Swedish single currency push ‘wasted almost EUR 90m’

Exclusive by Peter Chapman

Date: 11/12/03

SWEDISH captains of industry wasted nearly €90 million on their failed attempt to persuade voters to ditch the kronor and adopt the euro, it was claimed this week.

Senior Stockholm sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told European Voice this was the total bill for members of the country's Confederation of Swedish Enterprise in the six-month campaign leading up to the 14 September referendum.

They said the Swedish business body doled-out 500 million Swedish kronor (SEK), euro or 56m, towards the so-called Sweden in Europe campaign, which, for example, paid young students to distribute pro-euro leaflets. Insiders added that this overshot its budget by 10%.

Moreover, they say, the confederation also devoted most of its resources to the euro battle for the six months prior to the referendum.

That "most certainly" amounts to a value of some SEK300m (33.6m euro), assuming that accounted for just under half the estimated SEK700m (78.5m euro) budget.

"So in other words, if we count conservatively, they spent at least SEK800m", (90m euro), said one source, adding: "That's pretty much for a small country and a small economy.

"It's not surprising that they don't want to name any numbers publicly."

Jan Herin, director of the Confederation's Brussels office said he could not reveal any numbers, adding that his group would decide tomorrow (12 December) whether or not to make the exact figures public.

However, he confirmed the initial SEK500m contribution cited by our sources.

Herin said this came from a special SEK10 billion 'disaster fund' normally set aside in the event of a "labour conflict".

The Swedish business fraternity spent almost €90 million on their failed attempt to persuade voters to accept the single currency.