Talk:Sweden and the euro

EU's acceptance of Swedish exception in article highly biased

The pages statement that "The EU has accepted that Sweden is staying outside the eurozone on its own decision" is higly biased. The EU consists of 511 million people and officially the EU have not gave word for anything along this lines. Olli Rehn is not its president and holds no office in the EU.

The European Commission offical quote on 'Sweden and the euro' is "Sweden joined the European Union in 1995 and has not yet adopted the euro, but in accordance with the Treaty it will do so once it meets the necessary conditions." [1] — Preceding unsigned comment added by CSjoholm (talk • contribs) 12:36, 18 February 2023 (UTC)

Yes, of course the "EU" (whomever it refers to) has not accepted anything in violation of the treaties. But the fact is that the treaties do not oblige a member state to adopt the euro; it obliges a member state to adopt the euro once it fulfills the convergence criteria and the Council adopts a decision about the introduction of the euro in the member state. That is a huge difference. A member state who does not peg its currency to ERM II will never fulfill the convergence criteria and will therefore never be obliged to adopt the euro. This is exactly the Swedish case. --Nablicus (talk) 12:41, 18 February 2023 (UTC)

Untitled

Isn't this page jumping the gun a little? Since there has been no announcement that joing the Euro is even in the new government's policy package, let alone a date for a referendum, let alone how the people of Sweden would vote in such a referendum, I really don't think it's correct to say "the Euro will replace Sweden's national currency". I beleive this page should be deleted. Hammersfan 03/10/06, 16.31 BST

Sweden, in theory, is supposed to join "ultimately". See Eurozone#Sweden. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 17:17, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I realise that, but given the result of the 2003 referendum, and the lack of movement by the govt, is it likely to happen any time soon? I don't think so. Hammersfan 03/10/06, 19.05 BST

Yeah, I wonder about the usefulness for this article. Sweden has no released any official designs for the euro and is unlikely to switch at least for the next five years. Also, the Social Democrats were also in favor of the Euro. I will edit that in. 惑乱 分からん 12:44, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Still, they technically *have* to, and we can collect information about it here -- where else? I've just added some info. —Nightstallion (?) 09:48, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Have I got this straight? Sweden has to join, as soon as they bother fulfilling the convergence criteria, but since Denmark and UK have been members for a longer time, they don't have to? Also, it appears that Sweden's economy generally fulfills the criteria, but the Swedish government has deliberately chosen not to bind themselves to the Euro with a fixed rate? 惑乱 分からん 13:33, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

You got it right. UK and Danmark don't have to, since they were given an exception, otherwise they wouldn't accept the Maastricht treaty. Formally, Sweden "has to" join. The EU council and commission however has accepted that Sweden delays the entrance several years. In the domestic debate, it is quite clear that Sweden delays the process because Sweden doesn't want to have the Euro. There is a political understandning that a date will not be set before next election, 2010. I myself think that a likely date for a referendum could be maybe 2013, a few years after 2010 and ten years after 2003. I live in Sweden and have followed the TV news. I have read hints that Poland "does not want to", and if that happens when the other countries are joining, and Poland fulfills the criteria, EU could put pressure on both Sweden and Poland. - BIL 16:23, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, that was how it seemed. Thanks. Maybe the article could be more clear about it... 惑乱 分からん 16:30, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Factual errors in the text

"It was reported in the media that when Sweden changed the design of the 1-krona coin in 2001, it was a preparation for the euro. That is, some coins would have the King's portrait like the new 1-krona coin."

The 1-crown coin has the King's portrait since 1875, when the 1-crown note was replaced by the 1-crown coin, each coin showing the portrait of the person who happened to be the King of Sweden at the time when the coin was minted. However, the wording above suggests that the King's portrait only has been on the 1-crown coin since 2001.

"Most major political parties in Sweden, including the governing Alliance for Sweden, which won the 2006 election and the former governing Social Democratic party, are in principle in favour of introducing the euro."

This wording suggests that Allians för Sverige/Alliance for Sweden is a single party. However, it's a formation of four parties, and one of these parties, Centerpartiet/the Centre Party, was at least at the time of the referendum against joining the euro, the other three parties being in favour.

