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Danes for euro lead opponents 19 pct pts-paper

COPENHAGEN: Danes in favour of joining Europe's single currency, the euro, led opponents by 19 percentage points in an opinion poll published on Monday by the daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

The Sonar institute's survey of 1,272 voters gave the supporters 53 percent against 34 percent for those against. The rest were undecided. In the previous Sonar poll published at the end of November last year the "Yes" camp was also 19 percentage points ahead of the "No" side.

Denmark can only join the single currency launched in January 1999 by 11 of its fellow European Union members if a majority of Danes vote for membership in a national referendum.

The fresh survey suggested that a robust majority, 55 percent, of Social Democratic voters were now in favour of Danish membership of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) with 28 percent opposed.

Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the SDP leader, has said that he will announce the referendum date at the earliest right after his party's annual congress in September.

Rasmussen, who is personally pro-euro and an active campaigner for the project, has pledged a plebiscite before the next general election, which must be held by March 11, 2002.

Financial markets see the outlook for Denmark's euro entry as the most important domestic factor deciding risk premiums on Danish state bonds over euro zone government debt.

Britain, Sweden and Greece are the other EU countries outside the euro zone.-Reuters