The Swedish semester

The rotating Presidency of the EU has been transferred from Prague to Stockholm: Sweden will head the European Council from July to December 2009. When it receives the mandate to head the Council on 1st July, the Swedish government inherits the difficult legacy left by the Czech Presidency, characterized by the repercussions of the economic crisis.Meeting in Stockholm. Swedish Premier Fredrik Reinfeldt has presented the Executive of the 27 with the key priorities of the Swedish semester, after having discussed them with the national Parliament. “The main priorities for the months ahead concern – he said – the economic and financial crisis, climate change, the reinforcement of cooperation in the field of justice and security, and the commitment to define a strategy for the Baltic Sea and the process of enlargement”. The Swedish Prime Minister does not disguise his concerns about three particular questions: the process of ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, with the Irish referendum due to be held in October; the nomination of the European Commission for the period 2009-2014; and the world meeting in Copenhagen in December, which will have the crucial job of putting in place the mainstays of the fight against climate change for post-Kyoto (the EU will have to arrive in the Danish capital having already defined a shared position). The planned meeting with José Manuel Barroso’s team will include negotiations on separate portfolios to tackle the various aspects of common policy. Calendar of the semester. The talks in Stockholm with the assembled EU Commissioners also have on their agenda a meeting with the Swedish royal family and participation in the celebrations (fireworks, concerts, exhibitions) to inaugurate the leading role now being played by the Nordic country in the European Union. The hundreds of meetings planned between now and the end of the year (whether political, institutional, diplomatic, cultural or social in character) also include two European Councils: on 29-30 October and 10-11 December. The meeting between Reinfeldt and his government and the European Parliament, meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg, is scheduled for mid-July. The Swedish Presidency, however, has chosen to begin its six months in office by dedicating an international conference to “Violence against Minors”. So on 6 and 7 July “various non-governmental organizations, together with experts from all over the world, and representatives of the EU and UNO, will meet in Stockholm, to tackle, in the perspective of human rights, the problem of violence against children”. Prague sums up its semester. While Sweden rises to the summit of the European Union, by assuming the rotating Presidency of the European Council, the government of the Czech Republic is summing up the results of its six-month’ Presidency during the first half of 2009. Premier Jan Fisher, who inherited the post of Mirek Topolanek following his resignation in May, has published a document called “Summing up the Czech Presidency of the EU Council. A Europe without barriers”. According to Fisher, the first half of this year “will be inscribed in the history of the Union as a period of tough challenges due to the difficult economic and political situation”. The document recalls the problems posed to national states and European populations by the internal recession and by “market instability” at the global level. The Premier also emphasizes the fact that, at the start of its Presidency, the Czech Republic had spelt out three priorities, indicated as the “3 E”: economy, energy, and Europe in the world. “The following circumstances showed that these three issues remain extremely topical today”, “sectors in which it will be necessary, in future, to reach common commitments so that the EU, even in periods of instability like this, may resist and create positive results to the benefit of citizens”.Union “without barriers”. In the document that closes the Czech Presidency, Fisher tackles various questions: he points out the constant danger of trade barriers and a “return to economic protectionism”; underlines the urgent need to build “a Europe without barriers”; and maintains that his country “has made a great effort in seeking a solution to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty”. At the economic level, Fisher points to various results achieved, naturally from the viewpoint of the outgoing Czech Presidency, especially as regards “the better regulation of financial markets”, “the rejection of protectionist measures”, and measures and investments in support of the banking sector “to restore confidence in the markets”. But according to the document, what proved essential was the “coordinated approach” of the 27 to the crisis, both at the level of the internal market and on the international scene. In the energy sector the document underlines “the uniform approach” on gas supplies, including the holding of a special summit on the “Southern corridor”. Ample analysis is also devoted to the role of Europe in the world: “If the EU wishes to resist world competition”, it must become a “global player and play” a role “that corresponds to its economic and political potential”.