Sweden assesses its Presidency

After steering the EU during six months complicated by challenges such as the economic crisis and disagreement over climate change, Sweden reckons it has past the test.

On the Web site of the Swedish Presidency-in-turn, the prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt², describes the six months as ‘a unique experience’ in which Sweden has ‘brought the EU back on track’.

‘Before we took over, many joked that they were longing for a Swedish Presidency. They expected it to be characterised by order and an ability to drive the process forward. My impression is that we have partly lived up to those expectations.’

The priorities of the Swedish Presidency have focused on the economic crisis, the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and the institutional crisis in the EU.

In this period, the twenty-seven Member States have been given a new financial supervisory architecture, they have agreed on a common mandate on the climate change issue and the Treaty of Lisbon has come into effect.

Now Spain takes on the complicated challenge of overseeing the implementation of these policies.

• 1. 

  Van 1 januari tot en met 30 juni 2010 vervulde Spanje het voorzitterschap van de Raad van de Europese Unie. Spanje nam het stokje over van Zweden. Tijdens het voorzitterschap werkte Spanje nauw samen in een trojka met België en Hongarije, die na Spanje het voorzitterschap van de EU bekleedden.
   
• 2. 

  Fredrik Reinfeldt (1965) was in 2006-2014 minister-president van Zweden. Hij was leider van de conservatief-liberale Moderaterna-partij, die in 2004 een coalitie (Allians för Sverige) vormde met de christendemocraten, de Volkspartij (sociaal-liberalen) en de Centrumpartij (boeren). Reinfeldt, die economie heeft gestudeerd, zit sinds 1991 in de Zweedse Rijksdag en werd in 2003 leider van zijn partij.