|
|
 |
Euro Struggle
21/7/2003
It is looking bad for the Swedish referendum on the Euro September 14.
Opinions polls are indicating 50 – 30 to the No side.
That would be an anti-European landslide of a proportion very seldom seen.
It would be a spectacular failure for all concerned.
But it is not lost yet.
The campaign will make a difference. It will start in earnest in the middle of August.
But the Yes side must refocus its arguments.
So far, they have been discussing different ways of countering perceived risks with the Euro.
This is bizarre. And wrong.
The risks are not associated with membership.
They are associated with non-membership.
And the bizarre focus of the debate so far has undoubtedly contributed to the opinion that is there.
A Sweden outside the Euro will loose out in economic terms.
Not dramatic and immediately.
But profoundly in the longer perspective.
It will loose out even more clearly in political terms.
It will be outside many of the central European debates over the coming years.
Non-membership of NATO only adds to this.
It is high time the risks of non-membership are put in focus in the debate.
Those are the real risks for the future of Sweden.
|
|
|
