A majority of Finns believes that the euro crisis will continue, according to a fresh poll commissioned by Yle and conducted by public pollster Taloustutkimus.

Two-thirds of Finns don’t believe that the worst of the crisis is over.

One-fifth of respondents however felt that the situation had taken a turn for the better, while a group of similar size remained undecided about the issue.

Among the country’s major political parties, supporters of the eurosceptic Finns Party were lukewarm about the prospects for overcoming the financial and economic clump. Just eight percent of declared Finns Party backers felt that the worst had been left behind.

Among National Coalition Party followers a quarter felt that euro countries had already hit rock bottom and were on the way back up. Just one-fifth of Centre Party and the Social Democratic Party supporters meanwhile thought the situation was improving.

In terms of age groups, the youth were most optimistic that the situation was not getting worse, while more men than women believed that the worst of the crisis was behind. Just over one-fifth of men and 14 percent of women thought circumstances were looking up.

No new support for crisis countries

Half of the respondents polled said they were prepared to close the tap on financial aid for struggling eurozone economies – even at the risk of the collapse of the common currency.

One-third of interviewees however said they would continue providing financial support, while about one in six could not decide either way.

Not surprisingly, members of the Finns Party had the most negative position on continued financial support for crisis countries, with 80 percent of them prepared to cut the umbilical cord. A majority of supporters of the other opposition party, the Centre Party also shared this view.

Among backers of the main government partners, the National Coalition and the Social Democrats, just under half said they too would pull the plug on financial support for embattled eurozone economies.

Pollster Taloustutkimus interviewed around 1,000 respondents for the survey.