Friday, December 14, 2012

More good news for some countries

The euro's popularity has sunk to an all-time low in Sweden. No, that country is not a member of it, having voted against nearly ten years ago but, apparently, surveys of attitude are conducted twice a year and was again last month.
But in Sweden, the euro is on the table twice a year via a survey by the Swedish statistical agency that asks people how they’d vote if a referendum were held “today” on joining the euro. The results of the survey conducted in November just came out. Sobering results: 82.3% would vote against joining the euro, only 9.6% would vote for it, and 8% were betwixt and between. The euro’s descent into utter unpopularity hell set a new record.
Meanwhile, in Iceland
The chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Icelandic parliament, Árni Þór Sigurðsson, told the Icelandic media yesterday that he thought that Iceland's accession to the European Union should be slowed down until after the general elections scheduled in April next year and even put aside.
Sigurðsson is an MP for the Left Green Movement and a senior member of the party which forms the current Icelandic government with the Social Democratic Alliance. The SDA is the only political party in Iceland that favours EU membership.
This is not all. The President of Iceland has told CNN  that letting the banks fail was the right decision and has helped the Icelandic economy enormously.
Now, according to [President] Grimsson, "Iceland is better placed to benefit by maintaining our present position, rather than to let the EU speak on our behalf."
Apparently, he is not too happy about the future of Icelandic fisheries, should that country join the EU. (And well he might be unhappy. As I keep telling my Icelandic friends, quite unnecessarily, just look at what happened to our fishing.)
The 69-year-old president pointed to Norway and Greenland -- two other Arctic economies and non-European Union members -- as role models.
He said he would not hesitate to veto a parliamentary decision to seek EU membership, a promise he told CNN he had based five successful presidential runs on.
What, I wonder, are the chances of Iceland joining the European project?

3 comments:

  1. What, I wonder, are the chances of Iceland joining the European project?

    Miniscule to infinitesimal.

    The reason our preference for the euro is scanned regularly is that our over lord....sorry, politicians do not like that we voted no in 2003 and are waiting for an opportunty to try again. And well may they wait.....

    /Mikgen

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  2. So will they stop having those regular scans now, Mikgen?

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  3. Who knows? The next regular poll will take place in May, but considering the results for the major party in the ruling coalition, the europositive Moderaterna (comme si, comme ça conservatives) maybe this was the last poll:

    http://www.nejtillemu.com/reinfeldt.htm#121279

    Positions re the Euro according to party choice in the latest general election (2010).

    Moderaterna Yes No Don't know Sum Total respondents

    Nov 2010 39.0 46.9 14.1 100 1 828
    May 2011 32.9 54.0 13.1 100 1 828
    Nov 2011 14.2 77.8 8.0 100 1 769
    May 2012 17.9 72.6 9.5 100 1 645
    Nov 2012 12.6 79.4 7.9 100 1 577

    Somehow they don't seem to have their voters in toe.

    But, but....already a few political figures, among them our former PM Goran Persson have told us that sooner or later we will have to join the euro, so there.....and if you don't do as we say, we will thcream, and thcream, and thcream until we are thick!!!

    Though, Mr Persson does not have to do that to attain that (or any of those) state(s).

    (Somehow I doubt they ever read - or had read to them - anything by Richmal Crompton.)

    /Mikgen

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