Swedish referendum about the Euro

[Jonathan]

Today the Swedes are going to the ballot boxes and vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the introduction of the Euro in our country. Of the fifteen nations in the European Union only two countries besides Sweden don’t have the Euro as their currency: The UK and Denmark. The government in the UK has decided not to introduce the Euro yet, but they are very eager to do so. In Denmark a referendum about the Euro was held in 2000 where the Danes rejected the idea of having the same currency as most of the EU for the time being.

Today we will see if the Swedes are voting like the Danes did, or actually want to have the same currency as Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

But it is with some sorrow that we vote today due to the murder of our foreign minister. She was one of the Yes-side’s most prominent persons. Her death might affect today’s vote, either so that people are more eager to vote ‘Yes’ but people might become more anxious to vote ‘No’.

I for one have wanted to introduce the Euro ever since the currency was born, so I will vote ‘Yes’. If we don’t introduce the Euro now we will have to wait till like 2015 until we can have another referendum about the introduction of the European currency.

So, you Europeans out there who use the Euro on a daily basis, what are your thoughts about a possible full Swedish membership in the Economic and Monetary Union?