Swedish PM says euro vote will be tight
Undaunted by polls predicting defeat in Sunday’s euro referendum, Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson said the race would be tight, but stopped short of promising a victory.
“It’s going to be even,” Persson said after casting a postal vote for yes in Stockholm. “I think it’s going to be somewhere in the 53-47 (percent) interval. But which way I don’t know.”
Opinion polls, issued daily by banks and think tanks, show opponents of adopting the common currency maintaining a solid lead ahead of the referendum.
But Persson said he believes as many as 30% of the seven million eligible voters have yet to decide how they’ll cast their ballot.
The euro is used by 12 of the 15 European Union member countries. Only Denmark, Britain and Sweden still use their own currency.
Euro supporters have ramped up their appearances and leafleting. Around the capital, Stockholm, signs urging people to vote yes “for your children’s children” have proliferated like Swedish cloudberry bushes in the countryside.
Persson said a vote against adopting the euro could lead to less influence for the Scandinavian country of nine million in European affairs.
“I’m not saying that we’ll be the ones who decide in Europe,” he told a crowd gathered for a campaign rally at a Stockholm square.
“But I’m saying that we can make a difference if we’re in, not always, but sometimes.”
MEP Maj Britt Theorin, who does not support the euro, refuted Persson’s claims that Sweden will lose influence if keeps the krona.
“We will remain within the EU and have its cooperation, just like now,” she said. “The only thing we will not have is a seat in the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.”
Whether Persson’s appeals are falling on deaf ears is hard to determine.
An opinion poll released today showed that 50% would vote against the euro; 39% said they will vote yes, while the rest were undecided.
