Sweden will take over the rotating presidency of the European Union on January 1 for six months, for which it has set as priorities to strengthen the security of the bloc, advance the ecological transition, boost the competitiveness of European companies and strengthen the rule of law, although the agenda will inevitably be marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the need to reform the common migration policy after years of paralysis.
«The Union that became synonymous with peace, freedom and trade now lives alongside the kind of war that once created the very need for the EU. The war will have decisive repercussions for the Swedish presidency,» Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson warned in a recent speech.
For this reason, Sweden, which hopes to complete the process for its entry into NATO, places the security of the European Union at the top of its priorities for the six-month period, both in terms of its unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russia and the need to strengthen the geopolitical weight of the EU-27 in an «increasingly insecure» world.
It will also do so after the end of a year in which Hungary shook the unity of the bloc with what a senior diplomat defined as «blackmail diplomacy» by maintaining for weeks successive vetoes that jeopardized key decisions such as the last package of sanctions against Russia or the aid of 18,000 million to Ukraine for 2023.
The European Union is also committed to building solid economic relations with «reliable» partners that will allow it to leave behind, for example, its energy dependence on Russia or to break with China as the main supplier of raw materials, for which 2023 will be key to make progress in finalizing free trade pacts with countries such as Mexico, New Zealand or the Mercosur bloc.
The need for a profound reform of the energy market will be another of the major debates that will mark the first half of 2023 after the urgent intervention measures negotiated by the EU-27 this year to contain rising energy prices.
It will also be an important semester for relations after a first rapprochement with Donald Trump’s takeover in the White House, but which are again strained by the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which provides billions in subsidies for key sectors such as the automobile industry but which the EU considers «unacceptable» for discriminating against its companies.
MIGRATION AND BALKANS Another of the issues that will mark the agenda of the countries of the European Union during the six months that Sweden will coordinate is migration management in the face of the reactivation of irregular entry routes from the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean.
Since the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015, the European Union has been dragging along the need to resolve the deep differences between partners regarding the way in which to deal with migratory pressure and share the burden of receiving those who arrive irregularly and those who seek international protection upon arrival.
After several rejected proposals, the EU-27 have kept on the table for two years the European Commission’s reform proposal to agree on a «Migration and Asylum Pact» with which to strike a balance between responsibility and solidarity that satisfies all capitals.
The agreement remains deadlocked on the fundamental issues but the countries have managed in recent months to bring positions closer on elements necessary to move forward and agree on the interest of strengthening the control of the external border and convince third countries to expedite the deportations of those who arrive irregularly to the EU.
The way to deal with the increase in arrivals has been the cause of serious friction between the partners during the end of 2022, for example the refusal of the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni to allow the disembarkation in Italian ports of migrants rescued at sea, which clashed with the censure of the government of Emmanuel Macron, who announced the suspension of its participation in a voluntary European program for the reception of asylum seekers.
The veto of Austria and the Netherlands to the entry into the Schengen border-free area of Romania and Bulgaria, despite having the backing of the European Commission for a decade and the support of the other partners, is another element that remains pending and that the European Union has pledged to resolve in the first months of 2023.
It will also be up to the Swedish presidency to prepare the first discussions with the EU-27 on the recent request for accession to the EU of Kosovo, a territory whose independence is not recognized by five countries, including Spain, since the decision of the Member States will depend on when to ask Brussels for an evaluation of the request.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
