(COPENHAGEN) - Danes are in favour of dropping their country's opt-out on the euro, a poll published on Monday showed, just days after the prime minister announced a referendum on the single currency.

Danes are also keen to drop the exemption on the European Union's joint defence policy but would like to maintain the opt-out on judicial cooperation, according to the Vilstrup Synovate poll published in daily Politiken.

A fourth opt-out, on European citizenship, was not part of the survey.

After rejecting the EU Maastricht Treaty in 1992, Danes adopted the document in a second referendum in May 1993 after obtaining the four exemptions.

A total of 52 percent of the 1,016 people questioned said they wanted the exemption on the euro to be lifted.

Some 39 percent said they were opposed to the idea, while nine percent said they were undecided.

The poll was conducted on November 23, the day after Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced that Danes would be called to a referendum on the four opt-outs sometime in the next four years.

Since obtaining the opt-outs, Danes have held one referendum on the euro, in September 2000, when 53 percent rejected the single currency.

Meanwhile, 46 percent of those questioned in Monday's poll said they wanted the joint defence exemption lifted, compared to 38 percent who wanted to keep it and 16 percent who said they had not made up their minds.

A majority of Danes, 51 percent, said however they wanted to remain outside the EU's judiciary cooperation, which has enabled to Denmark to decide its own immigration and asylum policy.

Only 32 percent would like to see that exemption abolished and 17 percent were undecided.

Marlene Wind, an expert on European issues at Copenhagen University, told Politiken that the poll showed a shift in Danes' attitudes on judiciary cooperation since 2003, when the polling institute last questioned Danes.

"It's a big change from 2003. Maybe it's because the immigration policy has been the focus of a lot of debates in recent years," Wind said.

In 2003, 39 percent of Danes were in favour of keeping the opt-out, while 33 percent wanted it lifted and 28 percent said they were undecided.

"People are concerned that Denmark would not be able to maintain a strict immigration policy, which is reflected in this poll," she said.

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