Voters show wariness of integration

In a significant setback for a more unified Europe, Swedes voted overwhelmingly to reject membership in the European single currency. The vote followed a passionate referendum campaign that was made uncertain to the last moment by the assassination of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh.

The margin of victory for those opposed to adoption of the single currency, the euro, far exceeded the expectations of many people here. It provided a stunning defeat for Prime Minister Goran Persson, who had called the referendum in the belief that most Swedes would agree to abandon their currency, the krona.

Analysts said the impact would be felt across Europe, countering efforts to strengthen the 15-nation European Union before its planned expansion with 10 new members next year. Apart from Sweden, two union members, Denmark and Britain, are outside the 12-country euro-currency zone. European leaders interpreted the outcome Sunday as a signal that they had not swung Swedish opinion behind the broad project to transform Europe into a more cohesive and integrated force.

"This was a result worse than I expected," Romano Prodi, the head of the European Commission, told Swedish television on Sunday night. "We have to meditate how to explain better what we are doing," he added.

With ballots tallied from all voting districts, the anti-euro campaign had secured victory by about 56.1 percent to 41.8 percent. The result suggested that Swedes had not been swayed by the killing of the fervently pro-euro Lindh and had avoided a sympathy vote in favor of the single currency.

Shortly before the final tally on Sunday night, Persson appeared before reporters to acknowledge the defeat of the "yes" campaign. "In this result we can see a deep skepticism towards the entire euro project among the Swedish people," he said.

Many analysts had depicted Sunday's ballot as a kind of judgment on eight years of Swedish membership in the European Union. The outcome suggested a profound disenchantment with the idea of moving closer to other European nations.

"There's a bigger fear for the new than we expected," said Ulrika Messing, a government minister. Analysts had always calculated that a no vote in Sweden would strengthen anti-euro sentiment in Denmark and Britain, delaying efforts in those two countries to hold referendums of their own, and thus depriving the currency of broader economic and political backing.

The margin of Sunday's vote seemed certain to disappoint them. The Swedish government had said it would not hold another vote on joining the euro for 10 years.

Some had thought the campaign leading up to the Swedish vote seemed overwhelmed by the death of Lindh, whose killing stunned Sweden. The police said on Sunday that they had not arrested a suspect in her killing.

Until her death, opinion surveys had shown the "no" campaign firmly ahead by 10 to 15 percentage points. That margin seemed to have survived despite a last-minute flurry of opinion surveys suggesting a yes vote was still possible.

More than 5 million of the 7 million eligible voters cast their ballots, at least 1 million of them by postal vote before Lindh's death. The vote took place on a bright, late-summer day when the sunshine drew many people to sidewalk cafés in the capital and lakeside resorts. Almost like pilgrims, scores of people gathered outside the NK supermarket where Lindh was stabbed while shopping last Wednesday. What had begun there as a few single roses laid by sympathizers last Thursday had grown by Sunday to a wreathlike shrine of flowers, candles and messages.

"I was very sad when I heard about this and thought we must do something to show our support," said Ulrica Sjobladh, 36, a nurse at the memorial who said she voted in favor of the euro. She favored it, she said, because "we must all have the same opportunities, and the Swedish politicians can't decide for us – we should be inside Europe."

Before Sunday's vote, the "yes" campaign was sponsored by the political and business establishment and backed by most newspaper editors and intellectuals, who argued that the adoption of the euro would increase trade and employment.

"No" campaigners insisted that Sweden would not benefit as a euro member from being forced to adopt eurozone interest rates, 0.75 percentage points lower than the current Swedish rates, and needed economic independence to maintain its modest growth at a time when the major continental economies are in the doldrums.

"It is better for us to stand aside," said Bo-Goran Karlsson, a 57-year-old social worker who voted against adopting the euro. "We can trade with Europe but we don't want to be too close."

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