Paris: Well over one out of every 10 people in five major European nations see the US as a potential military threat to their country, according to a poll made public on Friday.

According to the poll, which was carried out by Harris Interactive for France 24 television and the Paris-based daily The International Herald Tribune, 14% of respondents in Britain and Germany said the US could be a threat. The figure was 13% in Spain, 11% in France and 10% in Italy.

Most respondents in all countries except Spain said Iran represented the biggest military threat to their country, with the highest figure in the US (53%), followed by France (45%) and Britain (42%).

A slight majority of Spaniards (30-29 per cent) said Iraq was a bigger threat than Iran. In addition, nearly one of three respondents in the US and Britain said they viewed Russia as a military threat. The number was lower in other countries, such as Germany (24%) and France (20%).

Most people contacted by the poll said they wanted NATO to be maintained, with the highest figure in Germany (67%) and the lowest in Spain (51%).

Finally, a large majority of Europeans in the poll said they were against American plans to place anti-missile defence systems in Eastern European countries, such as Poland and the Czech Republic. The Germans were most hostile to the idea (71% against), followed by the Spaniards (61%) and the French (58%). The poll contacted nearly 6,500 adults from February 27 to March 6.

Source : IANS