LONDON (AFX) - Euro zone public support for the euro has declined, according to a Louis Harris poll for European newspapers, the Guardian newspaper reported.
The poll was carried out in Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece and Luxembourg. Interviews were carried out with 6,637 people between Dec 5 and 23, 2000.
In the seven euro zone countries in the poll, only 41 pct of respondents said they were happy with the decision to adopt the euro compared with 52 pct who were not, the paper wrote.
Eighteen months before, 53 pct were happy with the decision and 36 pct dissatisfied.
In Germany support for the euro fell to 29 pct from 47 pct, and in France it dropped to 50 pct from 64.
In Greece, Italy and Spain 46 pct or fewer said they were happy with the decision to adopt the euro.
Only in Luxembourg was there a strong support for the euro, with 72 pct backing the single currency.
The euro's depreciation against the dollar concerned many respondents. Some 79 pct of voters in Germany were worried by the euro's decline, 82 pct in the Netherlands, 74 pct in Spain and 71 pct in France. The euro has gained against the dollar since the poll, the Guardian wrote.
In the UK 62 pct of respondents said they were happy that the government has so far not adopted the euro.
However, in a separate Mori poll for independent analyst Graham Bishop, showed that UK citizens regard euro membership as likely by the end of the decade, it wrote.
It said some 68 pct of respondents said the UK is likely to have adopted the euro by 2010, compared with 22 pct who see it as unlikely.
But euro membership is not seen as imminent -- 50 pct said it is unlikely by 2005 compared with 41 pct who said it is likely.
Mori interviewed 2,073 people between Jan 4 and 8.