Sweden’s ‘no’ to single currency casts dark cloud over EU

SWEDEN’S no to the euro is a major blow to the European Union. It does not threaten the future of the currency, but when added to a range of other factors does place big question marks over the kind of union Europe will be in the future.

The Swedes working closely with the Finns and Danes dramatically changed the face of the EU when they joined eight years ago. The club had already outgrown its original profile as a trade organisation mainly intended to benefit business.

Sweden in particular had developed a particular kind of government, that of social democracy where the good of the workers had to be taken into account with the good of business, and where the state saw its role as dividing the spoils of the country equally between its citizens.