Anders Lidén is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sweden to the UN in New York. During the Swedish EU presidency he is the chair of the Head of Mission group with the ambassadors from all 27 EU countries together with the ambassadors for the EU commission and the EU council. The group meets every week during the Presidency, both for regular meetings and for special strategic meetings, when UN negotiations need to be resolved or for meetings with other countries.

What issues are currently relevant in the context of the EU Presidency in New York?
- The Lisbon Treaty has been and, naturally, still is a priority issue during the fall. The UN resolutions on security, human rights, development and international law is always present in the UN, but with the EU presidency we are the ones responsible for bringing the EU together, representing the EU in negotiations and giving statements on behalf of the EU. This means that the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the UN needs to have a much broader focus and commitment than we normally have in the UN. In addition, the climate issue has been particularly important, above all during the high level summit in September in which Prime Minister Reinfeldt had a prominent role.

What is the biggest challenge of leading the EU in the UN?
- The toughest part is to get all EU countries united in the negotiations. The biggest challenge in the fall was to get the EU together in the Middle East question, but we finally managed to unite the EU after a split on the Goldstone report. Disarmament and Georgia have also been tricky issues. A united Europe will form a more important negotiating party in the UN, so if we do not succeed in reaching an agreement it could be considered a failure.

How does this EU presidency differ from others where you have been involved?
- I worked in Israel during the Swedish EU Presidency in 2001 and represented the EU in Jordan in the summer of 1999 during Finland's EU Presidency. It is, however, very different to work for a multilateral organization like the UN - it is a much larger organization, requires more employees and includes a wider variety of work. To represent half a billion people is exciting in itself, but when all countries that align themselves with our statements are included it adds up to even more. Since this is the last traditional EU Presidency it is somehow historical and it feels great to take part in introducing a new EU representation in New York for the future.

How does your job in New York affect people in their everyday lives in Sweden?
- The work we do here is a part of a long-term process, but we are basically working with the same issues as when the UN was founded in 1945: peace and security. If we fail in the important work of preventing conflicts, negative consequences that affect us all will follow. Security, development, human rights and international law are all about peace and creating conditions for peace.

Finally, how does it feel when the EU Presidency draws to an end?
- Although some important issues still remain, like putting together a fair budget for the UN, I look back at this fall thinking everything have worked out very well. We tripled our workforce from 25 people to 75 people at the Mission over the fall, which naturally lead to changes in how we work. The supporting staff has been of high quality and the work has proceeded well. It has been a great pleasure to work with such a collection of young, enthusiastic people and I hope I get to meet many of them in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in the future!