Blair Wants to Join Euro

The Independent, an English newspaper, reported on 6th that if Tony Blair wins the general election, as people expected, he will hold a national public debate to discuss about whether they join the Euro or not.

This newspaper said quoting Blair’s advisors that if Prime Minister Blair holds a referendum, he is now more confident to win than when he initially began his campaign.

This paper revealed that Prime Minister Blair is to announce his plan through the speech, he will deliver at the labour union’s annual congress, which will be held from 10th, September. According to the paper, the prime minister wants to hold a referendum in fall of next year, but Secretary of Finance Gordon Brown wants to postpone until 2003.

The Independent reported that Blair understands there exists `wide but shallow` opposition on joining Euro. According to the survey done by the Labour Party (LP), the opposite public opinion seemed to have abated significantly.

However, reports from overseas said that due to the concern on joining the Euro, the value of British pound hit a15-year record low against the dollar dropping to 1.40 dollar. The exchange rate against German Mark also fell down from 3.28 Mark on 4th to 3.22 Mark on 6th.

In the meantime, As the LP’s victory was expected, the general election that selects 659 new members of the Parliament has been held from 7 am to 10 pm on 7th. In this election, 3,294 candidates ran for a seat marking 5 : 1 of average competitiveness rate. It is expected to see the result in the morning on 8th, at the earliest.

The Times, a newspaper in England, reported on 6ht that the final survey before the election showed that the LP took 48 percent of supporting rate, the Conservative Party 30 percent, and the Liberal Democrat 18 percent.

Kwon Ki-Tae kkt@donga.com