World News 15-09-2003 Swedes Vote No On Euro who: Prime minister Göran Persson what: Says he will accept nation`s overwhelming "No" vote on single currency where: Sweden when: Yesterday snippet: "Sweden voted emphatically against adopting the European single currency yesterday," says The Telegraph, "despite a surge of sympathy over the murder of Anna Lindh, the foreign minister and symbol of the `Yes` campaign." "No" voters won by 56% to 42%, says The Guardian, "shattering" Tony Blair`s hopes of a euro referendum in this parliament. "Even the most pro-euro ministers in the [British] government were privately acknowledging that last night`s result set back the European cause in Britain since Sweden has always been considered less Eurosceptic than Britain." "One of the key factors in the no victory was the postal vote," reckons Roger Boyes, reporting for The Times from Stockholm. "Some 1.5 million Swedes from an electorate of barely seven million had cast their vote in advance of the referendum. Most of them voted before Ms Lindh`s murder, at a time when the no campaign was striding ahead." "The eurozone needs economies like the Swedes` to bolster its credibility," says European political commentator Stephen Castle in The Independent. "The 12-nation bloc is facing stagnation and mounting budget deficits while Sweden is a model of Scandinavian efficiency. With growth at 2 per cent and unemployment at 4 per cent, Sweden outperforms the big eurozone economies. France is to break the euro`s budget deficit ceiling of 3 per cent of GDP for three years in a row; Sweden has a surplus of some 1.4 per cent." [... more]

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