Most Europeans want Britain to stay in EU

BRUSSELS - A majority of Europeans want Britain to remain in the EU, but French people would be happy to see it go, according to a poll by the German Marshall Fund (GMF).

The survey, published on Wednesday (10 September), spoke with people from the major EU countries as part of its annual poll of trans-Atlantic opinion.

A small majority of 51 percent across the EU said they would be willing to accommodate British concerns about EU membership in order to keep the UK in the bloc.

Thirty eight percent said that it would be better if Britain just left.

The situation is different in France, however.

Fifty two percent of French people said Britain should leave the EU, while a mere 42 percent said Brussels should take London's concerns into account.

Meanwhile, in the UK itself, 57 percent of Brits said the EU should renegotiate its terms in order to keep it on board, while just 35 percent said Britain should leave.

The survey underlines the difficulty that British prime minister David Cameron will face in persuading other EU countries to agree to his plans to revise his country's membership terms.

The renegotiation is due ahead of an 'in/out' referendum planned for 2017 if his Conservative party wins next year's election.

The GMF findings come in the wake of a paper published last week by the German Council on Foreign Relations which concluded that while many of Cameron’s criticisms of the EU, and his proposals for reform, are broadly supported in other capitals, many Europeans doubt his sincerity about reform.

"Some of the UK's criticisms of the EU and proposals…are seen as legitimate. What is not seen as legitimate is advancing these as a purely national interest and using the threat of a Brexit as leverage," the paper said.