The final result shows 56% voting against the euro, with only 42% in favour, on a high turnout of 81%.And it’s not only Sweden that won’t be joining the Eurozone anytime soon; the result has profound implications for Britain. This was Faisal Islam writing for the Observer in August:
If, as expected, the Swedish public votes 'No' in the coming referendum, it will be the final hammer blow to the chances of Britain joining the euro soon. The campaign is already reeling from the Chancellor's 'not yet' verdict on the single currency. The collapse in public trust of the Government over the Iraq war is likely to shunt chances of a UK referendum far into the future.In today’s Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard examines the reasons why the Swedes voted so resoundingly against the euro, and he concludes that the vote reflects Sweden's verdict on nine years of EU membership.
I found this comment from a Swedish social studies teacher particularly noteworthy:
This a new type of imperialism, a new way to manipulate people. France and Germany can't do it by themselves, so they have to do it through the EU.This echoes my own view that the Franco-German project for a united Europe is not intended solely as a counter-weight to “Yankee imperialism” but as a vehicle for those two nations to achieve imperial ambitions of their own.
