Lars Heikensten: The Riksbank and the euro Speech by Mr Lars Heikensten, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at the SEB's EMU seminar, Cirkus, Stockholm, 4 September 2003. *  *  *  Let me begin by thanking the organisers for inviting me to speak at this event. The past few months have certainly been hectic for those of us working at the Riksbank. We are undoubtedly in the eye of the storm and feature almost daily in the EMU debate. Moreover, we are affected more directly and tangibly by the result of the referendum than most people. I can take my own diary as an example; if the result is a “yes” vote, I will be in Frankfurt for a day or two at least every other week, while if the result is a “no”, the visits will be reduced to a few hours four times a year. Given this, the temptation to jump into the debate head first has been strong at times. However, we have decided not to participate in any campaigns. The Riksbank as an institution took a stand in favour of EMU membership in the form of submission responses in both 1994 and 1997. However, the Executive Board has now decided to refrain from taking a stand in connection with the referendum. The personal views of the various members of the Executive Board have nevertheless been known for some time. Five of us are in favour, one against.
When it then became clear that we and the Brits intended to remain on one side, our colleagues quite simply decided to postpone a number of important issues where we had strong views, including the monetary policy framework with inflation targeting, transparency, etc. This also applied to various payment system issues, where our position was weaker on the outside. If we now say “no” to membership, if not for good but at least for the foreseeable future, the situation will worsen further, as I have described already. I think this would be very unfortunate. BIS Review 39/2003