Swedes will not vote on whether to adopt the euro for another ten years

IT will be another ten years before Sweden considers adopting the euro, Prime Minister Goran Persson said yesterday.

While the resounding No vote in Sunday’s referendum caused little damage to the currency in the markets yesterday, the Swedish krona fell after business interests were disappointed one of Europe’s strongest economies will remain out of the eurozone.

There was a surge in favour of the euro after Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was murdered last Thursday, but Mr Persson said economic problems in the eurozone had frightened the voters.

The next opportunity for a euro referendum will be in 2013, he said.

The European Commission, though obviously disappointed by the 56% rejection vote, said it would not have any effect on the currency used by 12 EU countries.

Commission spokesperson Reijo Kemppinen said it was not a catastrophe for the currency, though it wants every EU member to join eventually. “What we have in our hands is the second most important currency in the world, liked by 75% of people using it.”

British and Danish eurosceptics celebrated Sweden’s No vote with the shadow foreign secretary of Britain’s Conservative party, Michael Ancram, saying it gave the lie to those who claimed the country would be isolated outside the euro.

“Nobody can say it is inevitable any more,” he said. Prime Minister Tony Blair is unlikely to put the issue to a vote, especially with his government in crisis.

The third EU member not in the eurozone, Denmark, is expected to put the matter to a referendum next year when they vote on the new Constitution for Europe. Following enlargement next year there will be 13 countries outside the eurozone. The ten new members are obliged to join, although no date has been set.

EU Economic Affairs spokesperson Gerassimos Thomas said the non-euro members outnumbering those with the single currency would not upset the balance or mean a policy change in the union.

The new members would adopt the euro when it was right for their economies.

In the meantime, proposals in the new Constitution strengthen the euro-group and ensure greater co-ordination, he said.