September 14, 2003

IN A MAJOR DEFEAT TO TRANSNATIONAL BUREAUCRACY, Sweden has decisively rejected the Euro.

UPDATE: David Carr writes:

On any reading this is a blow for the EU project and the coming weeks will see a deluge of federast seething, threatening and whining. . . . I quite like the idea of a 'Euro-Watch' sweepstake: who will be the first to bail out of the Euro?

For the record, my money (sterling!) is on the French. The Germans will stick with it because they have always had an emotional investment in the European project. It enables them to be 'Europeans' and thus serves to expiate their guilt about being German. They will endure a lot more economic pain before they begin to think the unthinkable.

But not the French. For them, the EU has always been about advancing their national interests.

Maybe some other people are figuring that out.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Polipundit points out that five out of six Swedes in this BBC on-the-street interview supported the Euro. He suspects bias. At the BBC?