EU countries want Britain to stay -- except France: poll

People in most European Union countries want Britain to stay in the bloc -- with the exception of France -- according to a new poll published today.
The German Marshall Fund think tank surveyed people in the major EU countries for its annual poll of global public opinion, and for the first time asked whether Britain should leave the bloc.
In all countries surveyed, except France, more people said the EU should accommodate Britain's concerns about the the bloc rather than see it leave.
A total of 57 per cent of Brits said the EU should take their concerns into account with only 35 per cent expressing the view that Britain should leave.

At the other end of the scale, a majority of French people (52 per cent) wanted Britain out of the EU with a mere 42 per cent believing Brussels should take London's concerns into account.
Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU if his conservatives win the next election.
The prime minister promised the referendum under pressure from the powerful eurosceptic wing of his party and to win back voters from the UK Independence Party, which won May's European Parliament elections, beating the Tories into third place.
Cameron has vowed to claw back powers from Brussels and then put his country's membership of a reformed bloc to the vote.