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Euro suffers another blow |
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September 30, 2000
COPENHAGEN, SEPT 29 (AP) - The European Union's common currency suffered another blow after voters refused in a referendum to swap their nation's 125-year-old krone for the euro. The Social Democratic-led government had strongly supported adoption of the euro, and regretfully acknowledged defeat. "We didn't do well enough. I'm very disappointed about the result but not about the Danes," Svend Auken, the environment minister and leading member of the Social Democratic Party, said after Thursday's vote. Analysts said arguments that membership in the European Monetary Union would give Denmark more influence in regional fiscal and monetary decisions and improve its already sound economy were unappealing to the average voter. The anti-euro camp said the common currency threatened Denmark's extensive welfare state and would lead to an erosion of sovereignty, as more powers are ceded to EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. "There is a huge skepticism in the population. Now the population has said no again," said Holger K. Nielsen of the anti-euro Socialist People's Party. The final count showed that 53.1 percent opposed adopting the currency, while 46.9 percent favored the switch, following a cliffhanger race as exit polls and pre-vote surveys predicted a dead heat. Turnout among the more than 4 million eligible voters was about 87.5 percent. "The referendum shows that the elected lawmakers are out of touch with what the population wants and needs," said 26-year-old Kim Boesen, one of more than 300 left-wing, anti-euro activists who marched to the parliament square, where they cheered and held speeches while police looked on. No trouble was reported. Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said the defeat signaled a need for "a clear debate with the population." Nyrup Rasmussen said he planned to meet with other party leaders to discuss their next step but he expected no new referendum for a long time. It was the Danes fifth referendum on EU-related issues since 1972, when they voted to join the European Community - which became the European Union - the next year. Despite a reputation as EU skeptics, Danes have only said "no" in one of those plebiscites - in 1992, when they rejected the Maastricht treaty for a common currency and a common defense. A year later, voters approved a revised treaty allowing Danes to stay outside the euro, defense and judicial cooperation. This year's referendum was the government's attempt to remove the common currency opt-out. European leaders sought to put the best face on the referendum defeat and said they didn't expect it to have a negative effect on the euro, which has declined more than 25 percent in value against the dollar since it was introduced by 11 EU members in January 1999. The euro dropped to just below 88 U.S. cents Thursday in late trading but appeared largely stable. "The door will remain open for Denmark," German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said in a statement. "The strengthening of European Union reform is the best way to counter euro-skeptic thinking." The euro took effect in 11 of 15 EU countries in January 1999 for corporate and investment transactions, with coins and bills to be introduced in January 2002. Denmark, Britain and Sweden opted out, while Greece, initially barred from membership because of high inflation and a budget deficit, will join on Jan. 1. EU officials planned to meet Friday in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the currency after the Danish vote and the market intervention by central banking officials in Europe, the United States and Japan to stop its slide against the dollar. Sweden and Britain, whose governments support joining the EMU but also plan to let the public decide, played down the potential impact on their future votes. "I hope that ... people around Europe will perceive this as a purely Danish decision," Sweden's Prime Minister Goeran Persson said. "When we get to our referendum, nobody will be talking about the Danish referendum." The countries that accept the euro are Germany, France, Italy, Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Austria.
On the Net: Danish Foreign Ministry's site: http://www.um.dk/english/ European Union's euro site: http://europa.eu.int/euro/html/entry.html
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