A NEW Danish opinion poll shows a sharp rise in Danish S0t for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), with 46 per cent in favour of dropping Denmark's opt out to 33 percent two years ago.
The Gallup poll, published in the Berlingske Tidende newspaper yesterday, showed 44 per cent of respondents wishing to keep to a 1993 referendum decision not to join the European single currency.
A June 1994 Gallup survey showed 59 per cent in favour of retaining the opt out and 33 percent wishing to drop it. A survey last month by Danish pollsters Greens showed 53.4 per cent opposed to joining EMU and 30.4 in favour.
Economy Minister Ms Marianne Jelved called the latest poll "a Christmas gift" and attributed the rise in support to an increased understanding of the aims of EMU.
"I am pleasantly surprised that there is such a marked shift, which shows that people are beginning to change their position," she said in an interview.
Denmark is one of the few European Union members already meeting the economic performance criteria for membership of EMU but is bound by the 1993 referendum vote to stay out.
A reversal of that decision would require a fresh plebiscite, something for which the Danish government says it has no plans.
