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Carlsson:
Some people have been blaming our problems on the European Union. I would say this is not true. I mean, we have to blame ourselves. We became members of the European Union in January 1995, and the problems in the Swedish economy were there at least four or five years before that. Without going into that, it's of course a historical step to become a member of the European Union. It puts us into a completely new situation. But broadly speaking, I think that was necessary in Sweden because it's not possible to solve a number of important issues only on a national level. For instance, the environment: environmental problems are coming in with the winds, they are coming in with the rivers and the sea. Europe needs a common strategy against environment pollution. But we also need a common strategy against unemployment. Nearly 20 million people are unemployed today.
Toro:
How does joining the European Union help you address those questions?
Carlsson:
We can work together with the other countries. If we say we want to improve the environment, how well can we do that ourselves? It won't help our lakes, because some of the acidification comes with the winds. When it comes to unemployment--if one country tries to have a more expansionist policy, that's very dangerous because the market forces will attack that country and undermine the value of its currency and raise the interest rates. If we do it together, we are stronger and we can take more risks than we can do alone.
Toro:
How do you think this project is working at this point?
Carlsson:
Much has been said about the European Union. It has not had as much public support as I hoped it would, particularly in Sweden. But still, two world wars started in the borders between France and Germany, and now I think a war between Germany and France would be impossible because the people are so close to each other. The EU has solved a number of problems in a very good way. Now we have the challenge of enlargement, of bringing the former communist countries into the union.
Toro:
How do you see the election process in the United States?
Carlsson:
I followed the convention in 1960 with John Kennedy and Richard Nixon when I was a student at Northwestern. So 35 or 36 years later, I find this election very interesting. I enjoyed the debates between Clinton and Dole. I think that the good thing here is that journalists allow the leaders to speak more than two sentences or half a sentence. They have a chance to outline their argument, and after the debate there are different commentators. The tendency in Europe and in Sweden is that there is fragmentation of the political debates. It's difficult to really hear the whole story from a political leader today because they want very short sentences. And I think I can get quite a good picture of American process by listening. What surprised me is that health care was so important in the '92 election, but it's not being mentioned in this election.
Toro:
Another issue that's come up in this election is gun control. I imagine this must be quite different in Sweden. In the U.S. gun control seems to become an issue when crime goes up, which is strange, because the United States views itself as a very violent society and yet it hangs onto the belief that people should have access to guns. How is it different in your country?
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