September 15, 2003

We were engaged in a

We were engaged in a pretty hostile battle here in Sweden.

Swedish politics are a funny thing. There are a number of political parties, and after the last election, they formed "majority groups", which would allow minority parties to have as equal a say as the ones in power. So the leading majority group is a combination of the following three parties: the social democrats (aka socialists), the left-wing party (which were previously called the Communist party but changed name as they were for a "softer" touch) and the Miljö party (aka the Tree-Huggers). Stranger bed-fellows I have never seen.

Now, it may not make much of a difference to most people, but we were voting on whether or not to take the Euro. Sweden is only one of three countries in the EU-this includes Denmark and England-to not use the Euro. Since we voted no, we will not be re-voting on this issue for another ten years. It looks like England and Sweden will be the holdouts, as the happy-go-lucky Danes will fold and take the Euro.

What does it mean? Well, if we took the Euro, it would have meant:

- a control on inflation (allegedly)
- no longer having to exchange currency every time we leave the damn border
- a likely more stable influence on Swedish businesses
- and this is a big one-an incredibly large hike on the cost of alcohol. This may not seem like a big deal, but alcohol is already fucked-up expensive in Sweden. It is outrageously taxed by the government, and can only be purchased from government run shops called Systembolagets, which have the inconvenient opening hours of Monday - Friday from 0900 to 1600, and some are open a few hours on Saturdays.

When you live in a country that, in the winter, has about 4 hours of daylight time and a warm, balmy temperature of -15, the very last thing you want is for someone to raise the cost of your liquor.

Trust me.

After all, I didn't START drinking until I moved here.

-H.

Posted by Everydaystranger at September 15, 2003 09:06 AM | TrackBack
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