New Swedish Conservative Finance Minister Borg: "No euro membership for Sweden"

www.thelocal.se ^ | 10/10/2006 | TT/The Local

[WesternCulture]

Borg: No euro membership for Sweden

Sweden's new finance minister Anders Borg has said that Sweden will not join the euro in the foreseeable future.

Borg made set out his position on the single European currency as he attended his first meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg.

"I will say that we are prioritizing employment and making it profitable to work," Borg told journalists on his way into the meeting.

Borg said he would also tell his European counterparts that the new Swedish government will concentrate on keeping the state finances in good order.

Sweden rejected adopting the euro in a referendum in September 2003. Borg's Moderate Party, together with the then-ruling Social Democrats, had campaigned for a Yes vote.

TT/The Local

[WesternCulture]

As the swedish voters said no to The Euro in a referendum recently, I agree we should wait for some more years before introducing The Euro, or launching a new referendum.

This standpoint isn't a very odd one, even if you indeed are a believer in a single european currency, like both I and (probably) Mr Borg are. The whole thing is about respecting democracy.

What IS notable, on the other hand, is that Mr Borg, the Finance Minister of the country and not the Prime Minister, Mr Reinfeldt, makes this kind of statement.

What do I make of it?

Given the background of Mr Bildt's (Foreign Minister of Sweden and a conservative as well) words of yesterday concerning action against North Korea, I get the impression that the Ministers of the newly elected Swedish Conservative-Liberal-Center-Christian Democratic government are given pretty free reins by the Prime Minister, Mr Reinfeldt.

Perhaps we will soon hear other Ministers signaling drastic reforms in areas like education, law enforcement, health care and other fields of swedish society.

[Alia]

This is great news out of Sweden.

[Uncle Vlad]

This is fantastic news out of Sweden!

[Just mythoughts]

What will France do? Seems like they have put all their eggs in the Euro basket.

[Vaquero]

Resistance is futile.......

[MDspinboyredux]

Borg: "You all WON'T be assimilated??"

[Alia]

As I recall, Sweden was one of the first countries to cut off "charitable" funding which actually went to the militant Palestinian Orgs (or was it AQ?). Yes, this is fantastic news. Sweden moving to a free market economy will do great things for the citizens of Sweden, and of course, Sweden's GDP.

[Uncle Vlad]

LOL!

[ScaniaBoy]

#1 Good news - the euro is a bad idea, and probably worse for us Swedes than many others, not least because of Volvo and all other multi national export firms in the Gothenburg area. The world is bigger than the EU - much bigger!

OK - that was said tongue in cheek, but there is a long list of economical and political reasons why it would have been very bad for us if we had joined the Euro area. In this, as in so many other things, the simple voters had much better instincts than the so called political élite.

#2 I don't know what Mr Borg's feeling of the Euro is these days. He was one of the main forces behind the "new moderates". Maybe he has changed his ideas about the common currency as well.

#3 There is reason to fear that Mr Reinfeldt is a weak leader, and especially with Mr Bildt in the government he will have difficulty maintaining his authority.

However, in this case I think one has to understand one all important fact: Sweden is a member of the EU. That means that the various ministers time and time again have meetings with their counterparts in the other EU countries.

Before every such meeting it is up to the ministers to state their (the Government's) position on the matters at hand. This does weaken the position of the PM who cannot take part in all these meetings; something that is neither unnoticed, nor unwanted by the EUcrats in Brussels. One could even say that that is exactly what they are aiming for.

[ikka]

Seden has a very clever exemption.

Before they can use the Euro, they have to set up a transition plan and financial mechanisms; in the meantime they can continue to use their old currency. By simply never setting a transition plan in motion, they can continue to use their own currency and still be part of the EU as long as they like.

[WesternCulture]

I think that a single, intimately integrated market ought to benefit from a single currency.

What would the US economy look like with 50 different currencies?

On the other hand, it's possible to carry out the introduction of such a currency in a competent way as well as in a disastrous way. It all depends on the skill of the politicians and the people in charge of the ECB.

In my opinion, The basic idea of a single european currency is in accordance with reality and with common sense. What benefits Europe as a whole will benefit the individual member states.

[Lazamataz]

New Swedish Conservative Finance Minister Borg:

[Lazamataz]

I hate you.

[michigander]

I hate Hugh.