MARK RICE-OXLEY, London | Monday
MOST Britons are resigned to joining the single European currency even though they oppose euro membership, according to surveys published on Sunday gauging reaction to last week’s launch of euro notes and coins.
The polls gave an impression of a still-eurosceptic public that now fears the increasingly europhile government will press Britain towards the euro against its wishes.
Two of three polls published in Sunday newspapers showed that a clear majority (56% in one, 73% in the other) still opposed taking the pound into the euro, despite the successful birth last Tuesday of the euro as a fully-fledged currency.
A third survey said that 18% favoured joining the euro now, while 34% would support the move in the future if the economic conditions were right, giving a symbolic, slender majority of 52% in favour in principle.
More tellingly however, one poll showed that 79% of Britons think that the country will end up joining the euro anyway, fearing that the politicians will somehow get around public opposition to the euro.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised that the public will have the last say on the matter in a referendum, which will only be called if five tests of economic convergence with the euro-zone are passed ”clearly and unambiguously”.
But a top Treasury official was quoted last week as saying that the final decision would have to be political, because economics could never be clear and unambiguous.
That coupled with pro-euro noises emanating from the cabinet has persuaded observers and markets that euro entry is more likely now than it was a week ago. Sterling responded by falling on foreign exchange markets last week, though by Friday it had clawed back ground to 1,61 euros and 1,44 dollars.
Blair himself has insisted that his wait-and-see policy has not changed, but warned last week it would be ”very foolish” for Britain to turn its back on the newly-minted currency on its doorstep.
And on Sunday, former foreign secretary Robin Cook warned that Britain would find it harder to maintain a leading role in Europe if it stays outside the euro.
”If we want to continue with that very strong powerful leading role within the European Union it is going to be more challenging to do that if we are outside the inner club — but the economic side has also got to be met,” said Cook.
”The position is that we believe in principle that Britain could be better off inside the euro … but the economic conditions have got to be right,” he said on BBC television.
The issue of whether to join, arguably the hottest in British politics, has taken on new resonance following the emergence on January 1 of the euro as a notes-and-coins currency.
One estimate by City analysts here suggests that 51% of Britons will get to handle euros this year, either on holiday or through business, familiarising themselves with a currency which most have viewed thus far with detached suspicion.
Proponents of joining the euro argue that it will benefit business and manufacturing through stable exchange rates and larger markets; encourage foreign investors to stay in Britain; and help consumers through price transparency. More than 50% of Britain’s exports go to Europe.
But opponents argue that Britain has fared well outside the euro-zone already, and are hugely sceptical of surrendering control over monetary policy to the European Central Bank.
One decisive voice has been missing from the debate recently: euro-cautious finance chief Gordon Brown, currently on paternity leave in Scotland, has more important things on his mind following a health scare surrounding his baby daughter, born seven weeks premature late last month. – Sapa-AFP