Among European citizens there is less sense of belonging to the wider community of the Old Continent, but few are willing to take a step back on the single currency. This was revealed by a study published Tuesday by the Pew Research Center in Washington which involved a thousand people from each of the main EU countries.
The study involved England, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic and Poland. The most popular view is that their countries' membership of the European Union has weakened their national economies. Only in Germany, Europe's largest economy, has there been growing enthusiasm for the European Union. The number of German citizens who favor the EU has increased by two percentage points over the past three years, now 65%.
The Spaniards are more skeptical. 54% said they view the EU with suspicion but the figure does not translate in the desire to abandon the euro. 60% of respondents want to keep the euro. A percentage equal to that registered by the agency in Italy, where only 40% of those interviewed would like to return to the lira. Even lower percentages in Greece, where just 23% look nostalgically at the Drachma.
The British remain Eurosceptics. 73% said it was a good thing not to abandon the pound. An opinion also confirmed in the other countries that have not adopted the single currency, i.e. Poland and the Czech Republic.
