Sweden edition

Swedish euroscepticism at record high: poll

Published: 6 Dec 11 11:58 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/37764/20111206/

Close to nine out of ten Swedes are keen to remain outside the eurozone and retain the krona, according to a new poll published on Tuesday in the wake of renewed problems afflicting the European single currency.

Borg defends critique of strong Swedish krona (10 May 13)
Borg calls for action over strong krona (8 May 13)
Swedish euro scepticism hits all time high (6 May 13)

A total of 87.6 percent of the 1,000 people questioned said they wanted to keep the krona while only 9.7 percent wanted to adopt the euro and 2.7 percent were undecided, the Skop polling institute said.

"Swedish confidence in the euro has never been as low as in Skop's November survey" conducted from October 28 to November 20, the institute said.

"Support for the euro has been in a downward trend the past two years," Skop analyst Oerjan Hultaaker said, noting that "the question is now whether the euro has become a totally impossible political project in Sweden forever."

"Something dramatic must happen for Swedes to say 'yes' to the euro in the future. It probably won't be enough for it to become a stable currency again," he said.

Sweden, a country of about nine million inhabitants, has been a European Union member since 1995 but rejected joining the eurozone in a referendum in September 2003.

Unlike Denmark and Britain however, Sweden has not negotiated any opt-outs enabling it to formally remain outside the eurozone.

And while Swedes appear happy to keep their krona, an editorialist in paper of reference Dagens Nyheter suggested Tuesday that being a euro-outsider could pose problems.

Sweden "for the time being is sliding ever further from the centre of the (European) Union," Annika Ström Melin wrote.

"Why would anyone listen to Sweden," she asked, noting that the country's "outsider status is self-imposed but nonetheless regrettable."

"Countries that are outside (the eurozone) can't really protest when those who share the same currency meet to discuss how to resolve the problems," she said.

AFP/The Local (news@thelocal.se)

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13:05 December 6, 2011 by Keith #5083

I was against the EU in the UK, but they still took us in without a vote.Now I am very much in favour of the EU - but not the Euro! The single currency legislation was not simply about currency, it has all sorts of other things attached - and many of those things cannot be even adhered to by some of the leading proponents of the Euro who have had a few years of trying.

Annika Strom Melin writes that Sweden has no say in how Eurozone problems are resolved.

What problems are these ASM? You mean the Euro currency has problems? You mean all the Eurozone partners cannot agree? You mean some partners in the Eurozone have broken their agreements about debt control, government spending, accurate accounts? I would think it is an admirable standpoint for the purpose of country 'credit ratings' to be 'sliding even further from the centre of the ' Eurozone! Good skis!

The EU was never about the loss of national identity which is, of course, most visible in language,currency and food.

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Swedish euroscepticism at record high: poll

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