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The Swedish Presidency: War and Major Crises

2023-01-02 15:37:55Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA BERND RIEGERT
The Swedish Presidency: War and Major Crises
The Swedish Presidency: War and Major Crises

Sweden took the presidency of the EU for the first half of 2023. What is on the agenda of the Nordic member of the EU? One theme stands above all others...

Sweden's new parliamentary minority government, made up of moderates, Christian Democrats and liberals, which depends on cooperation with the far-right Sweden Democrats, will pick up where the Czech Presidency of the EU Council left off. Russia's war against Ukraine, its consequences for security and energy supply across Europe, the strengthening of military capabilities and more independence from non-European supply chains, remain the main issues of the Swedish-led Presidency. The Swedish government will chair around 1,500 meetings of various EU bodies and spend countless hours negotiating compromises between EU member states, the EU Commission and the European Parliament.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a government statement in December that the war will largely determine the action of the Swedish Presidency. On the one hand, we know exactly what we need to do: maintain European unity in supporting Ukraine, use resources for reconstruction, implement international law and prepare the way for the candidate country Ukraine to join the EU. On the other hand, we have no idea what will happen. What will happen a year after the invasion? In spring? In summer? Sweden will be prepared to act quickly and decisively," said conservative Kristersson.

Hard governance with the tolerance of far-right democrats

Other issues such as climate protection, immigration policy, but also the expansion and inclusion of the Western Balkan countries in the EU will be secondary, compared to the consequences of the war. The new head of government, who took office in October after parliamentary elections, could not form the desired coalition and now depends on the far-right Sweden Democrats. The leader of the Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson, who won 20 percent of the vote but was not accepted into a governing coalition, is considered a climate change denier, pursues a tough anti-immigration policy and criticizes the European Union as the source of all evil. . This makes the Sweden Democrats natural allies of other right-wing governments in the EU, particularly in Hungary and Italy.

The Swedish Prime Minister announced that Sweden will continue to support the rule of law in all EU member states. The respective proceedings against Hungary and Poland will be pushed forward "moderately". However, the Sweden Democrats strongly reject punitive measures against Hungary, such as the ban on EU subsidies, which has been practiced for the first time. Ecologist MEP Jacob Dalunde, whose party is in opposition in Sweden, has doubts about the course of the next Presidency of the Swedish Council. "That Kristersson continues to claim that he and his government will be able to protect the rule of law by relying on the Sweden Democrats is naive and dangerous," Dalunde told the Euractiv news portal.

More independence for Europe

The Swedish government at least wants to make progress on economic matters. Specifically, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced that the European car industry should rely on electric machinery. At the same time, dependence on suppliers and primary products from Asia must be reduced.

Kristersson does not want to accept unfair subsidies from the US for its industry. "During its presidency, Sweden will advance work on a European manufacturing environment for semiconductors. This sounds technical and it is technical. But it is absolutely necessary if we want to fully electrify our vehicle fleet," the head of government told the Swedish parliament. in Stockholm.

Organized crime casts a shadow over the Presidency

Sweden is not particularly optimistic about this mandate, because it actually has a lot of problems at home as well. In his Christmas speech, Ulf Kristersson presented a bleak picture of his homeland, which is suffering above all from growing criminality among foreign clans. "Abroad, Sweden is generally perceived as peaceful and harmonious," said the prime minister. But the image is not accurate. Until mid-December, the Swedish police have recorded 378 shootings in which 60 people were killed. In the countries neighboring countries, the figures are much lower, with Denmark having four deaths and Finland only two during this period.

According to the prime minister, in Södertälje near Stockholm this year, as many people have been killed by firearms as in the whole of London. Young people with a migration background shoot each other mainly as a result of being involved in organized crime. It is precisely because of this security problem and the many murders that the extreme right-wing Sweden Democrats were so popular in the elections.

In parallel with the work for the EU, Sweden must also work hard on its external security during this year. Turkey is still blocking Sweden and Finland from joining NATO, allegedly because Kurdish terrorists are sheltered in the two Nordic countries. Sweden has made concessions and wants to extradite the accused to Turkey sooner. However, this is not enough for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as he stated in December. The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, however, expects that Sweden will be accepted into NATO in 2023. But even he cannot say when this will happen./ DW


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