"On 24 October 2006, EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia stated that the European Union could theoretically take Sweden to court for not joining the euro despite meeting all the economic criteria, but that such an action would be neither necessary nor desirable currently."

How valid is this? Sweden may be required to join the euro as soon as all criteria are fullfilled, but one of the criteria is that Sweden has to be part of ERM II for at least two years prior to joining, which Sweden isn't required to join. (58.188.97.134 12:01, 7 January 2007 (UTC))

Regarding the wording about the king's portrait I changed the text to "have the King's portrait looking like the new 1-krona coin" --BIL 16:27, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I have read that the EU commission will at least take action if Poland and Czech rep. does the same thing for too long time. These countries don't seem too hot on adopting the currency for now. Then the commission could do the same thing with Sweden. -- BIL 16:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

The "Alliance for Sweden" part needs to be rewritten, using the separate party names. But what is the current opinion of the Centre Party? According to the Centre Party's home page, they are still against adopting the euro, but according to the Centre Party Youth's home page, at least the youth part of the party supports adopting the euro, although they require a second referendum prior to any euro adoption. (58.188.97.134 11:20, 9 January 2007 (UTC))

I'm unsure, it would take up a lot of space... 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 13:36, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

What does the section Process of adopting the euro has in common with the article title Swedish euro coins? It should be excluded from here. For this you can write separate article with corresponding title.--Dima1 (talk) 14:54, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Discussion at United Kingdom Euro Coins

Hi, there's a discussion currently ongoing about the potential renaming or merge/redirecting of this and other articles at Talk:United Kingdom euro coins#Crystal Balls that you may want to look at. I suggest that further discussion remain there. Thanks. Pfainuk talk 12:23, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Sources

Just taking this here as is my normal practice on a second revert of something that isn't straight vandalism. I write this on the assumption that this article will continue per the discussion at the UK article noted above.

The sources provided for today's addition by Dima1 are:

• The Telegraph front page. Not only will this change daily, today's does not contain any of the the words Sweden, Denmark or euro.
• The BBC's Talking Point debate Is membership of the euro inevitable for all EU countries? dated 2002-01-18. I don't see where this comes close to saying what is claimed, and even if it did, people's private opinions are not a reliable source for declaring that the Swedes are more likely to vote yes if the Danes vote yes in 2010. Besides that, these opinions, including all opinion poll data included, are now 6 years old,, taken within three weeks of the introduction of Euro coins and notes, and before Sweden's 2003 referendum in which the Euro was rejected.

Another point is that the text says "Swedens will change their attitude to even more positive towards adopting the euro." (sic). The word "even" here is POV since opinion polls cited in the previous sentence read ~50% against and ~40% in favour. By these results the Swedes are not in favour of membership. This edit may be true in essence, but it requires a much better source - recent and fairly explicit - to back it up and it needs to be made NPOV.

For all these reasons, I am reverting for a second time. Pfainuk talk 18:37, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I have put the wrong link from my clipboard. Here is the proper one. --Dima1 (talk) 18:57, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

OK, I was looking to see if I could find something to back you up as well and that's the best I found. That one is now 7½ years old (written before both previous referendums), but I'm rather more inclined to accept it because it's not an opinion piece and I don't see that this would have changed between times. However, I don't quite see that it implies what you say it does - it says:

The Danish referendum is bound to have an impact on the attitudes of Swedes to the single currency.

And similar things. This, written after the Danish referendum, could also be significant. In principle, I think this is acceptable with reference to the coming referendum for an edit which says something like:

Should Denmark hold a referendum before Sweden, the result of that referendum would certainly have an impact on a future Swedish referendum.

I also suggest you read (and comment on) Talk:United Kingdom euro coins#Crystal Balls, my current proposal for the alteration of the [Country's] euro coins series of articles, which might have some significant impact on this article. Pfainuk talk 19:23, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Payment in euro in Sweden

Why did you remove things that can be bought with euro in Sweden? I have just put few of them and I was planning to extend this list in future. Do you think it is not important? Please, explain the reason. --Dima1 (talk) 10:59, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

I replaced it with the words both krona and euro can be used to pay for many goods and services in Sweden., mostly because this article didn't have a lead before and I was adapting that section into one. I felt that a lead shouldn't have too much detail, and a full list of places that accept euros could turn out to be very long. That's not to say a couple of examples aren't appropriate, but let's not overdo it. Pfainuk talk 12:10, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

OK. If I gather more information about it, I will put it in the content of the article and not into the lead. Thanks for answering so quickly. --Dima1 (talk) 12:32, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

EUR is accepted in some shops in Stockholm, most (all?) of them located in areas where a lot of foreign tourists are likely to hang around. Most other shops don't accept EUR as far as I know. Is this really significant enough to add?

