Sweden and the euro

Eurozone participation

  19 European Union member states in the eurozone

  7 European Union member states not in ERM II, but obliged to join the eurozone once convergence criteria are met (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden)

  1 European Union member state in ERM II, with an opt-out (Denmark)

  1 European Union member state not in ERM II, with an opt-out (United Kingdom)

  4 non-European Union member states using the euro with a monetary agreement (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City)

  2 non-European Union member states using the euro unilaterally (Kosovo and Montenegro)

Sweden does not currently use the euro as its currency and has no plans to replace the krona in the near future. Sweden's Treaty of Accession of 1994 made it subject to the Treaty of Maastricht, which obliges states to join the eurozone once they meet the necessary conditions. Sweden maintains that joining the ERM II (a requirement for euro adoption) is voluntary, and has chosen to remain outside pending public approval by a referendum, thereby intentionally avoiding the fulfilment of the adoption requirements.

Status

EUR-SEK exchange rate since 1999

Sweden joined the European Union in 1995. Its Treaty of Accession made it subject to the Treaty of Maastricht, which obliges states to adopt the euro as the country is found to comply with all the convergence criteria. However, one of the requirements for eurozone membership is two years' membership of ERM II, and Sweden has chosen not to join this mechanism, which would peg the Swedish currency to the euro ±2.25%. The SEK floats freely alongside other currencies. Most of Sweden's major parties believe that it would be in the national interest to join, but they have all pledged to abide by the result of the referendum.

The EU has accepted that Sweden is staying outside the eurozone on its own decision. Olli Rehn, the EU commissioner for economic affairs has said that this is up to Swedish people to decide.

Despite this, the euro can be used to pay for goods and services in some places in Sweden. (See below.)

Sweden meets four of five conditions for joining the euro, and membership in the European exchange rate mechanism is the only condition not met by it, as the table below shows in greater detail:

Convergence criteria
Assessment month	Country	HICP inflation rate	Excessive deficit procedure		Exchange rate		Long-term interest rate	Compatibility of legislation
			Budget deficit to GDP	Debt-to-GDP ratio	ERM II member	Change in rate
2012 ECB Report	Reference values	Max. 3.1% (as of 31 Mar 2012)	None open (as of 31 March 2012)		Min. 2 years (as of 31 Mar 2012)	Max. ±15% (for 2011)	Max. 5.80% (as of 31 Mar 2012)	Yes (as of 31 Mar 2012)
			Max. 3.0% (Fiscal year 2011)	Max. 60% (Fiscal year 2011)
	Sweden	1.3%	None		No	5.3%	2.23%	No
			-0.3% (surplus)	38.4%
2013 ECB Report	Reference values	Max. 2.7% (as of 30 Apr 2013)	None open (as of 30 Apr 2013)		Min. 2 years (as of 30 Apr 2013)	Max. ±15% (for 2012)	Max. 5.5% (as of 30 Apr 2013)	Yes (as of 30 Apr 2013)
			Max. 3.0% (Fiscal year 2012)	Max. 60% (Fiscal year 2012)
	Sweden	0.8%	None		No	3.6%	1.59%	Unknown
			0.5%	38.2%
2014 ECB Report	Reference values	Max. 1.7% (as of 30 Apr 2014)	None open (as of 30 Apr 2014)		Min. 2 years (as of 30 Apr 2014)	Max. ±15% (for 2013)	Max. 6.2% (as of 30 Apr 2014)	Yes (as of 30 Apr 2014)
			Max. 3.0% (Fiscal year 2013)	Max. 60% (Fiscal year 2013)
	Sweden	0.3%	None		No	0.6%	2.24%	No
			1.1%	40.6%

  Criterion fulfilled

  Criterion potentially fulfilled: If the budget deficit exceeds the 3% limit, but is "close" to this value (the European Commission has deemed 3.5% to be close by in the past), then the criteria can still potentially be fulfilled if either the deficits in the previous two years are significantly declining towards the 3% limit, or if the excessive deficit is the result of exceptional circumstances which are temporary in nature (i.e. one-off expenditures triggered by a significant economic downturn, or by the implementation of economic reforms that are expected to deliver a significant positive impact on the government's future fiscal budgets). However, even if such "special circumstances" are found to exist, additional criteria must also be met to comply with the fiscal budget criterion. Additionally, if the debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 60% but is "sufficiently diminishing and approaching the reference value at a satisfactory pace" it can be deemed to be in compliance.

