Swede as a nut, Don't be a turnip, Tony ... follow the Swedes, Love child rumor about Lindh.

TheSun ^ | 09/15/03 | GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON

[Pikamax]

Swede as a nut

We won ... Swedes celebrate last night

By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON
Deputy Political Editor
and MICHAEL LEA in Stockholm

RELATED STORIES

• Sun Says

VIKING voters last night gave the euro a giant
V-sign in a national referendum.

Swedes stood up to EU bosses, their own government and business chiefs to say No overwhelmingly to the single currency.

The “Nej” vote was huge despite a late wave of sympathy for pro-euro foreign minister Anna Lindh, murdered in Stockholm last week.

And it dealt a severe blow to Tony Blair’s dream of persuading Britain to dump the Pound for the euro.

With all the votes counted, Swedes had split 56.1 per cent to 41.8 per cent in favour of keeping their own krona currency.

The result of the vote, which saw an 81.2 per cent turnout among the seven million voters, was close to forecasts before Ms Lindh’s shock stabbing in a city store.

It was greeted with scenes of wild joy among No campaigners and sent shockwaves round the eurozone.

The vote was also hailed as a victory by the anti-euro camp in Britain, who said Mr Blair should now “shelve all plans” for a referendum here.

Millions were pumped into a pro-euro propaganda war chest in Sweden to convince the public to vote “Ja”.

Nej nej wink wink ... gorgeous Swedish sisters Margunn, 22, and Helen Liknes, 21, campaign for a No to the euro  

MPs, newspapers and bullying business chiefs claimed Sweden simply had to join the single currency. But patriotic voters were unswayed.

They REJECTED membership which would have forced them to accept a one-size-fits-all interest rate.

And they REFUSED to hand economic control to the European Central Bank.

In Stockholm, sisters Margunn and Helen Liknes, 22 and 21, said: “We are proud of our nationality and do not want to see it taken away.”

Maud Hedman, 38, said: “I voted No. European Monetary Union won’t hold up. We already see big countries like Germany and France can’t handle their memberships.”

The “No” campaign had led the polls since April and before Ms Lindh’s murder held a lead of up to 15 per cent — the margin of the final vote.

The historic decision came three years after Sweden’s neighbour Denmark rejected the euro by 53-47 per cent in its own referendum.

Dejected Swedish PM Goran Persson admitted: “This reveals a profound scepticism with the European project.” Leading political figure Dengt Westerberg said: “The ‘Yes’ side had all the money and all the newspapers and still could not win.”

In the UK, shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said: “Blair’s euro campaign is now severely damaged. No-one can argue any more that the euro is inevitable.”

George Eustice, of the No campaign against British entry, said: “The only two countries to be given a vote on the euro have rejected it. People in Sweden can see the problems in the eurozone.”

• THE

tiny Baltic nation of Estonia, a former Soviet republic of 1.4million, voted 66.9 per cent to 33.1 per cent yesterday in favour of joining the European Union.

Anna suspact caught
on shop camera

In the frame ... suspect on store CCTV

POLICE hunting the killer of Anna Lindh yesterday released a grainy CCTV picture of a man they are “very anxious” to quiz.

The suspect, shown right, in a baseball cap and grey hooded top was filmed in the shop where Ms Lindh was stabbed.

Swedish detectives are also analysing the bloody knife and camouflage jacket thrown aside by the attacker.

The picture was released as speculation mounted that Ms Lindh, 46, was the love child of ex-Swedish PM Olof Palme, who was himself assassinated in 1986.

Love child rumour ... murdered PM Olof Palme with Ms Lindh

Ms Lindh had been aware of rumours but two years ago said: “I can guarantee that they are totally false. It is absurd.”

Her mother Nancy was working in the kitchens at the Social Democratic Party’s HQ at the same time Mr Palme was a young activist.

Ms Lindh’s post mortem is likely to include a DNA test which should prove whether the claims are true.

