PARIS (AFP) -- Five years after the introduction of euro bills and coins, many Europeans appear more concerned about the perceived increase in the cost of their coffee than the supposed economic benefits for the continent.

Public support for the single currency has fallen since its launch in cash form on January 1, 2002, when 304 million Europeans swapped their national currencies for a common means of exchange.

Seen as an important step toward deeper European integration, the vast initiative was sold to citizens on its economic merits, promising higher growth and protection from the currency crisises that have regularly hit the continent.

Five years on however, many blame the euro for raising the cost of living, particularly prices for coffee , accusing shopkeepers and service providers of using confusion created by the currency as an opportunity to hike their prices.

The European Central Bank has done its utmost to rebut claims of higher prices and the Frankfurt-based institution points to the stable level of inflation, which has remained at slightly more than 2.0 percent over the period.

The bank has been at pains to stress that increases in the costs of energy and real estate are not connected to the euro and that prices for some goods have actually fallen, in the high-tech sector for example.

However the European Central Bank has recently become a target for criticism itself, particularly from French politicians, amid a debate about the strength of the euro against the dollar and the yen.

The euro has strengthened by more than 10 percent against the dollar since the start of the year, making European exports more expensive in international markets and curbing economic growth.

This has led to calls from politicians for lower interest rates, but the ECB, sticking doggedly to its mandate to keep inflation under control, has insisted on hiking the cost of borrowing this year.

The bank has raised its key rates six times in the past 12 months to 3.5 percent.

The euro was once seen as being a catalyst for deeper political integration, which has failed to materialize.

Although the European Union has expanded since its introduction, welcoming 10 new members in 2004, the rejection of the European Constitution by French and Dutch voters in 2005 was a setback for the whole project.

There are also signs that the allure of the euro has fallen for candidate countries.

Slovenia is set to become the 13th member of the eurozone on January 1, but other new EU members are now showing less enthusiasm than before for jettisoning their national currencies.

Economic progress has also been slow, with many governments backing away from structural reforms of their economies and growth of gross domestic product far lower than the United States in recent years.

The Lisbon Agenda, launched in 2000 to turn the European economy into the most competitive in the world, has withered and has since been watered down.

In any case, though the coins and notes have long since disappeared, there are signs that national currencies live on in the minds of consumers.

According to a recent study, three in four Germans continue to calculate prices in deutschemarks.