The citizens of Europe's most pro-integration countries are losing faith in the EU, but getting more enthusiastic about the single currency as they prepare to use euro notes and coins in January.  Support for the euro is up 4% to 59%, according to the latest Eurobarometer poll.  But in further evidence of a sharpening crisis of confidence between the union and its 375m people, the poll paints a picture of citizens increasingly ready to question the value of being in the 15-member EU club. Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the "Benelux" founders of the European Economic Community, all saw significant drops in support for membership, according to the survey, released yesterday by the European commission. Support has also fallen in Spain, where there is a sharp 10-point drop in the belief that membership had benefited the country, and an eight-point drop in trust in the commission.  The Irish are still the EU's strongest supporters, with 72% agreeing that membership is a good thing. Britons, as usual, are at the other end of the scale, with 29% in favour.  But British support for the euro has risen by four points to 25%, although it is still the lowest in the EU, while UK ignorance about the union is far deeper than in any other member state, the poll shows.  Some 24.9% of Britons admit they know nothing about the "EU, its policies and institutions" - more than twice the EU average of 11.9%. A further 16.7% know next to nothing.  The findings come a day after Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, said the EU needed to slow integration to combat growing apathy and hostility, and as the Europe minister, Peter Hain, urged an end to "Euro-babble".  Britain scored lowest of all 15 EU states on whether membership is a good thing; on trust in the European commission, support for the euro, and for common foreign and defence policies.  Only on support for enlargement into eastern Europe does Britain struggle into second last place, with 35 points after 33 for Austria.  Britons are also more ignorant on EU issues than they have been since the Eurobarometer survey, run by the commission, began in 1997.  In a week that saw EU governments launch a heart-searching public debate about the need to reconnect Europe with its people, the poll found just 48% of EU citizens believe membership is a good thing.  The findings are down 2% from a similar poll conducted six months earlier.  But they follow a turbulent period that includes last month's shock Irish referendum rejection of the Nice treaty. Ireland's vote is constitutionally vital for the eastern enlargement of the union. Backing for enlargement - the EU's biggest single project since the launch of the single currency in 1999 - also saw a one-point drop in support, with the union average now 43%.  Since last month's rioting at the Gothenburg summit, EU governments have become more sensitive to charges that they are encouraging globalisation without mitigating its negative effects. European leaders can expect more protests at this weekend's G8 Genoa summit.  Belgium's europhile foreign minister, Louis Michel, chairing a televised debate in Brussels on Monday, warned that EU bodies were seen as "anonymous and distant, even hostile", and thus their legitimacy was being challenged.  Spanish views have been affected by a series of bruising rows over EU funds for its poorer regions. Those regions may lose money to even poorer candidates, such as Poland.  France, where 49% back membership, is the exception to an otherwise gloomy pic ture, showing improvements in all categories after disastrous ratings during its turbulent presidency of the union last year.  Officials in Brussels said that the findings confirmed the sense of disconnection, but attempted to give them a positive spin.  "The Eurobarometer results don't show that people don't want the EU or international cooperation on drugs, crime and jobs, but it's the face of Europe that turns them off," said one. "They just don't feel a sense of familiarity or affection for it."  Neil Kinnock, the commission vice-president, told the Guardian: "The EU institutions, with member states and the media, need to do a much better job of informing and explaining as a matter of democratic necessity."  Romano Prodi, the president of the commission, plans to seize the momentum of this intensifying debate to unveil his own views on the "governance" of Europe next week, following on from a recent series of big speeches by national leaders.  Foreign ministers agreed on Monday to step up efforts to encourage popular support by stressing the benefits of membership and the union's role in promoting peace and prosperity.  Polly Toynbee, page 16 Special report on economic and monetary union at guardian.co.uk/emu Classification Language: ENGLISH Subject: EUROPEAN UNION (91%); POLLS & SURVEYS (90%); EURO (90%); EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS (89%); INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORGANIZATIONS (89%); EUROPEAN UNION REGULATION & POLICY (78%); STATE DEPARTMENTS & FOREIGN SERVICES (78%); CURRENCIES (78%); FOREIGN POLICY (69%); INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (64%); DEFENSE & MILITARY POLICY (64%); REFERENDUMS (60%) Company: EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (57%); EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (57%); EUROPEAN COMMISSION (56%); EUROPEAN COMMISSION (56%) Organization: EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (57%); EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (57%); EUROPEAN COMMISSION (56%); EUROPEAN COMMISSION (56%); EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (57%); EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (57%); EUROPEAN COMMISSION (56%); EUROPEAN COMMISSION (56%) Industry: EURO (90%); CURRENCIES (78%); DEFENSE & MILITARY POLICY (64%) Person: JACK STRAW (50%) Geographic: EUROPE (96%); EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES (95%); UNITED KINGDOM (94%); BELGIUM (92%); BENELUX (91%); SPAIN (79%); AUSTRIA (79%); IRELAND (79%); NETHERLANDS (79%); LUXEMBOURG (78%); EASTERN EUROPE (58%)