More Swedes favourable toward the euro: poll

Support for the euro in Sweden is increasing, although a majority of Swedes would still vote to retain the krona if a referendum on the matter were held today, according to a new poll.

Published: 24 November 2008 07:14 CET

The results of a new opinion poll carried out by Synovate and published in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper shows that 44 percent of Swedes are in favour of adopting the euro as Sweden’s currency.

The figure represents an increase of 9 percentage points compared with a similar poll carried out in May by Statistics Sweden.

In Synovate’s survey, 48 percent of respondents said they would vote no to the euro, a reduction of 4 percent since May.

Mikael Gilliam, a political scientist at Gothenburg University, attributed the increase in support for the euro to the weakening of the krona following the financial crisis. But he also thinks that the parties’ work to affect public opinion has played a roll.

“The Alliance presents itself as more friendly toward Europe than the previous government. Besides Mona Sahlin is considered more favourable toward the euro than Göran Persson, he told DN.

It’s been nearly ten years since the euro was introduced in eleven EU countries. In a 2003 referendum, 56 percent of Swedes voted against dropping the krona for the euro, while 42 percent voted in favour of the switch.