Dear all,
I was thinking of informing list members that reports in English ahead of the euro-referendum here in Sweden on Sunday are available at Dagens Nyheter's website (www.dn.se and click Euro).
But, as you've probably heard, campaigning has been suspended after yesterday's dreadful attack on the foreign minister, Anna Lindh. The possibility of postponing the referendum has been raised, but that seems unlikely. For one thing, parliament would have to legislate to change the date. For another, it looks as though Lindh will pull through. A five-hour operation was continuing when I went to bed last night, and, I must say, I feared the worst. But this morning her condition is described as critical, but slightly improved. The attacker remains at large, his motive unknown. The only English-language report that I've seen is on the BBC's site (http://news.bbc.co.uk).
What, if anything, this will mean for the referendum outcome is unclear. So is the identity of the next Swedish prime minister. Lindh might just have taken over from Göran Persson some time before the next election, but that now looks highly unlikely. And, of course, 17 years after the murder of Olof Palme, plenty of people are already asking how Sweden's second-most senior politician could have been shopping alone, without a bodyguard, just a few days before an important election.
Best,
Nick Aylott.
