More widely, President George W Bush will be less of an enigma by the time Mr Persson greets him at the EU-US summit in June. It will be up to Sweden to restore faith in the current system and show that it can work in the way that it should. Mr Persson has got that message loud and clear. The former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt said in an interview published yesterday that the EU had achieved very little over the past decade, and criticised its expansion plans. But in the outspoken interview, Mr Schmidt criticised the EU's latest steps aimed at accepting new members.
Polls show far greater support for enlargement.
Public feeling against joining the single currency has hardened since Denmark rejected the euro in September. Analysts say one reason for the anti-euro sentiment is confidence that Sweden has emerged leaner and fitter from a recession and does not want the shelter or the straitjacket of the single currency. Swedes are sensitive to the EU's reputation for secrecy, and paid close attention to a fraud scandal at the European commission's Stockholm office last year.