Don't be a turnip, Tony ... follow the Swedes

By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON
Deputy Political Editor

THE Swedes are no turnips.

Last night, 56.3 per cent rejected the euro in the country’s referendum, with only 41.8 per cent voting in favour of adopting the currency.

The snub will send shockwaves through the European Union.

But more importantly, their No vote should send Tony Blair a crystal-clear warning Britain would do the same.

Warning ... for Tony Blair

The Swedes soberly divorced the importance of yesterday’s referendum from the murder of their pro-euro foreign minister Anna Lindh.

Opponents of the euro vastly outweighed its fans in the run-up to the poll but Mrs Lindh’s horrific killing seemed to change the outlook.

Many feared a wave of public sympathy would wash over the nation and there were fears Sweden would ditch the krona out of respect for her.

But they stuck to their guns and last night declared they have no intention of surrendering control of their economy.

This is a blunt warning for the Prime Minister and he would be well advised to heed it.

When it comes to the crunch, savvy British voters will focus on what is at stake by ditching the Pound — not on some vague promise of winning “influence” at the EU.

Which would Britain rather have — control or influence? Mr Blair would have a much harder job persuading a majority here to scrap the Pound in a referendum.

Sweden has long been more supportive of the EU and the euro than the UK.

Support for ditching the krona has never dropped below 30 per cent there and 57 per cent were in favour when the poll was announced last autumn.

Murdered ... Anna Lindh

But in Britain support for scrapping Sterling has rarely topped one third of the voters and a Sun poll last week said fewer than one in five want to join the euro.

Sweden’s Yes campaign outspent their No opponents by as much as seven to one but such spending would be outlawed in Britain.

Yet peppering the country with pro-euro posters and adverts still was not enough to turn the tide.

Tough political laws here forbid any side in a referendum from spending more than £5million in a campaign, so the Yes campaign wouldn’t have a hope of “buying” the result they want.

Sweden’s captains of industry were in favour of the euro. So, too, were most business leaders and virtually all of the newspapers.

Our PM cannot even rely on any of the above — the CBI are dead against, as are most small and medium-sized firms as well as the biggest-selling newspapers.

Amazingly, the Swedish No campaign was deeply fragmented and couldn’t deliver a powerful, hard-hitting message.

No fewer than 21 different organisations campaigned against membership of the euro yet, despite the lack of unity, the Swedes still said No.

The UK’s No campaign is a well- organised, highly-disciplined organisation but only last week, the pro-euro Britain In Europe’s disastrous campaigning led to its leadership walking the plank.

To put it mildly, the pro-euro crusade here is in tatters.

British voters are every bit as sophisticated as their Swedish counterparts and they know more about the risks of joining the euro.

They understand our best chance of weathering today’s global economic shocks comes from keeping control of our currency, not handing it over to Brussels.

Last night the Swedes sent a very clear message to voters here: It’s OK to stand up to the politicians who think they know best.

---

[Charles Henrickson]

The shirt says:

BLONDES
AGAINST EMU

(European Monetary Union)

[jocon307]

Good for the Swedes, I am very proud of them. Who in their right mind would want to be ruled by those ninnies in Brussels?

[Rudder]

"...was the love child of ex-Swedish PM Olof Palme."

Is this an euphemism for "...her mother got screwed and pregnant?"

[LPStar]

Of course that's what "love child" means - a child born out of wedlock. I have no idea if the rumor is true, but presumably this means that Ms. Lindh's father has never been identified. The tabloid article mentions a DNA test, but if no one involved has asked for such a test, I don't see why it would be done and I suspect it will not be.

[Rudder]

I just found the phrase, "love child" a bit sappy, like the phrase, "sleeping with."

[RippleFire]

Her mother Nancy was working in the kitchens at the Social Democratic Party’s HQ at the same time Mr Palme was a young activist.

Hot times down at the kitchen bump!

[Esther Blume]

She was an ANti-Semite.

[cookcounty]

I thought only gays got married in Sweden