Lindh sympathy vote fails to swing euro vote

THE murder of popular Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh failed to swing the vote in favour of adopting the euro in yesterday’s referendum.

Lindh sympathy vote fails to swing euro vote

The result is seen as a blow to have Britain and Denmark adopt the common currency in the near future. With 97% of the Scandinavian country’s 5,967 precincts counted, 56.3% of the more than 5.4 million ballots cast were against replacing the krona with the euro, while 41.7% voted in favour and 2% cast undecided ballots.

Polls over the past year showed the currency was not popular with the country’s 7.1 million voters but the brutal stabbing on Thursday of the ardently pro-euro politician gave the Yes campaign a boost in the polls.

The undecided grew to 15% and analysts expected a repeat of Sweden’s vote for EU membership in 1994 when a last minute swing meant a tiny margin in favour.

However, even though the gap in the euro referendum narrowed on Friday from 12 to six points it proved too wide to bridge.

All of Sweden’s political parties and large and small business interests were firmly behind the Yes campaign and warned that Sweden could not afford to remain outside the 12-member eurozone.

They are concerned though the economy has stayed strong, foreign direct investment has slipped. However, the anti-campaign pointed to the slower GDP and job growth in the eurozone compared to the three EU countries outside it.

Last night Prime Minister Goeran Persson said: “I think we read the opinion polls too optimistically. EU Finance Commissioner Pedro Solbes was also upset over the result. On Saturday he said he hoped eventually all EU members will adopt the euro.

Sweden, however, has not shut the door to joining the single currency as the vote was consultative rather than binding.

The government can still decide to adopt the currency though this would happen in January 2006 at the earliest.

Police issued a security video shot at the weekend of the man they believe stabbed the 46-year-old mother of two. They also say they want to question 10 people over the stabbing in a Stockholm shop. They say there is no evidence the murder was linked to the referendum.

Meanwhile, Estonians last night looked set to approve a referendum to join the EU. Preliminary results showed 67% of voters backing membership, with 33% voting against it, Estonia’s Central Election Commission reported.

Eight of the 10 EU invitees have approved referendums with Cyprus leaving the decision to lawmakers. Latvia will hold a referendum on September 20. All are due to become full members in May 2004.

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