Europeans lose faith in EU but few want to drop euro

A growing number of Europeans in Britain, France, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland and Greece say integration has weakened their economies and question whether membership of the European Union is a good thing, according to a report by the non-profit, Washington-based Pew Research Centre. The study aims to provide a greater insight into attitudes and trends in Europe and has been taken into account previously by U.S. officials when formulating policies towards the continent. Only in Germany, Europe's largest economy and biggest contributor to the bailout programmes supporting indebted Ireland, Greece and Portugal, has enthusiasm for the EU grown since 2009. Sixty-five percent of Germans see membership in a positive light, up 2 percent from a Pew poll in 2009. Yet even as 54 percent of Spaniards doubt the value of being in the European Union - a huge political and economic project created in the aftermath of World War Two - the fall in support does not translate into calls to ditch the euro currency.