 "No" campaigners were jubilant at news |
Sweden's papers pick over the results of Sunday's euro referendum, with one highlighting the problems now facing the country's prime minister.
Other European papers place the result, where 56% of voters said "no" to joining the single currency, within the context of the murder of the Foreign Minister Anna Lindh last week.
The size of the No camp's victory is described by one Swedish newspaper - Malmo's Sydsvenska Dagbladet - as "a resounding slap round the head".
The paper attributes the result to the No camp's stable leadership and the Yes camp "fumbling to find a coherent message".
 |  The only reasonable course is a new election  |
It predicts the outcome will have serious consequences for Prime Minister Goran Persson.
"The voters have revolted. The air must be cleared," it says.
"Persson must now take greater notice of the No wing in the Social Democratic Party and in the government's coalition partners, the Party of the Left and the Environment Party, which both supported the No side.
"Is he at all interested in governing on such a basis?" the paper asks.
"The only reasonable course is a new election."
Sweden 'split'
The Stockholm tabloid Aftonbladet urges Sweden to learn from the referendum result by raising the profile of European politics.
It says the outcome "shows that Sweden is split".
"The European issue splits the labour movement and, rather than attempting to resolve it internally through classic labour-movement work such as debates, popular education and majority decisions, the conflict has been perpetuated by referring the question to various referendums," it says.
But the paper also says that "one of the few good points of the referendum campaign" is that support for EU membership seems to be increasing.
It reports that 60% of voters questioned in opinion surveys said they wanted Sweden to continue in the EU.
| Who believes that after yesterday's 'no' Sweden could have another referendum on the euro in the foreseeable future |
Gothenburg broadsheet Goteborgs-Posten feels the next Swedish parliament should decide whether the country should adopt the euro without holding a referendum. "A new parliament should be free to raise the question of the euro again and the parties can make it an issue in the next parliamentary elections," a commentator writes.
"Who believes that after yesterday's 'no' Sweden could have another referendum on the euro in the foreseeable future?"
Stockholm's Svenska Dagbladet headlines its editorial: "No, Europe won't wait for Sweden."
"European integration rolls on with Sweden less involved than it would have been after a 'yes' victory... In Svenska Dagbladet's opinion a new referendum on the euro should be held during the next mandate period," it says.
"Right from the start Svenska Dagbladet has been one of those who would have preferred the question to be resolved by parliament.
"The parties could have sought new mandates for a decision following the parliamentary elections in 1998 or 2002 in ordinary election campaigns.
"Instead the European debate in Sweden has been shelved year after year with reference to a forthcoming referendum."
Anna Lindh
Germany's Berliner Morgenpost says that the referendum took place with Sweden still in shock following the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh.
The paper says the No camp was subdued in its celebrations.
| Swedes did not realise that it is an illusion to believe in the status quo in the age of globalisation |
"We may have won, but at what price?" it reports one campaigner saying.
A commentary in the Frankfurter Rundschau says that first and foremost "Sweden's democracy has passed a test."
"But the governments in Berlin and Paris did not exactly make its easy for the Yes campaigners with their wrangling over the stability pact."
The paper thinks Swedes chose security over risk, as represented by the euro.
"They did not realise," the paper says, "that it is an illusion to believe in the status quo in the age of globalisation."
France's Liberation carries a front-page photo showing three supporters of the No campaign with an expectant look on their faces at the moment when the result was announced.
"Nej! - Yesterday Sweden said 'no' to the euro" is the headline.
Belgium's Le Soir observes that the murder of Anna Lindh failed to tip the result in favour of the Yes campaign.
"There has been no 'Anna Lindh effect' in Sweden like there was a 'Pim Fortuyn effect' in the Netherlands in May 2002," the paper says in a front-page article, recalling that the assassination of the Dutch politician had enabled his party to make major gains in parliamentary elections.
Sweden and Estonia
In Poland, which is to join the EU in 2004, the broadsheet Rzeczpospolita headlines its report: "The krona won against the euro."
A commentary compares the Swedish result with the referendum on joining the EU held in Estonia the same day.
| Most of the continent's inhabitants do not instinctively feel themselves to be Europeans. People only become Europeans when they feel measurable benefits. |
While Estonia voted Yes, the paper says the mood was not as festive as one might have expected of a country returning to a free Europe.
"Estonians fear that EU regulations will stifle the economic dynamism already achieved."
"The Swedes have even more doubts over integration," the paper continues. "They find it hard to understand why they should ditch the krona."
"The leaders of the 15 main countries - especially France and Germany - ought to take to heart the doubts of the Swedes and Estonians," the paper concludes.
"Recently economic woes and a lack of vision in foreign policy have become the EU's most serious weakness... Most of the continent's inhabitants do not instinctively feel themselves to be Europeans."
"People only become Europeans when they feel measurable benefits."
BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
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