A "no" vote in the French referendum on the EU constitution will help Dutch opponents of the treaty, where a vote takes place June 1, a poll published Saturday said.

The percentage of those planning to vote "no" in the Netherlands has been steadily on the rise, and the latest survey has the "no" at 57 percent and the "yes" at 43 percent.

But in this poll -- commissioned by Dutch public television and carried out by pollster Maurice de Hond -- if the "no" vote carries the day in France on Sunday, 60 percent of Dutch voters will vote against the treaty three days later.

Speaking to AFP, de Hond put the rise of the "no" vote in part down to the abstention of many of those who had been planning to vote "yes".

In addition "some people's opinions will have changed from a favorable to an unfavorable (one), as a result of the French vote," he said.

A French vote okaying the EU constitution would not influence the Dutch referendum, the poll found.

The Dutch referendum is merely consultative, but the country's main parliamentary groups have said they will take the results into account if turnout exceeds 30 percent.