In just over a week, Sweden takes over the Presidency of the EU. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt presented on 23 June the work programme for Sweden's six months in the EU driving seat. It is firstly a question of leading the EU through the financial and economic crisis, dealing with unemployment in Europe and continuing the work to tackle climate change.

Sweden is taking over the Presidency in special circumstances. The financial and economic crisis has hit Europe and the rest of the world hard. At the same time, it is the Presidency’s task to represent the EU in the fight against global climate change. In addition to this, the next six months will be characterised by institutional change, with a newly elected European Parliament, a new Commission during the autumn, and continued uncertainty surrounding the Treaty of Lisbon.

"The most important thing is to ensure that we are able to gather the EU together to respond to the challenges that people care about and where strong European cooperation can make a difference. Together we must deal with the financial crisis and tackle the rising unemployment that is currently affecting the whole of Europe. Together we must also do our bit and bring together the whole world to tackle climate change. These two priorities will dominate our Presidency," said Fredrik Reinfeldt.

Moving the EU Agenda forward

But there are also other challenges facing Europe, challenges that the Swedish Presidency will be taking on. One is the development and strengthening of EU cooperation on justice and home affairs in the Stockholm Programme. Another task is to adopt an EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region, in order to deal with environmental problems and increase the region's competitiveness, along with continuing the work to develop the European Neighbourhood Policy and EU enlargement. The Swedish Presidency will also work to strengthen the EU’s role as a global actor with a clear agenda for peace, development, democracy and human rights.

"We hope and believe that together we can advance the EU’s agenda in an open, efficient and results-oriented manner during the upcoming six months. This is a challenge that we are accepting with great purposefulness," said Fredrik Reinfeldt.