Outcomes of the Swedish EU Presidency
When Sweden took over the rotating presidency of the European Council of Ministers last July, the EU faced many challenges: EU institutional insecurity, the global economic crisis, and disagreement over climate change, to name just a few. Nevertheless, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt noted at the end of Sweden’s six months that it had achieved what it set out to achieve. The Treaty of Lisbon was finally adopted and entered into force on 1 December, the EU’s financial market was given a new supervisory architecture, and the EU developed a common position on climate change, as well as other significant achievements.
The Lisbon Treaty
The EU’s revolutionary Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009, after months of last-minute negotiations and preparations under the Swedish presidency. To induce the Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, to sign his country’s ratification of the treaty, the EU negotiated a clarification regarding the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and Klaus finally signed. Once the treaty was ratified, a special summit on 19 November filled the two new leadership positions that it created: Herman Van Rompuy was designated Permanent President of the European Council, and Catherine Ashton was designated High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. José Manuel Barroso had been re-elected President of the European Commission in September.
Financial Architecture
The Swedish presidency endeavored to ensure that the EU would emerge stronger from the current financial and economic crisis. To improve and increase financial supervision – hopefully to prevent or ameliorate new crises – powerful new European institutions were created. A joint European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, and the European Securities and Markets Authority, are all currently being set up. To end the inappropriate bonus culture and promote accountability and healthy long-term development, member states also agreed on new binding rules governing compensation in banks and investment firms. In addition, they created new rules on capital adequacy and established financial-policy and financial-market exit strategies.
Climate Change
The Swedish presidency aimed to ensure that the EU would continue to combat climate change and would act in unison at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. To this end, it pushed Europe to adopt a strong mandate in the run-up to the global negotiations. The mandate included a long-term emissions-reduction target (80-95% reduction by 2050, compared to 1990 levels); a short-term emissions target (at least 20% by 2020); requirements for reductions in emissions from international transport (shipping and aviation); and an agreement on the EU’s contribution to aid developing countries hard hit by climate change (€2.4 billion per year during 2010-2012).
The Copenhagen conference resulted in only a political agreement, which was less ambitious than many in the EU had hoped for. However, the agreement does have some positive aspects, including a reference to the 2°C. temperature target, commitments for funding to help less-developed countries fight climate change, and the commitment by industrialized and newly-industrializing countries to report their climate-change-fighting actions transparently.
The EU as a Global Actor
The Swedish presidency aimed to strengthen the EU as a global actor, with a clear agenda to promote peace, democracy, development, and human rights. To this end, Sweden represented the EU at seven summits with other countries (South Africa, Brazil, the U.S., India, China, Russia, and Ukraine). The presidency also drafted more detailed EU strategies on Afghanistan and Pakistan, and worked to implement those strategies. In addition, the EU continued to implement the Eastern Partnership, which governs its relations with its close eastern neighbors. Finally, the European Council approved new guidelines on the establishment of a European External Action Service, a body created by the Lisbon Treaty.
In the trade arena, negotiations were concluded on an EU-South Korea free trade agreement. There was also a major step taken in transatlantic energy cooperation, with the establishment of the new US-EU Energy Council.
EU Enlargement
The Swedish presidency also continued progress in the strategically-important enlargement process. A border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia was resolved, allowing Croatia’s accession negotiations to enter the final stage. Turkey’s accession negotiations also progressed. The European Council also decided to consider applications from Iceland, Albania, and Montenegro. In addition, the introduction of visa exemptions for citizens of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia traveling to the EU sent a strong signal to encourage the continued European perspective of these countries.
Other Accomplishments
The Swedish presidency oversaw the adoption of an EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region, as well as adoption of the Stockholm Program, based on the vision of a safer and more open Europe. The Stockholm Program will guide European justice, police, and immigration cooperation for the next few years, with focus on safeguarding individual rights, increasing legal security, and improving cooperation among states to combat cross-border crime.
Moreover, under the Swedish presidency, consensus was reached on stricter penal regulations and increased punishments for human trafficking, including a plan for better cooperation with non-EU countries to keep people from becoming ensnared. In addition, the EU adopted a strategy on how to make information-sharing among crime-fighting authorities more efficient and legally secure, while strengthening protection of individuals’ personal data. The European Council also made progress on negotiations for a common asylum system, and agreed on the establishment of an asylum-support office in Malta, which receives many immigrants from Africa.
In the health sphere, a proposal to promote member-state cooperation in stimulating the pharmaceutical industry to develop new antibiotics was pushed forward, as well as work to establish transatlantic cooperation on antibiotics issues. In response to the current H1N1 flu pandemic, the EU adopted an anti-flu strategy covering access to vaccine, informing the public, global cooperation, and contingency planning.
In addition – after decades of negotiations – an agreement was reached on all but the language issue on the design and regulation of common EU patents, which will promote innovation and improve global competition for European industry.
For more information on the accomplishments of the Swedish presidency, click here.
Previous page: Outlook for the Spanish EU Presidency: Seeking to Strengthen Europe and Transatlantic Relations
Next page: The Spanish Presidency