Euroblog - - A Northern Perspec

There is no public debate whatsoever in Sweden on the EU Reform Treaty which presumably will be agreed at the summit meeting this week, baring any desperate maneuvers from the embattled Polish and British Chiefs of Government. To a large extent this is due to a lack of interest as well as information. However, the fact is that leading politicians in all major parties want the Treaty to go ahead without a referendum, knowing very well that their respective electorates would not miss the chance to express their general displeasure with their leaders if they got a chance to vote on this largely symbolic issue. Or whatsoever else.

A very beautiful example of the hypocrisy, astonishingly openly presented, recently came from the leading social democratic Eurosceptic MP Sören Wibe. In an interview (SW. Politikerbloggen) with a news agency he declared that "the overwhelmingly important issue for the party right now is to attack the conservative government and its policy. It's all about who will win the next election. Therefore we have to be quiet and not endanger the majority we seem to have in the opinion polls." Wibe hopes that the Treaty will be stopped through referenda in other countries. "We will mainly have to rely on foreign help. We hope that a referendum in the UK or in Denmark will stop the Treaty."

Archive link

Note: It is not possbile to link to the interview for the moment. This may be corrected later.