08/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - The economic sentiment indicator in the eurozone, published by the European Commission on Tuesday, improved slightly in December to 98.8 (from 98.6 in November, its lowest level since 1997). In the EU as a whole (EU15), it rose from 98.7 to 98.8. The change in the economic indicator between November and December was positive in 9 Member State (Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden) which the Commission says "could point to a reversal of the negative path followed since the last quarter of 2000". The change is largely due to consumer confidence (which rose by 2 points in the eurozone and 3 points in EU15) whereas confidence in industry, construction and commerce showed no change.