  Criterion not fulfilled

Notes

History

Early monetary unions in Sweden (1873–1914)

All Telia payphones in Sweden accepted euros

On 5 May 1873 Denmark with Sweden fixed their currencies against gold and formed the Scandinavian Monetary Union. Prior to this date Sweden used Swedish riksdaler. In 1875 Norway joined this union. An equal valued krona of the monetary union replaced the three legacy currencies at the rate of 1 krona = ½ Danish rigsdaler = ¼ Norwegian speciedaler = 1 Swedish riksdaler. The new currency (krona) became a legal tender and was accepted in all three countries – Denmark, Sweden and Norway. This monetary union lasted until 1914, when it was brought to an end by World War I. As of 2014, the names of the currencies in each country have remained unchanged ("krona" in Sweden, "krone" in Norway and Denmark).

Joining the European Union

The Swedish European Union membership referendum of 1994 approved—with a 52% majority—the Accession Treaty and in 1995 Sweden joined the EU. According to the treaty Sweden is obliged to adopt the euro once it meets convergence criteria.

2003 referendum

Main article: Swedish euro referendum, 2003

A referendum held in September 2003 saw 55.9 percent vote against membership of the eurozone. As a consequence, Sweden decided in 2003 not to adopt the euro for the time being. If they had voted in favour, Sweden would have adopted the euro on 1 January 2006.

A majority of voters in Stockholm County voted in favour of adopting the euro (54.7% "yes", 43.2% "no"). In Skåne County the people voting "yes" (49.3%) outnumbered the people voting "no" (48.5%), although the invalid and blank votes resulted in no majority for either option. In all other polls in Sweden, the majority voted no.

Usage today

IKEA in Haparanda, the base for the shopping center which attracts many Finns.

Haparanda

Höganäs

Helsingborg

Malmö

Pajala

Övertorneå

Sollentuna

Stockholm

Cities and municipalities discussed in this section.

Shop in Stockholm that accepts euros, in the tourist district. Signs like this one are not so common in Stockholm.

This ATM gives out both euros and kronor.

Many stores, hotels and restaurants accept euros. This is especially common in some border cities. Shops especially oriented towards foreign tourists are more likely to accept foreign currencies (such as the euro) than other shops.

Municipalities

Official currency status

Matters such as official currency status and legal tender issues are decided by the Swedish parliament, and the euro is not an official currency of any part of Sweden. Nevertheless, politicians from some municipalities (see below) have claimed that the euro is an official currency of their municipalities. This means that the municipality has made an agreement with many shops that they should accept euros (in cash and credit cards). However this is not mandatory for the stores and the status as "official currency" is mostly a marketing device rather than a legal mandate.

Haparanda

The only Swedish city near the eurozone is Haparanda, where almost all stores accept euros as cash and often display prices in euros. Haparanda has become an important shopping city with the establishment of IKEA and other stores. 200,000 Finns live within 150 km distance.

Some municipalities, especially Haparanda, wanted to have the euro as a legally official currency, and, for example, contract salaries in euros to employees from Finland. However, this is illegal due to tax laws and salary rules. (The actual payment can be in euro, handled by the bank, but the salary contract and the tax documentation must be in kronor).

Haparanda's budget is presented in both currencies. Haparanda has a close cooperation with the neighbour city of Tornio, Finland.

Höganäs

The town of Höganäs claimed itself to having adopted the euro for shops on 1 January 2009. From that date, all residents can use either kronor or euro in restaurants and shops, as well as in payments of rent and bills. Dual pricing is used at many places and ATMs dispense either currency without additional charge (the latter is law all over Sweden). Around 60 percent of stores in the town are reported to have signed up to the scheme and local banks have developed guidelines to accept euro deposits. This decision was approved and agreed by municipality of Höganäs. Höganäs has developed a special euro logo for the city. It is not a law in Höganäs, just a recommendation. This has been a rather successful PR coup, with good coverage in news papers, and it has been mentioned also in foreign newspapers.

Helsingborg and Malmö

Some shops accept euros, and price tags in euros exist in some tourist oriented shops, as in more cities in Sweden. Acceptance of and price tags in Danish kroner are probably more common.

Pajala and Övertorneå

The Pajala and Övertorneå municipalities have borders to Finland (and thus to the eurozone). The euro is often accepted in shops and sometimes shown on price tags, but there is no official adoption of the euro from the municipality point of view. However, there was a political proposal to officially adopt the euro in Pajala.

