Europeans may be warming to the idea of the euro, according to a poll published today, but support is slipping for enlargement and less than half the citizens questioned thought EU membership was beneficial.
The European Commission conducted its latest Eurobarometer survey in April and May, asking people across the EU what they thought of belonging to the club as well as of its flagship policies of the single currency and admitting new members.
Support for the euro currency rose to an average 59 per cent against 54 per cent in a poll published last autumn.
But only 43 per cent believed the current 15-nation EU should be enlarged, down one per cent, and only 45 per cent thought their country benefited from membership, a drop of two per cent.
There were wide variations between member states, with the traditionally eurosceptic Britons regularly showing least enthusiasm for the EU and its common policies.
Only 29 per cent of those questioned in Britain believed EU membership was a good thing, and although support for the euro firmed by four percentage points, it was still languishing at 25 per cent, well below the level in other EU countries.
Support was shown to have risen seven points in Ireland to 59 per cent, barely a few weeks before a referendum rejected the Nice Treaty.
Support for the currency was strongest in Italy, at 83 per cent (up 4), and was also up 6 percentage points in Germany at 53 per cent.
Compared to the autumn 2000, support had slipped only in Denmark, to 40 per cent, a fall of one percentage point. It was steady in Spain at 68 per cent and rose elsewhere.
But the trend in the data on how citizens view the eastern enlargement process was more mixed, with support strongest in Greece at an unchanged 70 per cent.
It was lowest in Austria at 33 per cent.
Support was strongest for a common defence and security policy, with an average level of 73 per cent in favour. France, Germany and Italy were among those showing around 80 per cent support. Britons and Finns were least keen, at 51 per cent.
Public trust in the European Commission, the EU's executive body, fell by 1 percentage point to 45 per cent.
The figures were released ahead of the full Eurobarometer report, which will be published in the autumn.