While the war in Ukraine, its consequences and the climate crisis (see EUROPE 13085/18) will remain at the top of its agenda, the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council also places the defence of “democratic values and the rule of law” among its priority objectives. On the agenda for the next six months: the implementation of treaties or conventions on fundamental rights, women’s rights and the fight against discrimination.
Implementation of and accession to the treaties
Recalling that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is one of the “cornerstones of the Union”, Sweden pledges to “actively continue the Council’s efforts to [...] follow up on [its] application within the EU”. In its last annual report on the application of the Charter, the European Commission called on the Member States to strengthen support for civil society organisations (see EUROPE 13078/27).
Furthermore, Sweden intends “to strive to ensure that the EU accedes to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as soon as possible”. Indeed, while all of the 27 are parties to the ECHR, the Union in itself is not. Following the EU Court of Justice’s negative opinion on a draft agreement for its accession in 2014, an alternative has been negotiated in the EU Council since 2019 (see EUROPE 12570/29).
Women’s rights
In terms of gender equality, the Presidency indicates that it not only wants to make progress on the proposal for a directive to combat domestic violence and violence against women (see EUROPE 12906/14), but also to “continue to work to ensure that the EU ratifies the Istanbul Convention”.
Indeed, this directive represents, to some extent, a response to the EU’s failure to ratify the Istanbul Convention (see EUROPE 13069/10, 13073/26). Although some Member States (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) have not ratified it, an EU Court of Justice opinion of 2021 gave the green light to the Council to ratify it with only a qualified majority (see EUROPE 12806/20).
Discrimination
In the area of the fight against discrimination, the Swedish Presidency has made the legislative proposal to strengthen the role of equality bodies a priority. Put forward by the Commission in December 2022, it aims to introduce binding measures to ensure that these organisations enjoy similar favourable conditions in all EU countries (see EUROPE 13079/21).
The Swedish Presidency also states that it wants to make progress in the Council negotiations “on the proposal for an anti-discrimination directive” (the so-called equal treatment directive). This has been blocked in the EU Council since 2008 due to, among other things, the lack of agreement on reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities (see EUROPE 13032/16).
Finally, the Presidency commits to “use the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a springboard for highlighting disability policy issues”. At the last plenary session, the European Parliament called for concrete measures to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities (see EUROPE 13083/6).
Read the work programme: https://aeur.eu/f/4p5 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)