Most Belgians are either openly hostile to the new enlarged European Union or don't know whether this month's arrival of 10 new EU countries is a good thing or not, a new European Commission survey revealed on Monday.  

The Eurobarometer survey found that 49 percent of Belgians are against EU enlargement and a further 13 percent don't know what to think about it.

Only 38 percent of people questioned think the new, bigger EU is a good thing.

Some analysts said that the survey showed that the country's political leaders have failed to explain the benefits of enlargement to the Belgian people.

Belgium, however, is by no means alone in its skepticism about the new bumper-sized EU.

In Germany 56 percent of the population were openly against admitting the new member states into the EU club, while in Austria 52 percent of the population was opposed.

In France 47 percent of the people polled said they opposed enlargement and a further 16 percent said they did not know if it was a good thing or not.

The Netherlands was not far behind with 45 percent of voters against and 11 percent undecided.

At the other end of the spectrum Spain, which joined the European club in 1986, has emerged as one of the strongest supporters of the latest EU expansion.

An impressive 59 percent of Spanish voters said they were in favor of enlargement.

The 10 new countries that joined the EU on May 1 are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2004)