Sollentuna

There was a political proposal in June 2009 from a party in the Sollentuna Municipality, that the municipality should adopt the euro as its parallel currency in 2010.

Stockholm

Stockholm is the most important tourist city in Sweden, measured as the number of nights spent by tourists. Some tourist-oriented shops accept euros, although there is no official policy from the municipality. Taxi services in Stockholm can be paid in euros. In 2009 there was a rejected political proposal to officially introduce the euro in Stockholm.

Cash machines

Some cash machines may dispense foreign currency. Usually the euro is the foreign currency dispensed, but sometimes British pounds, US dollars, Danish kroner or Norwegian kroner are dispensed instead. All of these cash machines also dispense Swedish kronor. Most of these cash machines are located in major cities, international airports and border areas.

Presence of the euro in Swedish law and bank system

The euro is present in some elements of Swedish law, based on EU directives. For example, an EU directive states that all transactions in euros inside the EU shall have the same fees as euro transactions within the country concerned. The Swedish government has made an amendment which states that the directive also applies to krona-based transactions. This means, for example, that euros can be withdrawn without fees from Swedish banks at any ATM in the eurozone, and that krona- and euro-based transfers to bank accounts in the European Economic Area can be done over the internet without a sending fee. The receiving banks can still sometimes charge a fee for receiving the payment, though, although the same EU directive typically makes this impossible for euro-based transfers to eurozone countries. This is different from, for example, Denmark where banks are required to set the price for international euro transactions within the EEA to the same price as for domestic Danish euro transactions (which does not have to be the same as the price for domestic Danish krone transactions). However, banks in Sweden still decide the exchange rate, and so are able to continue charging a small percentage for exchanging between kronor and euros when using card payments.

It is also now possible for limited companies (companies limited by shares) to have their accounts and share capital denominated in euros.

Plans

Most major political parties in Sweden, including the formerly governing coalition Alliance for Sweden (except the Center Party), which won the 2006 election and the governing Social Democratic party, are in principle in favour of introducing the euro.

Tommy Waidelich, then economic spokesperson for the Social Democratic Party, ruled out Swedish eurozone membership for the foreseeable future in August 2011.

The newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet claimed on 26 November 2007 (a few days after the former Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, had announced plans to hold another referendum on abolishing Denmark's opt-outs including the opt-out from the euro) that the question of another euro referendum would be one of the central issues of the 2010 election in Sweden. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt stated in December 2007 that when more neighbours use the euro, it will be more visible that Sweden does not.

Swedish politician Olle Schmidt in an interview with journalists from the European Parliament 2008 when asked when Sweden will have good reasons to adopt the euro, he said "When the Baltic countries join the euro, the whole Baltic Sea will be surrounded by euro coins. Then the resistance will drop. I hope for a referendum in Sweden in 2010."

The social democratic party leader Mona Sahlin at the time has 2008 stated that a new referendum will not occur in the period 2010–2013, because the 2003 referendum still counts.

2009 European elections

"Ja till euron" slogan. Yes to the euro. Part of the 2009 European Parliament election campaign.

During the election campaign for the European Parliament elections, Liberal People's Party and Christian Democrats expressed interest in holding a second referendum on euro adoption. However, the Moderate Party and Centre Party thought that the time was ill-chosen.

Economic research

A 2009 economic study from J. James Reade (Oxford) and Ulrich Volz (German Development Institute) on the possible entry of Sweden in the eurozone has found that it would be likely to have a positive effect. The study of the evolution of the Swedish money market rates shows that they closely follow the euro rates, even during times of economic crisis. This shows that Sweden would not lose in terms of monetary policy autonomy, as the Swedish Central Bank already closely follows the rates set by the European Central Bank. When adopting the euro, Sweden would swap this autonomy on paper for a real influence on the European monetary policy thanks to the gaining of a seat in the ECB's governing council. Overall, the study concludes that "staying outside of the eurozone implies forgone benefits that Sweden, a small open economy with a sizable and internationally exposed financial sector, would enjoy from adopting an international currency."

Opinion polls

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt stated in December 2007 that there will be no referendum until there is stable support in the polls. The polls have generally showed stable support for the "no" alternative, except some polls in 2009 showing a support for "yes". Since 2010 the polls showed strong support for "no".

Results

Polls on the question whether Sweden should abolish the krona and join the euro are regularly carried out, usually by the state statistics agency Statistics Sweden (SCB). The results are always published in the press or online.

