Brussels, 09/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - Responding to the economic and financial crisis and preparing for the Copenhagen conference on climate change in December will be the main priorities of the Swedish Presidency during the second half of this year, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt announced on Tuesday 9 June at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels. Sweden also wants to improve cooperation on justice and home affairs, adopt a new strategy for the Baltic Sea region, take forward accession negotiations with Croatia and Turkey, put the Eastern Partnership into operation and improve transatlantic relations, said Reinfeldt, the next president of the European Council. The Lisbon Treaty could also come into force during the Swedish term of office.
Economic and financial crisis. During the Swedish Presidency, the EU will have to continue to manage the crisis and its immediate effects, and put in place measures for the long-term recovery of the European economy. At this point, priority must still be on restoring functioning financial markets and confidence in them, Reinfeldt said. That was why the EU must, above all, enhance financial market supervision. The de Larosière report and the recent Commission proposal provided a “good basis for work”. The aim was to discuss legislative proposals in the autumn and to reach “political agreement”, he said. The Swedish Presidency would also like to launch a debate on fiscal policies in member states, he said. With the economic recovery plans adopted having considerably increased member states' budget deficits and public debt, there was a need to return rapidly to the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact, the incoming Council president said. “I know that this task won't be easy and certainly not popular. But let's be honest: if the crisis we face today was created by people borrowing too much, the solution cannot be for governments to act in the same way,” he said. The EU also had to take action to counter unemployment and social exclusion, he went on. He proposed pro-active labour policies. The EU must “reform, adapt and modernise”, strengthening its ability to innovate and moving towards a low-carbon economy. Reinfeldt also wants actively to prepare for the reform of the Lisbon Strategy so that this “new” strategy could be adopted by the Spring European Council in 2010.
Fight against climate change. The Swedish prime minister stressed that the international community “has no time to lose” in taking action: the cost of inaction would be far higher than what it would cost to reduce Co2 emissions. In Copenhagen, the EU will be prepared to take on its fair share, backed up by an overall agreement on reducing emissions. Mr Reinfeldt also appealed for the use of certain “economic instruments” in the fight against climate change, such as carbon taxes and emissions trading in greenhouse gases.
Justice and Home Affairs. The Swedish Presidency will attempt to push forward the “Stockholm Programme”, which aims to set out the EU's working framework for police and customs cooperation, civil protection, legal cooperation in civil and criminal proceedings, asylum, immigration and visas for 2010-14. The programme will be examined during July's informal ministerial meeting and then adopted by the December European Council.
Baltic Sea strategy. The goal is to reach an agreement between the EU27 by the end of the year on the European Commission's strategy, which will be presented on Wednesday 10 June. The main idea is to improve environmental protection in the Baltic Sea region (a region that is very ecologically sensitive) and increase the level of integration and competitiveness in the different regions of the eight EU member states neighbouring the Baltic sea (Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland), explained Mr Reinfeldt, who also said that in this connection, this next strategy will be able to act as a model for other regional strategies in the EU.
Enlargement and the Eastern Partnership. Sweden very much supports enlargement and Mr Reinfeldt explained that it wanted to actively pursue accession negotiations with Croatia and Turkey although “much will depend on efforts made to reform in these countries”. Reinfeldt said that with regard to Turkey, the EU should respect its commitments and continue negotiations, while strictly insisting on conditionality and respect for the accession criteria. He also said that at this stage it is impossible to say whether new chapters can be opened with Ankara. Sweden wants to “take another step” towards the concrete implementation of the new Eastern Partnership.
External Relations. Several summits have been programmed (South Africa, Brazil, India, Russia, China and Ukraine) but specific emphasis will be put on relations with the US, explained Mr Reinfeldt. He hopes that a summit with President Obama can be held in the autumn.
Lisbon Treaty. The Swedish prime minister still hopes that the Lisbon Treaty will enter into force under the Swedish Presidency and that the European Council will be able to appoint, if possible, at the October European summit (on condition that the Irish have approved the treaty), the permanent president of the European Council and the high representative for foreign policy. In the meantime, the president of the next Commission has to be appointed in July, insisted Mr Reinfeldt. He also appealed for this person (very likely to be José Manuel Barroso, see other article) to be given a “full mandate” and not just “political” and provisional approval, which will be confirmed once the new treaty enters into force. Mr Reinfeldt rejects the idea of waiting until the result of the Irish referendum before appointing, “in the same package”, the president of the Commission, the permanent president of the European Council and the high representative. Mr Reinfeldt said that in these times of crisis, the EU could not afford to extend any uncertainty surrounding the next president of the Commission: “I hope that the decision will be taken at next week's European Council and the EP approves it in July”. (H.B./transl.rt/rh)