measures: Angus Reid Global Monitor.
This Too Shall Pass 
The Greeks are in an ironically privileged position of being the first in the Eurozone to be bailed out. Although the Greeks will never see it that way, any further bailout will undoubtedly be stricter and given the future outcomes of the Greek situation, further rescue packages may not be forthcoming at all
yes, you are right. they are “privileged” in the sense that they will be first to learn that the welfare state must balance the realities of money and demographics … it’s a long way back to equilibrium, particularly for the PIIGS, and the citizens will not likely take this calmly. so i guess greece will be the test case for how to balance the two choices of tax/expropriate wealth and benefits cuts