Row over Austria causes anti-Brussels backlash in Scandinavia

Friday 18 February 2000

THE European Union's sanctions against Austria are causing an anti-Brussels backlash in Denmark and Sweden, say their governments, jeopardising their plans for early adoption of the euro.

In Denmark, the long-awaited referendum on Economic and Monetary Union could be put off until after the next parliamentary elections in 2002 because of the row over the affair, said Jacob Butski, spokesman of the ruling Social Democrats.

Until this month it had been assumed that Denmark would vote to join the single currency within the next year, but the latest poll in the daily Berlingske Tidende shows a dramatic shift in opinion with the "yes" and "no" camps running neck and neck at 46 per cent.

Danes are extremely sensitive about heavy-handed actions against small EU states. "Nobody likes [the Rightist Jörg] Haider but that's not the question," said Jens-Peter Bonde, a Danish MEP. "People are nervous about being sucked into a political union that they never agreed to join, one that tells them how to form their own government."

In Sweden, the government is committed to joining the euro, but faces difficulties because a large part of the population favours withdrawal from the EU. There are doubts as to whether Goran Persson, the Prime Minister, will risk holding an EMU referendum before the end of next year. He says that the unpopular attack on Austria "has not helped".

In a further sign that Europe is not united in its view of how to deal with Austria, it emerged yesterday that the European Commission has invited President Thomas Klestil of Austria for an official visit.

The visit has no bearing on the day-to-day dealings of the commission and is clearly designed for its symbolic effect, but is viewed in Vienna as a step towards diplomatic rehabilitation.