Half of French people back Grexit: Survey

Paris, July 7 (Xinhua) A poll published on Tuesday showed one in two French people wanted Greece to leave the eurozone after the Greeks issued a stunning rejection to a eurozone-drafted bailout plan on Sunday.

According to Odoxa pollster survey conducted on Monday with 1,003 French respondents and published by the daily Le Parisien, favourable opinion for Greece's exit increased by 11 percentage points from June, mirroring growing frustration with the debt-ridden country whose debt accounts for 175 percent of national wealth, totaling 320 billion euros ($350.36 billion), Xihua news agency reported.

At the Elysee Palace, the official rhetoric is more sympathetic to Athens, with French President Francois Hollande declaring that "the door remains open for discussions", but calling on Greek government to come up with "credible proposals to show the willingness of staying in the eurozone".

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime minister Manuel Valls stressed the vital need to seek a compromise "necessary for Greece because its exit from the eurozone would plunge the Greek people into an intolerable situation".

"And it is also necessary for cohesion, for the coherence of the euro area, and therefore Europe," he said.