I don't know anything about acceptance in other shops, except for dual (SEK+EUR) acceptance in many shops in the Swedish+Finnish cities of Haparanda, Torneå and Mariehamn. This is similar to the shops along the Swedish-Norwegian border, where both SEK and NOK often are accepted on both sides of the border. (212.247.11.156 (talk) 01:06, 8 January 2009 (UTC))

"Phone automates"

That's a payphone. --194.187.213.95 (talk) 11:29, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I've changed it. --Dima1 (talk) 17:00, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

First sentence

The first sentence has been changed to add mention of the fact that Sweden is obligated to use the euro once the conditions are met. I reverted this to the previous version (which said that Sweden has no plans to join the euro) - and a compromise suggestion was then put in place. My issue is that, while the phrase is technically accurate, it is misleading because Sweden has chosen not to meet the conditions. The situation de facto is much closer to that of Denmark and the UK than it is to that of Estonia (for example).

I don't think we need to have that in there because we explain the situation in detail in the following paragraph. But if it is preferred that this go in the first paragraph, can I suggest that we integrate the first paragraph and the first two sentences of the second. This way we could avoid repeating ourselves and ensure it is clear what Sweden is doing. I can live with the current version, but I think this would be better. Pfainuk talk 22:48, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Copyright violation

I added a "copyvio" template to File:Eurosymp 97 08.gif, used on this page, because the image appears to be taken from the SCB web site, although the uploader claims it to be his or her own work. (Stefan2 (talk) 19:31, 22 April 2009 (UTC))

Ferries

Someone added:

Other places: Double SEK-EUR prices are used on the Viking Line ferries going between Sweden and Finland.

Is this section really useful? International ferries typically accept both the currency of the country of departure and the currency of the country of arrival, so it is obvious that ferries going between Sweden and Finland would accept Finnish euros (and list Finnish prices for all items). Similarly, shops at Swedish international airports tend to accept a lot of different currencies, including the euro. If anything, it could be pointed out that euros are not accepted on the Tallink ferries going between Stockholm and Tallinn, despite the ferries making a short halt at Mariehamn. Besides, this does not only apply to the Viking Line ferries going between Sweden and Finland (as stated in the section), but also to the Silja Line ferries going between Sweden and Finland, and presumably also to the ferries belonging to Ånedinlinjen, Eckerölinjen and other companies providing services between Sweden-Finland and Sweden-Germany. (Stefan2 (talk) 22:52, 23 April 2009 (UTC))

I changed it to "Double SEK-EUR prices are used on all ferries going between Sweden and Finland, and between Sweden and Germany. Also international airports in Sweden use double prices in shops." --BIL (talk) 07:02, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Table in Polls section

Whose idea is to put the "Difference" column into the table? Is it a problem for anyone to calculate the difference of two simple numbers? Moreover the yellow light showed which of three columns gained the majority of votes. Now red and green colours doesn't make any sense. And what does light green and pink colours in the last column mean? I do not see any explanation for marking 9.11, 11.08 SEK, etc. with the light green and 9.16, 11.55 SEK, etc. with the pink colours. When a newcomer looks at this table he understands nothing from it, like I did today. I assume that we need to remove the "Difference" column as unuseful and the benefit of last column is under issue as there is no association between the results of public opinion and the current appreciation of the euro. --Dima1 (talk) 16:13, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

The colour coding in the 'Value of 1 EUR' column represents if the value of the Euro has lowered or raised since the last poll, and shows by light green that a lowered value is favorable, while pink shows that a raised value is unfavorable. I've added a description below the table describing this. KodakYarr (talk) 07:48, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Poll section featuring statistically insignificant/unofficial polls

