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To: Noel de Leon who wrote (116834)	10/14/2003 5:52:48 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 281500

Swedes Vote 'No' In Euro Referendum By Merchant International Group - Sep 15, 2003, 9:25am Printer friendly page Sweden's referedum on the Euro has ended in a victory for the 'No' campaign. The vote comes after the murder of Sweden's foreign minister, Anna Lindh, last week. Although the vote was relatively close- 56 per cent against, 42 per cent in favour- Sweden's Prime Minister, Goran Persson described it as a 'clear expression of the people's will'. His government had led a high profile campaign in favour of joining. There had been speculation that the 'Yes' campaign would be boosted out of sympathy for Sweden's murdered foreign minister Anna Lindh. Lindh was known as one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the the Euro. In the event, Lindh's murder seems to have had little effect on the result. Sweden's decision to retain the krona will have serious repercussions for the Euro debate in both Britain and Denmark, the two other EU members who are still outside the Eurozone. Sweden has promised that it will not reconsider its decision for at least another ten years. merchantinternational.com

To: Noel de Leon who wrote (116834)	10/14/2003 5:56:56 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 281500

Swedes Say No To Euro EURSOC Two 15 September, 2003 Swedish voters rejected the single European currency by a huge margin in yesterday's poll - the first referendum to be held on Euro entry. Despite a big-spending alliance of the main parties, the largest trade unions, big business and the overwhelming support of Sweden's media, the public voted no by a margin of 14 percent. The margin, on a turnout of over 80 percent, was much larger than predicted. The result left Sweden's pro-Euro lobby dazed and will have wide-ranging repercussions throughout the European Union. The murder of leading pro-Euro campaigner Anna Lindh was expected in some circles to push many undecided voters into the yes camp, but it appears that this didn't happen. If anything, the result was by wider margin than even polls taken before her death. Perhaps Swedes had already decided that Ms Lindh's murder was not politically motivated. Even if they did believe it was a political killing, they kept cool heads, and refused to have their opinion changed by terrorism - for if the murder turns out to be a planned political act, then it is terrorism in our book. What is more remarkable about the referendum result is the fact that it came in the face of such well-organised opposition. Alongside Anna Lindh, the country's most popular politican, Sweden's prime minister Goran Persson led the campaign. He was backed by most of his party (he slammed a campaigning ban on opponents within his cabinet) and much of Sweden's big business community, including Ericsson, the mobile phone company, which accounts for over 13 percent of the value of Sweden's stock market. Ericsson even threatened to shed jobs if the vote went against it. Major trade unions supported the yes campaign. The media was united in its support for the Euro. According to the Telegraph, the yes campaign spent more money trying to persuade Sweden (population 9 million) to vote yes than George W Bush spent on his presidential campaign in 2000. (Insert "and they both lost" joke here). Persson's supporters blamed the result on bad timing. He called the referendum back in December when he had a clear lead in the polls - both personally and for Euro-entry. Since then, things have gone from bad to worse for the Eurozone, and Swedes have been quick to notice, despite the media's cheerleading. Swedish growth (at 1.3 percent) and unemployment (at 5 percent) make the Eurozone look like an unattractive proposition. Presently growth in the Eurozone stands at 0.2 percent, and the three largest economies - Germany, France and Italy - are in recession. Unemployment is running at 8.9 percent throughout the Eurozone. France and Germany's flouting of Eurozone rules can't have helped Sweden's yes camp. Smaller countries in particular are furious with France's continuing dismissal of their concerns, and resentment is breeding at the EU's unwillingness to punish France or Germany. On another level, Swedes who share a border with Finland increasingly hear complaints of price rises since Finland entered the single currency. They also remember promises broken by the EU following the last referendum in 1995, when Swedes voted to join the Eurozone. Back then, the Telegraph reports, Sweden was assured that it would be allowed to keep its idiosyncratic laws limiting the sale of alcohol. The pro-EU government declared that Sweden's independence on this matter was safe. Within months of joining the EU, however, Sweden was ordered to get rid of the law and allow alcohol imports. None of this should diminish the work of the no camp. Depicted as rabble led mainly by the extreme right, the no camp's loudest voices came from the other end of the political spectrum. Sweden's far left parties, its greens and many of its trade unionists saw the single currency as a threat to the country's public services, particularly its welfare state. Campaigners also warned that Sweden's neutrality would also be under threat in the Eurozone. It is not often that EURSOC finds itself having much in common with Europe's far left, but we admire the Swedish group's organisation and determination in the face of massive opposition. More importantly, we welcome the sentiment expressed by many no voters, who believe that decisions affecting Europe's citizens should be taken as close to the people as possible. EURSOC has been opposed to the centralizing, elitist instinct in the EU since its inception. Sweden's voters, left and right, are to be congratulated for refusing to accept a further diminishing of their rights. eursoc.com