Euro currency unpopular in Czech Republic

Around 38 percent of people surveyed said they are broadly against their country joining the 12-member eurozone, while 29 percent responded in favour of the idea.

Divergences between those taking clear stances on the issue are even sharper, with the percentage of those clearly against euro adoption (15%) lying almost twice as high as the percentage of clear supporters (8%).

Meanwhile, almost a third of the 7,425 Czechs quizzed in the poll said they had no opinion on the issue or did not want to give any.

The new centre-right Czech government, led by prime minister Mirek Topolanek, is more critical of the EU than the previous social democrat coalition.

Mr Topolanek's cabinet was sworn in on 4 September after months of bickering on the formation of a government, with June elections producing an exactly equal split between left and right in the Czech parliament.

AFP writes that the country's new finance minister Vlastimil Tlusty on Monday ruled out that his country will next year join the so-called ERM II (Exchange Rate Mechanism II) – an intermediate step before eventual eurozone membership.

ERM II entry in 2007 would allow the adoption of the euro in 2010 – a goal set by the previous centre-left government.