Sweden should hold another referendum on introducing the euro, leading members of the Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) have said. The party’s board is to put the idea to members at next month’s party conference.

The idea of scrapping the krona and replacing it with the euro was last put to the public in 2003. The proposal was rejected by 56.1 per cent of voters.

Among Liberals calling for another referendum is Europe Minister Cecilia Malmström.

“We respect the result of the referendum, of course, but still think that one should be able to argue for something one believes in,” she said.

Asked by a reporter from news agency TT what she made of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s promise that there would be no referendum during the current parliament or possibly the next one, Ms Malmström said:

“I have only heard that it is not on the agenda for this parliament.”

Ms Malmström insisted that a lot had changed since the 2003 referendum, adding that further changes could bring about shifts in public opinion.

“Slovenia has joined, Malta and Cyprus are joining at the beginning of next year. Next year, at least two Baltic countries will join. In 2010-2011 there could be eight or nine new members. The more members there are, the greater the political price of being outside, because we can’t make a difference,” she said.

MsMalmström said that Sweden had lost out economically by not joining the single European currency. She cited a report from the National Board of Trade:

“We have lost 100 billion kronor in exports and the same amount in imports. Our trade with the eurozone would have been 13-14 per cent greater if we had been members.”