| SWEDEN TAKES OVER THE PRESIDENCY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 01/07/2009 |
| (2009-07-01) |
| Last updated: 2009-07-02 14:23 EET |
After an agitated 6 month Check presidency of the European Union, during which the Check Republic went thorough a cabinet reshuffle, on Wednesday, July 1st , Sweden took over the office along with all the pending issues. At the level of statement, Sweden’s main objectives are fighting global warming and unemployment triggered by the world economic crisis, issues that will again be passed over to the next president.
Experts say that, to start with, the Swedish presidency will have to focus on measures aimed at monitoring the financial markets and the huge deficits in most member countries, as 20 of the 27 members are very likely to exceed the allowed threshold of 3%. Also urgent are, however, the details of the institutional architecture of the EU.
The Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfelt has been open about the prospect of Portuguese Jose Manuel Barroso being reconfirmed by the European Parliament, in mid July, for a second 5 year term as president of this community body. Reinfeldt believes that since there is only one candidate, the Union should not wait any longer, because it runs the risk of getting into a stage of political void and thus it will no longer get involved in the global issues.
Among these issues is the already chronic crisis in the Middle East, where, as the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has stated, the EU and the US are now speaking in one single voice, pleading together for enforcing the validity of the plans that stipulate the existence of the Israeli and Palestinian states.
The Irish electorate’s initial refusal to accept the Lisbon Treaty blocked the institutional architecture. The Swedish Presidency has announced it will wait for the new referendum to be held in Ireland in early October and will take a stand in keeping with the outcome of this referendum, which is very likely to turn out favorable.
The monitoring of Romania and Bulgaria, the latest comers to the EU, are issues that are also to be solved in autumn, as Stockholm has stated it needs the September European Commission monitoring report to see whether the cooperation and verification mechanism is indeed useful for reforming the justice system in the two countries.
An absolute first during the Swedish presidency could be Iceland’s candidacy, a sign that after enlargement to the south, with Cyprus and Malta, and to the east with 10 former communist countries, the Union might incorporate the far north-western part of Europe as well.
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2025-04-03
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