Vienna  - The global economic and financial crisis has softened the traditionally eurosceptic attitude of the Austrian population, a European Union poll released on Wednesday showed.

According to the latest Eurobarometer poll which was conducted amid the global financial crisis last October and November, 47 per cent of Austrians said EU membership was good for their country, an 11-per-cent increase from the previous poll.

When asked whether the EU provided protection against the negative effects of globalization, 45 per cent answered yes, 15 per cent more than in the last survey half a year earlier.

Austria still trails far behind most other EU countries, which have approval rates of 53 per cent on average. Only Britain, Hungary and Latvia have lower rates than Austria.

At the top of the list, 80 per cent of Dutch citizens approve of EU membership.

"People realize that without the euro and without common economic measures to save the economies (in the EU), we would be left out in the rain," said Harald Pitters, a pollster with the Gallup institute which conducted the survey among 1003 Austrians.

On the other hand, Austrians are still negative when it comes to enlargement of the EU. Only 33 per cent think the mostly eastward expansion since 2004 has strengthened the EU, the lowest rate among the 27 EU members.

Pitters said Austrians were afraid of losing jobs to Central and Eastern Europeans, and of criminals from new EU members entering their country, despite the importance of the CEE region for Austria's economy.

But the remaining eurosceptic attitude was still the "aftermath of the sanctions" against Austria, Pitters said, which the EU agreed on when Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party entered government in 2000. (dpa)