Weak Euro hits Danish currency referendum

Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen: Worried the No campaign will win

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- The fall in the value of the Euro has been blamed for three separate polls indicating Danes will vote "No" to joining the single currency in this month's referendum.

The Euro has fallen on the international currency markets to all time lows this month. It hit $0.861 against the dollar on Thursday, and has lost more than 25 percent of its value since its launch in January 1999.

Three different polls indicated that the No campaign in Denmark has moved ahead of the "Yes" camp by up to as much as 9 percent.

The Danes, the first country to have a referendum purely on joining the euro, vote on September 28.

Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen put the chances of Denmark voting "Yes" to the euro at no better than 50-50, in Friday's edition of the financial daily Financial Times newspaper.

"I am worried," he said. "We are going to have to work as hard as we can the next 14 days until the very last hour. It's the undecided who will determine the outcome."

He said the "Yes" campaign had encountered "all the conceivable stones on the road" in the run up to the referendum but he did not blame any one obstacle.

An opinion poll, published in Friday's edition of the financial daily Borsen, found 49 percent opposed the euro membership compared with 44 percent in favour, the Ritzau news agency said.

One-third of respondents said the euro's recent depreciation had a clearly negative influence on their views. The findings were backed by a Magafon opinion poll shown on national TV2 television, also on Friday, which found 49 percent were opposed to euro membership compared with 40 percent in favour.

The previous Megafon poll released on September 1 gave those opposed to Denmark adopting the euro a one point lead, 44 per cent against 43 per cent. A fresh Vilstrup opinion poll released on Thursday on the Internet Web site of the daily newspaper Politiken, gave the anti-euro "No" camp 44 percent while the pro-euro "Yes" side scored 40 percent.

In the previous daily Vilstrup poll on Wednesday, supporters led opponents by 43 percent to 40 percent.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Danish Parliament
Borsen online
Politiken online
Guide Denmark - politics
TV2 television

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