War in Ukraine and energy crisis, runaway inflation and now a huge corruption scandal in Brussels – there have certainly been easier times to assume the Presidency of the Council of the EU. The Swedish government, which will replace the Czech Republic on January 1st, is confident. Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish prime minister, said shortly before Christmas in the Stockholm parliament, vaguely and optimistically, that his country would “execute an active presidency of the Council and lead the community constructively to further promote the strengths of the HUH”.
EU Minister Jessika Roswall said the Swedish government would give “high priority” to the work of the EU, after all it is in the country’s interest to promote cohesion within the EU and move forward on issues that require common solutions.
This decidedly EU-friendly tone is also meant to reassure all those who have been skeptical of Sweden’s presidency since September: the most populous Scandinavian country since then is governed by a conservative three-party coalition backed by the Swedish Democrats (SD). because it does not have a majority of its own. The right-wing populist SD came in second behind the Social Democrats with 20.5% of the vote.
Asylum law reform is the most important issue
The influence of the SD, which was once founded by staunch neo-Nazis, is correspondingly great; the minority government coalition program sounds in many passages as if the Swedish Democrats wrote it themselves. The government’s agreement stipulates that the Swedish Democrats have “as much influence on issues covered by the coalition program as the government parties in government”, including in particular “EU matters that affect issues covered by cooperation work”.
In 2016, the SD was still propagating Sweden’s exit from the EU. After the Brexit disaster, no one asks for it anymore. However, party leader Jimmie Åkesson announced in parliament that the intention was to reduce Brussels’ influence on the national sovereignty of member states as much as possible. Fears in Brussels that the SD’s skeptical rhetoric about the EU could shape the presidency are equally great.
Perhaps the most important issue during the Swedish presidency is the reform of the asylum law: by the end of 2015, a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) was supposed to be adopted, which would have harmonized the recognition systems of member states and would have treated asylum seekers asylum equally in all countries. At the time, several countries in Central and Eastern Europe were opposed because the CEAS would have implied a redistribution of refugees to member states according to fixed quotas; Southern European countries like Italy or Greece felt left alone.
In 2020, the Commission finally presented a new proposal for regulation at EU level, the so-called Migration Pact. A dispute between Italy and France over how to handle private rescue ships is blocking progress in the talks. In addition to Hungary and Poland, several other countries no longer want to receive refugees arriving at the EU’s external borders – Austria, for example. Countries like the Netherlands and Belgium are also reaching their limits. So it’s all extremely complicated, to say the least. The Czech Presidency of the Council presented a compromise document that, it was hoped in the summer, should really bring Sweden to a happy ending. Now, however, many in Brussels fear that the extremely anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats could block any deal.
Swedish Democrats Deny Global Warming
Interestingly, Ulf Kristersson did not directly mention the issue of migration in his announcement speech. Instead, he promised the focus would be on security policy issues. In addition, it aims to strengthen the EU’s resilience as well as its democratic values. Lars Danielsson, Sweden’s ambassador to the EU, said the biggest challenge will be not to let policy be “determined solely by the current management of the crisis”. He was referring to the enormous difficulty of keeping EU countries united when it comes to Ukraine policy and not allowing energy prices to get out of control.
The fourth theme, which Kristersson himself mentioned in his announcement speech, was the implementation of a green transition in response to the “global climate challenge”. This is surprising given that his governing coalition has taken a drastic turnaround in national climate policy. According to the coalition agreement, climate-friendly subsidies and infrastructure programs must be reduced or completely ended, car traffic must be massively subsidized and nuclear energy must be expanded.
Sweden Democrats deny global warming, Jimmie Åkesson declared on television after the election that there was no scientific evidence of a climate crisis. It would be fatal if Sweden, which until now has been one of the political pioneers of a more climate-friendly policy in the EU, now moves into the blockade camp.
Sweden will hold the Presidency of the Council from January 1, 2023. On June 1, the baton passes to Spain.