Swedes go to the polls
Sweden will vote Sunday on whether to embrace the single currency.
Following the fatal stabbing of pro-euro Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, Sunday’s vote on ditching the Kronor for the euro has been flung wide open.
A Gallup poll Saturday gave euro supporters a 43-42 per cent lead. Some 15 per cent of voters were undecided.
But a Temo survey pointed to a clear 46-40 per cent “No” victory
About 50,000 people attended a democracy vigil in her honour in Stockholm on Friday.
On Saturday, Swedish Finance Minister Bosse Ringholm predicted a “Yes” win.
Britain, Denmark and Sweden are the only EU nations who have resisted the euro’s siren call.
Analysts are split on whether the death of Lindh will prompt a large sympathy vote for the single currency.
European finance ministers have urged Sweden to say “yes” to the euro.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who doubles up as a finance minister, said: “From a European perspective it would be marvelous if Sweden could join the euro solidarity.”
Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm said Sweden had “sound ideas about economic policies and about budgetary policies, and we’d like to have an extra friend in the group.”
But Swedish Finance Minister Bosse Ringholm said France had been unhelpful in assisting the Swedish government’s pro-euro case by abusing the Stability and Growth Pact’s rules on budget deficits.
