By Ole Mikkelsen and John Acher
COPENHAGEN, June 30 (Reuters) - The leader of the Danish Socialist People's Party, an opposition group seen as key to a possible referendum on Denmark joining the euro, said on Tuesday he remains firmly against adopting the European currency. "The euro zone has been part of the very liberalistic experiments of the last 15 years, and the crisis shows how bad that ended up," Socialist People's Party (SF) leader Villy Sovndal told Reuters in an interview.
"Now we need to regain control over the economy -- I don't speak about nationalising, I speak about transforming (the economy), about the taxation of companies and the necessity of regaining political control," he said.
Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose Liberal Party and allied Conservatives favour the euro, has said that the support of the SF would be crucial for the government to move ahead with a decision on holding a euro referendum.
"We would recommend 'No', and he knows that," Sovndal said, dismissing recent speculation that his party could be ready to support a vote on the currency.
Denmark's crown currency came under pressure last year in the midst of the financial crisis, which sparked discussion about the possibility of abandoning the crown for the euro.
After a jump in support for embracing the euro last year at the onset of the economic crisis, Denmark's 'Yes' and 'No' camps are now neck-and-neck, with a recent poll showing 39.9 percent in favour of the euro to 38.8 percent against.
The government has said it would not call a referendum unless it was sure of a majority. At the onset of the economic crisis last year, some opinion polls showed a majority of Danes were ready to jettison the crown.
Sovndal, 57, said his party's opposition to the euro did not depend on whether Denmark is governed by the Right or Left.
"No, we disagree on that, which is very well known," Sovndal said, referring to the difference of opinion over the euro with Social Democratic Party leader Thorning-Schmidt, who is seen as the primary opposition hopeful for the prime minister's job.
But he said that difference would be no barrier to the SF's joining a Social Democrat-led government.
"It's not a problem in practice," he said, adding that cooperation with the Social Democrats had never been closer.
The SF has thrived in opposition, with polls showing its support has grown to 18-19 percent from 13 percent in the 2007 general election and up from around 6 percent when Sovndal became leader four years ago.
It would be the first time the SF joined a cabinet. The next parliamentary elections must be held by November 2011 at the latest, though Danish governments tend to call early elections.
The leftist opposition, led by Thorning-Schmidt's Social Democrats, lost the 2007 vote to the centre-right coalition of former premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen who handed power to Lokke Rasmussen in April this year when he became NATO secretary-general.
"Our criticism towards the euro has never been nationalistic," Sovndal said. "Our main interest is not whether the Queen's picture is on the back side of the crown or not, our main interest is political."
"The whole construction of (Europe's) growth and stability pact is too much linked only to economic goals and very little to unemployment and social welfare," he said.