International

The Swedish "no" to the replacement of the Kronor by the Euro was hardly unexpected. Euro-scepticism in the Scandinavian countries is widespread, partly because many Nordic people connect the undermining of the social and democratic achievements of the post-war welfare state with the rise of the European superstate, a superstate based on the slogan "more market, less government". Despite the urgent appeal by political and economic leaders, strongly supported by most of the Swedish media and expensive advertising campaigns, a majority of the population was prepared to vote to block the adoption of the euro. "The yes side had the leaders, the media and the money: we had the arguments," was how Gudrun Schymann of the Vänster (Left) Party summed up the events in her country.

NIJMEGEN, the Netherlands, Sept. 17 – Hoping to quell a national outcry over corporate compensation here that has spread to its own supermarkets, the Dutch food retailer Royal Ahold said today that its chairman would resign and that it would overhaul its chief executive’s multimillion-dollar pay package.