If the UK leaves the EU after its referendum in June, a majority of Swedes would wish their country to follow suit, according to a new opinion poll.
At the moment, 44% of the Swedish voters would like to remain in the bloc, with 32% wanting out.
But should Britain leave the EU after its in/out referendum on 23 June, then these figures would be turned around.
According to a poll published by Sifo on Wednesday (20 April), 36% of the Swedes would in that scenario want to follow the Brits while 32% would want to keep the EU membership.
“If there’s going to be a ‘Brexit’, then this would raise so many questions related to the impact on the EU and the Swedish membership,” said Göran von Sydow, a political scientist and researcher at the Swedish Institute for European Political Studies (SIEPS).
Von Sydow added that the UK is seen as a traditional ally of Sweden in the EU, as both countries are non-eurozone members. A potential Brexit would make an EU membership more difficult and more “lonely” for a non-eurozone countries like Sweden. [...]
Though most of the main parties of the Swedish parliament are pro-EU, making it unlikely that an EU membership referendum would be proposed, the situation could change if Brexit also fundamentally changed the EU itself.
“If the EU is tantamount to being in the eurozone, then maybe we need to consider whether it’s worth remaining or whether we need to seek an alternative,” the Swedish researcher said.
The domino effect
If leaving the EU, however, proves to be a bad decision for the UK, this could deter countries such as Sweden and Denmark from holding similar membership referendums.
Therefore, the EU may be keen to give Britain a bad deal in case of Brexit to prevent a ‘domino effect,’ where more countries, most likely the Nordic countries would reconsider their EU membership.
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