Pär Nuder: Polls don’t show the real uncertainty

"I don’t think that the polls show the real uncertainty among the voters", Pär Nuder, Swedish Minister for Policy Co-ordination, said in an interview with the English Programme of DW-RADIO. "This is a new issue for them and I think that you will see quite a lot of people that will decide very, very late, so I think that there’s a pretty good chance for the ‘yes side’ to change the situation." The Swedish euro-referendum is to be held next Sunday. Five polls published today all showed the ‘no’ camp widening its lead to between eight and 13 points ahead of those in favour of joining the eurozone.

The Swedish social democrat government has been pushing hard for the country to adopt the euro, despite opposition from parties of both the left and right, and the minister says there are "strong arguments in favour of joining: The eurozone is growing, not least in our region. We can see in front of us in a couple of years from now that the euro will be the currency in the Baltic Sea region." In his opinion it will "harm Swedish business, it will harm Sweden’s ability to have influence in the EU". The reasons for no voters to reject the euro are, as Nuder said on DW-RADIO, not necessarily straightforward: "It is a lot of other things rather than the currency itself. It has to do with a general feeling of uncertainty in their lives."

10 September 2003
182/03

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