I want to dispute adding opinion polls which are not statistically significant or official, like the one from the newspaper Aftobladet website, where you can vote an unlimited amount of times. Does any one else feel these statistically insignificant polls should be omitted from Wikipedia? KodakYarr (talk) 08:06, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Makes sense, is there an official Wikipedia ruling about polls? 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 02:29, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Without doubts, polls that are not scientifically done should go – such polls do not provide a picture of the situation, so they say nothing--Melitikus (talk) 08:32, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Official currency

In this article it says that the euro is an official currency in various Swedish municipalities. How accurate is this? As far as I know, official currency status and legal tender issues are decided by the Swedish parliament and not by local municipal assemblies. More likely, the municipal politicians have asked the companies operating in the areas to accept euros, although bearing no legal responsibility to do so, thereby just adopting the currency de facto and not de jure. Similarly, many shops in the border area between Sweden and Norway accept both SEK and NOK (on both sides of the border), but NOK is in no way an official currency in any part of Sweden -- the shops just want to be helpful to their foreign customers. (212.247.11.156 (talk) 22:01, 2 February 2010 (UTC))

I don't really like that it is written "official currency" regarding some municipalities. These municipalities have written "official currency" in press releases, but that is more of a PR thing than a correct usage of the term "official currency". --BIL (talk) 19:19, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

I would like a rewording of some things:

• Instead of wordings such as "The euro is an official currency in this municipality," I would prefer wordings such as "Officials from the municipality have stated that the euro is an official currency in this municipality, but according to Swedish law, the euro isn't an official currency of any part of Sweden."
• According to the map, the euro is an official currency of Haparanda Municipality. Has any official from Haparanda made any statement similar to those from Höganäs or Sollentuna? If not, I would prefer to display Haparanda in a different colour. Foreign currencies are commonly accepted in border areas, but that doesn't automatically make them official currencies of any municipality.
• The map uses the description "Municipalities where euro can be often met" for some municipalities. What are the criteria for using this description? There are two sources given, but none of them has anything to do with this matter. Only some of the municipalities are mentioned elsewhere in this article.
• The article states that "Price tags in euros exist in Helsingborg and Malmö." Right, price tags in euros probably exist in most municipalities, although usually only in tourist-oriented shops. Do price tags exist outside tourist-oriented shops? If not, I would go for deleting the whole section.
• Is the section about ferries really useful? Normally, international ferries accept the currencies of both the country of departure and the country of arrival, so there is nothing exceptional about this. (212.247.11.156 (talk) 09:32, 12 February 2010 (UTC))

I have done some cleaning up now:

• I deleted the map, since it was badly sourced and unclear. Many sources were listed, but few had anything to do with the things presented on the map.
• Added a section on official currency status, and changed the wording in some sections with regard to this.
• The part about the ferries was deleted. The information was in no way exceptional: that is the the way it works on international ferries in all parts of the world.
• Some and tags were added at places where I couldn't fix the problems myself.
• Some other minor things were also changed. (212.247.11.156 (talk) 09:35, 16 February 2010 (UTC))

"[…] According to previous polls was likely to be the prime minister of Sweden […]"

"The social democratic party leader Mona Sahlin, who according to previous polls was likely to be the prime minister of Sweden in 2010 […]"

That sentence looks rather biased to me, and actually sounds more like the personal opinion of the writer than anything else (seeing how it was added in 2008!). Perhaps a rewrite would be in order? 94.254.114.40 (talk) 09:16, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

"...latest opinion polls showing a majority in favour of adopting the euro..."

"latest opinion polls" and "recent months" is too journalistic - and already, it would seem from the polls cited, out-of-date — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mens Sana (talk • contribs) 18:21, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

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Denmark

Denmark is grey on this map. That is wrong. Denmark use a semi-€uro and should be half blue. They maintain their own papermoney and coins and currency but it is fixed to the €uro.

Since EU nations without €uro are yellow and EU nations are blue Denmark shoulde be blue and yellow with mostly blue. The danish option would be a possible solution for Sweden and Norway, even if a better solution for these people obviously is to join the European Union and the €urozone fully as soon as they can. CS 13:46, 1 February 2024 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by CSjoholm (talk • contribs)