They've made a careful, reasoned choice and have understood that it can both protect what they already have and offer them new advantages. The figures represent a remarkable shift in French public opinion. Two other surveys of similar scope in the last decade showed much more divided feelings.
Several factors lie behind such a marked pro-European swing, observers say.
Most important, the French economy has picked up sharply in the last couple of years. Though he said at the weekend he believed that the EU could have its own constitution within two years, it remained unclear to what extent his vision matched Germany's emerging, increasingly federalist outlook. His foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, earlier called on EU states to commit themselves to an eventual federation. But he argued that it should comprise, rather than replace, the existing nation states. Comments by Mr Chirac published yesterday by the German financial daily Handelsblatt left open the question of whether he rejects or backs the Fischer approach.