Disappointed EU puts
brave face on Swedish euro slap
EU leaders put a brave face
Monday on Sweden's overwhelming rejection of Europe's single currency,
but could not hide their disappointment at the sharp slap for
a key project of the increasingly integrated bloc.
The British government, which
is battling to persuade a distinctly euro-sceptic public, downplayed
the significance of the crushing failure in Sweden, as its own
"no" campaigners openly crowed.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
lamented the Swedish decision, but insisted he remains confident
the euro - currently shared by 12 EU states - can eventually be
accepted more widely.
"The door was not closed
and the possibility of Sweden adopting the euro in the future
remained intact," he said, while adding that he respected
"the sovereign decision by the Swedish citizens."
In Brussels the European Commission,
the EU's executive arm, also sought to accentuate the positive.
Commission President Romano
Prodi said the Swedish government's failure to convince its people
was due to natural caution. "It didn't succeed due to fear
of the new among public opinion," he told the Italian daily
La Repubblica.
In London the office of British
Prime Minister Tony Blair's declined to comment on the referendum,
in which 56 percent of Swedes rejected the euro while only 42
percent voted "yes" to the single currency.
But the Foreign Office sought
to shrug it off.
"The Sweden referendum
doesn't affect the position of the United Kingdom because our
position is very clear that the national economic interests would
be the determining factor," said a spokesman.
The decisive Swedish "no"
vote does not augur well for hopes of convincing other European
Union members still outside the euro zone -- notably Britain --
to accept the currency which has been legal tender in 12 states
since 2002.
Sweden is the first country
to reject the euro since the single currency went into circulation
as note and coins in January 2002, and the result is expected
to have major repercussions elsewhere in Europe.
Britain, Sweden and Denmark
are the only members of the European Union who have not joined
the euro zone. The British public remains largely hostile to adopting
the single currency.
Danish Prime Minister Anders
Fogh Rasmussen, who aims to lead his country into the eurozone,
said the Swedish vote had "no bearing on our attitude towards
the single currency."
But this may be wishful thinking,
as even members of Rasmussen's government indicated before Sunday's
vote that a "no" would make their job of winning a euro
referendum more difficult.
There was no immediate official
reaction in Paris, but French former minister for European affairs
Pierre Moscovici said Sweden's rejection of the euro was "foreseeable"
given the country's tradition of independence.
Leading French euro-sceptic
Philippe de Villiers said meanwhile that the Swedish vote "signals
the failure of euroland" and "is probably a historic
turning point."
But Britain's eurosceptics
were among the first to hail the Swedish "no" vote,
which was bigger than expected despite an anticipated sympathy
vote boost following the murder of pro-euro foreign minister Anna
Lindh.
"(The result) highlights
the huge difficulty that the government would have winning a vote
in Britain, where opposition is even higher," said George
Eustice, director of the "no" campaign against British
membership of the euro.
On the first financial reaction
to Sunday's referendum, the Swedish krona weakened in early Singapore
trading on Monday in one of the first financial market reactions
to the Swedish vote, dealers said.
EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner
Pedro Solbes sought to rebuff suggestions that the Swedish slap
might adversely hit the euro. "We must not forget that the
euro is the world's second currency," he said.
In Asia, dealers said
Sweden's no vote had little impact on the European currency. By
0450 GMT the euro was trading at 1.1272, compared with 1.1288
in New York and 1.1187 in Tokyo late Friday.
