STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson Sunday said his country's vote on whether to adopt the euro decided against the pan-European currency.
Persson told Europa TV that the polling had produced a "clear" result which would be "easy to respect" even though he wished it had gone the other way.
The BBC reported Persson said a "very high" turnout sealed the fate of the controversial issue.
"I hide nothing in telling you that I had hoped for something else," Persson said. "I assess that in the long term this will mean that we will have poorer opportunities than we otherwise would have had."
The Swedish people, he said, were informed of this and many still chose to vote against the euro.
"We will respect that and take responsibility for it," Persson said.
The vote reflected "deep skepticism about the entire EMU project among the Swedish people," he said, partly because the economy is doing better than the Eurozone's.