Date (survey taken)	Date (when published)	YES	NO	Unsure	Number of participants	Held by
May 2004	18 June 2004	37.8%	50.9%	11.3%	7,046	SCB
November 2004	15 December 2004	37.3%	48.6%	14.3%	6,919	SCB
May 2005	21 June 2005	39.4%	46.4%	14.2%	6,985	SCB
November 2005	20 December 2005	36.1%	49.4%	14.5%	6,980	SCB
May 2006	20 June 2006	38.1%	48.7%	13.2%	6,870	SCB
November 2006	19 December 2006	34.7%	51.5%	13.8%	7,012	SCB
	24 March 2007	37%	60%	3%		Skop
May 2007	19 June 2007	33.3%	53.8%	13%	6,932	SCB
November 2007	18 December 2007	35.0%	50.8%	14.2%	6,922	SCB
May 2008	17 June 2008	34.6%	51.7%	13.7%	6,817	SCB
November 2008	16 December 2008	37.5%	47.5%	15%	6,687	SCB
	December 2008	44%	48%	7%	1,006	SCB
	1 March 2009	45%	51%	4%		Skop
	19 April 2009	47%	45%	8%		Sifo
	12 May 2009	51%	49%	0%	1,000	Novus Opinion
	25 May 2009	47%	44%	9%	1,000	Novus Opinion
May 2009	23 June 2009	42.1%	42.9%	15.1%	6,506	SCB
November 2009	15 December 2009	43.8%	42.0%	14.2%	6,398	SCB
	9 April 2010	37%	55%	8%	1,004	Demoskop
May 2010	15 June 2010	27.8%	60%	12.2%	6,135	SCB
November 2010	14 December 2010	28.9%	58.2%	12.9%	6,192	SCB
May 2011	15 June 2011	24.1%	63.7%	12.2%	6,147	SCB
November 2011	13 December 2011	11.2%	80.4%	8.4%	5,907	SCB
May 2012	11 June 2012	13.6%	77.7%	8.7%	5,473	SCB
November 2012	12 December 2012	9.6%	82.3%	8.0%	5,479	SCB
May 2013	11 June 2013	10.9%	81.4%	7.7%	5,098	SCB
November 2013	11 December 2013	12.6%	78.3%	9.2%	5,267	SCB
May 2014	10 June 2014	13.1%	77.4%	9.6%	4,757	SCB
June 2014	July 2014	19%	77%	4%		Eurobarometer
November 2014	10 December 2014	13.2%	76.9%	10.0%	5,072	SCB
November 2014	December 2014	23%	73%	4%		Eurobarometer
April 2015	May 2015	32%	66%	2%		Eurobarometer

SCB polling question: If there were to be a referendum on the euro by the end of this month, what would you vote?
Eurobarometer question: Are you for or against: A European Economic and Monetary Union with one single currency - the euro?

Critique of polling questions

How the polling questions are phrased has a major impact on how people respond. The SCB polling question tends to measure if the electorate favor voting yes/no for Sweden to adopt the euro as soon as possible. However, polls conducted by TNS Polska in Poland showed that this question finds a large group of supporters of euro adoption would vote no to adopting the euro as soon as possible, but that a majority of them would vote yes if asked whether or not the state should adopt the euro ten years from now. The Eurobarometer question, however, can also be criticized, as it might measure a too big support when asking if you are for/against the EMU in general (not asking specifically if you are for/against your own state to adopt the euro).

Swedish euro coins

The designs for potential Swedish euro coins are not under consideration. It was reported in the media that when Sweden changed the design of the 1-krona coin in 2001 it was in preparation for the euro. A newer portrait of the king was introduced. The 10-kronor coin already had a similar portrait. This in fact is from a progress report by the Riksbank on possible Swedish entry into the euro, which states that the lead in time for coin changeover could be reduced through using the portrait of King Carl XVI Gustaf introduced on the 1- and 10-kronor coins in 2001 as the national side on Swedish 1- and 2 euro coins.

Only the national bank can manufacture valid coins by the law of Sweden. Some private collection mint companies have produced Swedish euro coins, claiming that they are copies of test coins made by the Riksbank. Swedish euro coins will not be designed or issued for as long as there is no prior referendum approval for euro adoption.

See also

• Economy of Sweden under Economic and Monetary Union and Trade unions
• Enlargement of the eurozone

External links

• Central bank
• Central bank (Swedish)