Now it’s up to Sweden to solve all the EU’s problems

Following on the heels of the almost do-nothing Eurosceptic Czech Republic, which many analysts said foundered from problem to problem without a clue about how to deal with any of them, the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union is now in the hands of Sweden, which faces the formidable tasks of handling delicate neogotiations with Iran over that country’s nuclear programme, the lingering worldwide recession and the sudden resignation of Croatia’s Prime Minister Ivo Sanader as his country seeks to join the EU club. It’s a full plate indeed and all  those topics and more occupied Swedish officials and the country’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt as he outlined for reporters the priorities and procedures and ambivalent timetable that would be undertaken to tackle them.
The EU is closely following events in Iran but has no immediate plans to recall diplomats from Tehran, Reinfeldt said about that country’s continuing riotous turmoil that have befuddled all previous EU presidents and left the EU’s chief negotiator, Javier Solana, unable to reach any kind of agreement with Iran to stop a programme the United States and Israel believe is designed to build a nuclear bomb. Street protests in Iran were “a clear message” that the Iranian people were calling for reforms and freedom, Reinfeldt said at a joint news conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who with other members of the executive European Commission visited the Swedish capital, Stockholm, as part of events marking the launch of the six-month presidency. The EU is closely following events in Iran but has no immediate plans to recall diplomats from Tehran, Reinfeldt said.
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told the German Press Agency Deutsche-Presse-Agentur (dpa) that an urgent phone call from the Iranian foreign minister was the reason he missed out on an official photo with visiting commissioners and other Swedish cabinet members on the waterfront outside the Stockholm City Hall. “We have been trying to get hold of him for some time, that’s why I had to take the call,” Bildt told dpa, adding no further details.
Just as Barroso and Reinfeldt arrived to complete the lineup on the waterfront outside the Stockholm City Hall, Bildt apparently received an urgent phone call. As photographers went to work, Bildt was seen talking on his mobile phone in the background. “He got an urgent phone call,” Reinfeldt later told reporters Sweden succeeds the Czech Republic, widely-considered to have held a rather shambolic presidency. It is the second time Sweden has held the presidency since joining in 1995. The Nordic country supports enlargement of the bloc and will likely have to mediate between different views concerning Turkey’s negotations to join the EU, as well as review possible means to end the border row between EU member Slovenia and Croatia that has blocked Croatia’s EU entry. Bildt told dpa that he did not believe that the unexpected resignation announcement Sanader would “have any effect ... on that issue.”

The Croatian Question
The European Commission praised Sanader for steering his country towards EU membership and called for a rapid succession. “I highly appreciated the work of Mr Sanader as Prime Minister leading his country on the path of European integration during his time in office,” said Barroso. “The country is well on track towards EU membership. It has already become a member of NATO. I thank Mr Sanader for his commitment to European integration. And I thank him for the good cooperation we have had over the years,” Barroso said.
The EU’s enlargement commissioner, Rehn, renewed his offices’ “strong commitment” to Croatia’s EU aspirations, but he also urged Zagreb to find a rapid replacement for Sanader. “I encourage Croatia now to settle his succession rapidly so as to continue with the important reforms still ahead to get ready for EU membership,” Rehn said. Croatia has entered the final stretch of its EU talks, but its membership bid has lately been slowed down by a border dispute with EU member Slovenia. Bildt said that he “respected” Sanader’s decision. “There comes a time in life when you want to do other things, and I have respect for his decision,” Bildt told dpa. He Sanader “will be missed,” adding “he’s been a very historically important voice for European integration and cooperation in his own country and in the region, as well as for reconciliation in a somewhat challenging part of Europe.”
The Swedish foreign minister said he hoped Sanader will “continue to be a voice for European integration and democratic reforms in his country and in the region.” Asked if Sanader’s resignation would possibly impact the border dispute with EU member Slovenia that has blocked Croatia’s EU entry, Bildt told dpa “I don’t think it will have any effect ... on that issue.” The dispute centres on a stretch of border at the coastal town of Piran and access rights to the Adriatic Sea.

Money talks and …. walks
The Swedish presidency takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing financial crisis and the threat of rising unemployment in the 27-nation bloc. Complicating matters is also that the current commission’s term expires in October. Barroso - recently endorsed by heads of European governments - is seeking a second term but needs approval from the freshly-elected European Parliament. Both Barroso and Reinfeldt said they were in contact with leaders of the various factions in the pan-European legislature. The commissioners met with Reinfeldt and other cabinet members at Stockholm City Hall, the venue used for the annual banquet held in honour of the Nobel Prize winners. The Swedish premier later told reporters that he and Barroso had discussed “positions on climate and how to handle the financial crisis” with regard to a European process and a global process.
The global processes include an upcoming meeting in Pittsburgh, US, of the G20 - the Group of 20 richest nations. Sweden also hopes to help forge a unified EU stance at the upcoming UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December, when participating countries will be asked to agree on substantial cuts in the emission of greenhouse gases, as of 2012. Reinfeldt underlined the need “to move from a coalition of willing countries” under the terms of the Kyoto protocol to a solution that in principle covers all major emitters.
Trouble in the balcony
Not everyone has high hopes for Sweden. The leaders of the Greens/EFA party in the European Parliament, MEPs Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Rebecca Harms, both from Germany, said they wondered why there was such a rush to coronate Barroso and leave aside more pressing issues.
“The Greens remind the Swedish Presidency that there is no European Parliament majority in favour of a rush vote to give Barroso a second mandate as Commission President. Forcing the issue on the table in July would result in a negative start for the Swedish Presidency. There must be no vote on the Commission President before Lisbon is ratified,” they said. The Socialists are also said to oppose Barroso’s reappointment but there are signs of a schism in the party and there is growing belief it will cut a deal to support him.
That left the Greens in a bit of a limbo and Cohn-Bendit and Harms said they didn’t think Sweden would achieve any goals to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming because the EU has continually pushed back its aims. “The Swedish Presidency is the latest to at least nominally put climate at the top of its agenda but its programme and rhetoric suggests the EU is shrinking from its earlier commitments and may not scale up its effort under an international agreement. The Greens urge the Presidency to work on the basis of scientific advice, which means that the EU must commit to a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to have even a 50/50 chance of limiting warming below two degrees,” suggesting that Sweden, as all other EU presidences, will wilt under political pressure and allow EU countries to do what they want, especially the luxury auto industries of countries like Germany, which said they support reducing gas emissions, except for their own car makers.
The Greens added that, “International climate negotiations come to Sweden’s doorstep in Copenhagen in a matter of months, yet the Presidency programme offers no fresh EU plan of action towards a global deal. The EU must set a strategy to raise the bar for climate protection across the world, not seek excuses to lower it on the basis of others’ lack of ambition. The buck ends with the Swedish Presidency, who must secure a clear financial commitment to a climate fund for developing nations at the October summit of EU leaders. Without it, an international agreement will be impossible. We welcome that the Swedish Presidency at least proposes a crisis response linking economic and environmental objectives. Climate is at last presented as an integral part of economic plans, not a sideshow to them. This represents the important first step towards the Green New Deal we have been calling for. This, together with proposals on carbon taxes, is more promising. It remains to be seen if the next six months will deliver.
“The Swedish Presidency must lead a rethink of current EU migration policy, not oversee its reinforcement. This implies promoting legal channels to enter the EU, while supporting efforts to reduce migration pressures in regions beyond its borders. Return and readmission of migrants should not be allowed to countries that do not respect minimum human rights standards and asylum policy in Europe should be brought into line with the Geneva Convention,” the Greens concluded.