The first half of this year will see the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which has published a fairly detailed programme with a structure usefully inspired by the titles of the 10 formations of the Council. Its priorities have been announced: security, resilience and competitiveness, the ecological transition, democratic values and the rule of law (see EUROPE 13085/31). The various aspects of this programme have been described in several editions of our daily bulletin. All Presidencies may have their priorities, but they are also required to deal with the leftovers of the previous Presidency. Sweden, moreover, must also take account of the agreement reached on 15 December between the Presidencies of the Commission, Parliament and Council of the EU on the legislative programme to take us up to the European elections of 2024, containing no fewer than 164 proposals (see EUROPE 13086/18).
At this stage, we can paint a panoramic picture of the agendas, without prejudice to the substance or results of these.
In accordance with a long-established January tradition, the Commission will visit the Swedish authorities this Thursday and Friday to discuss plans on the table and to be announced. The event will be held in Kiruna, Sweden’s most northerly city.
In January, the European will hold two plenary sessions, the first between Monday 16 and Friday 19, the second on Wednesday 25 on Thursday 26. The former will provide the occasion for a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the single market, and in-depth debate on common foreign and defence policy, another on the conclusions of the European Council of 15 December 2022, yet another on the protection of the financial interests of the European Union, not forgetting Eva Kaili’s replacement in the position of Vice-President. Friday’s edition of our bulletin will publish the detailed agenda of the plenary session.
As is its wont, the Commission will hold its weekly meeting (Wednesdays – no exceptions), which will also be the case in the other months. It is in charge of its own agenda, but must take into account the expectations constituted by its 2023 work programme. In the first quarter, the new initiatives include proposals on the EU’s response to the American IRA law, the reform of the electricity market, critical raw materials, the digitalisation of corporate law, economic governance, a financial crisis management framework, retail investment products and maritime security.
Furthermore, the finance ministers of the Eurozone (of which Sweden is not a member) will meet for a Eurogroup session on 16 January, just a day before the first Council meeting under the Swedish Presidency, which will be a ‘Economy and Finances’ (Ecofin) configuration. Its agenda will include the presentation of the Presidency’s programme and exchanges of views on, firstly, the economic and financial repercussions of the war in Ukraine and, secondly, the European Semester 2023.
The ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council will follow on Monday 23 January; the ministers will discuss the situation in Ukraine, Sahel and West Africa. From 25 to 27 January, the ministers with responsibility for Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) will be in Sweden for an informal meeting. The states holding the Presidency are always keen on these meetings in their own country, as they allow their guests to discover the charm and beauty of certain areas. In this case, they will be in Arlandastad for the ‘Scandinavian XPO’, before travelling to Stockholm.
The month will end with a normal meeting of the ‘Agriculture and Fisheries’ Council on Monday 30 January. Its agenda has not yet been published.
The highlight of February will be the EU-Ukraine Summit on Thursday 3, which will allow the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to meet President Zelenskyy. This meeting, which is based on the association agreement concluded between the parties well before the Russian attack, will take place in Kiyv (see EUROPE 13091/21). It is likely that Europe’s economic and military support for Ukraine will be central to the discussions.
Thursday 9 and Friday 10 February will see an extraordinary meeting of the European Council, which will, amongst other things, take stock of the tense commercial relationship between the European Union and the United States of America (see EUROPE 13085/2).
The European Parliament will again meet twice in plenary format, firstly on 1 and 2 February, then from 13 to 19.
Over at the Council of the EU, the pace of meetings will speed up. The General Affairs Council is set to meet on 6 and 21 February. The Foreign Affairs Ministers will meet on 9 and 20, the finance ministers will come together for a Eurogroup meeting on 13 and then again the following day for an ‘Ecofin’ Council, at which the reform of the economic governance framework, a priority of the Swedish Presidency, will be on the agenda (see EUROPE B 13095A11). Finally, a meeting of the ‘Agriculture and Fisheries’ Council will be held towards the end of the month, on Monday 27.
The ministers in charge of the ‘competitiveness’ portfolio will be in Sweden for informal meetings between 6 and 8, at the same places as their aforementioned colleagues. They will discuss the 30th anniversary of the single market, most probably on the basis of a specific Commission communication. Another informal session will take place at the same locations on 21 and 22 February, bringing together the ministers for telecommunications, transport and energy.
24 February will mark the first anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine, which cannot fail to inspire public declarations at a very high level.
In March, a plenary session of the Parliament will be held from Monday 13 to Thursday 19, with another to follow on 29 and 30. This will almost certainly provide the opportunity to draw conclusions from the Tripartite Social Summit of Wednesday 22 and the ordinary meeting of the European Council, to be held on the following two days. The last Tripartite Social Summit, a format that allows dialogue between senior politicians and the social partners, was held on 22 October 2022 and the economic fallout from the energy crisis will surely still be current affairs.
As regards the Council, there will be more meetings of the configurations referred to above, but for the first time, Sweden will host a ‘Education, Youth, Culture and Sport’ Council (on 7 March), a formal ‘Justice and Home Affairs’ Council (on 9 and 10 March), an ‘Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers’ Council (on 13 and 14 March) and an ‘Environment’ Council (16 March). The European trade and defence ministers will also be getting together for informal sessions (and we already know where!).
The second quarter, when work will effectively resume in mid-April due to the Easter break, do not yet merit a detailed look at the agenda, which may in any case change. It is, however, worth noting that the Commission’s planning for this quarter is packed with new initiatives, in fields such as health, rail and road mobility, financial services, the social economy and space strategy for defence, but the most anticipated area will be the revision of the multi-annual financial framework.
In May, moreover, the members of the European Parliament will have one year to go before the European elections. They will be keen to reform the functioning of the European Parliament, recently shaken by an alleged corruption scandal and to seal agreements on the dossiers closest to it heart. In this context, we must not underestimate the enormous importance of dialogue sessions, but it is impossible to provide a timetable of these. In its programme, the Swedish Presidency pledges several times to push forward the negotiations with the Parliament, but refrains from committing to any kind of timeframe for any legislation. As is usually the case, most of it will be left to the last minute: we will see where we are in June.
To view the programme of the Swedish Presidency of the Council: https://aeur.eu/f/4p5
Renaud Denuit