Sweden's No deals serious blow to the euro Euro vote: Yes 42%, No 56% (with 97% of votes counted) By Stephen Castle in Stockholm 15 September 2003
Sweden delivered a crushing "no" verdict to the euro last night, defying expectations of a pro-single currency sympathy vote after the murder last week of Anna Lindh, the Foreign Minister, who was a prominent "yes" campaigner.
The result represents an extraordinary grassroots rebellion against Sweden's political and economic establishment, which largely backed membership of the euro. It also sends a powerful message to Brussels, underlining the fact that the EU is seen by many of its citizens as remote and elitist.
With almost all the votes counted and the "no" camp clinching victory by 56 per cent to 42 per cent, the Prime Minister, Goran Persson, of the Social Democrats, conceded defeat. The outcome was "very clear" and therefore "easy to respect", he said, adding: "This reflects the profound scepticism of the economic and monetary union project. With the wisdom of hindsight, you could have said that we could have held the referendum at a more auspicious time. We are in the midst of a recession and two or three [eurozone] countries have significant deficit problems."
Ulla Hoffmann, leader of the anti-euro Left Party said the vote was "a signal to Europe that it must democratise".
Young, first-time voters and women were prominently represented among those who rejected the euro. The turnout in the referendum was more than 80 per cent.
Full article: http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=443497