PARIS (MNI) – Sweden will continue to participate in the solution
to the European debt crisis, but membership in the Eurozone remains a
long way off, Finance Minister Anders Borg said in a newspaper interview
published Wednesday.
“Sweden must be at the heart of European cooperation,” Borg told
the French business daily Les Echos, citing the bilateral financial aid
accorded to Iceland, Ireland and Latvia. “Today, no country is seeking
our bilateral support.”
“The mechanism of aid to overcome the crisis must be strengthened,”
he added. “We are proceeding case by case. Sweden’s participation in a
global solution requires broad support from our parliament.”
Sweden is also helping via its efforts to balance its budget and
strengthen its financial institutions, the minister said, noting that a
surplus of around 1% of GDP is expected next year.
“Each country must bring order to its budget policy,” he said.
“This is particularly true for all European countries.”
For the Scandinavian countries, “monetary policy convergence does
not constitute a problem,” Borg argued. While Finland is a member of the
Eurozone and Denmark has linked its exchange rate to the single
currency, Sweden’s Riksbank conducts an independent policy.
Still, the three economies are developing in a similar way, with
sound budget policies, a rapid export-led economic recovery and limited
fallout from the crisis on labor markets, he observed.
“The euro is a good project; it’s good for the economy, for
businesses,” the minister argued. “Over the long term, Sweden’s
membership would be beneficial.”
“But strong political support is needed to go in this direction,”
he said. “The social-democratic opposition would also have to back this
project, since the adoption of the euro will come via a referendum.”
“But today, a large part of the Swedish [electorate] would vote
against the adoption of the euro,” he noted.
–Paris newsroom +331 4271 5540; e-mail: stephen@marketnews.com
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