The majority of the Swedish people want to ditch the krona and adopt the euro as their currency, an opinion poll has shown.

Most people want to ditch the krona

A steady rise in the support for the euro reached a new high of 56% last month, according to the Skop polling institute.

That was up 4% on April.

Opposition to the euro fell 3% in May to 41%.

"The opinion in favour of Swedish membership in the European Monetary Union is very strong," Skop's Oerjan Hultaaker said.

Growing support

Support for the single European currency has been rising for six months, Skop said.

"The long and strong EMU support should tempt the politicians ... to hold a referendum soon after the national elections," Mr Hultaaker said.

The mood in Sweden is in sharp contrast to the UK where opposition to euro membership remains strong, though north of the border attitudes appear to be softening.