EU: Just under half of European citizens think that being a member of the EU is "a good thing", but support in some new member states has fallen.
The results of a survey published by the European Commission yesterday show Latvia is now the most Eurosceptic nation, with just 29 per cent of the public supporting membership - a drop of seven percentage points since December.
Support for EU membership also fell several percentage points in Poland and Lithuania, according to the results published in the week marking the second anniversary of the May 2004 enlargement.
In Lithuania support for EU membership dropped five percentage points to 52 per cent while, in Poland, support for the EU fell two percentage points to 52 per cent.
High inflation in Latvia, a new Eurosceptic government in Poland and Lithuania's unsuccessful bid to introduce the euro in 2007 are cited by observers as possible reasons for the drop in support. Central European states, such as Slovakia and Hungary, and the Baltic state of Estonia, saw slight increases in support for EU membership.
The survey shows that Luxembourg (71 per cent), The Netherlands (71 per cent) and Ireland (71 per cent) are the three states with the most positive view of EU membership.
Latvia has overtaken the current EU president Austria, where 31 per cent of the public support membership, as the most Eurosceptic EU state. Meanwhile, Finland, which takes over the EU's rotating presidency in July, saw support for membership of the union fall two percentage points to 36 per cent.
The survey, which measured the responses of almost 25,000 people across all EU states, shows that support for EU membership dropped one percentage point to 49 per cent. It also shows that 39 per cent of EU citizens believe the EU is headed in the right direction compared to 27 per cent who do not.
The most pessimistic about the direction the EU is taking are the French, with 48 per cent saying things are going in the wrong direction.
Similarly, the French are the most pessimistic on the impact of globalisation on Europe, with 72 per cent saying it is a threat to jobs.
Some 37 per cent of EU citizens say they find it difficult to make ends meet. However, 90 per cent say they are happy with their family life and 84 per cent say they are happy with their job.