The Presidency of the Council rotates between the Member States and the country presiding over the Council functions as the driving force in the EU’s legislative and political decision-making process.
Although the presidency rotates on a half yearly basis however this is more of an 18 months presidency programme constituted in such a way so as to preserve the continuity process. So even though Sweden will be taking over the presidency tomorrow however the programme was jointly drafted between Sweden France and the Czech Republic, the latter two countries were in charge of the previous two presidencies.
The compilation of this 18 months programme which was worked out on the basis of talks of representatives of the three states, reflect the main priorities of the three presidencies. The work on the 18 months programme was symbolically completed on 27 May 2008 and on 16 June officially declared at the start of the French presidency.
The French presidency generally achieved all the goals it had set in its programme with some adaptations and compromises. This was mainly a result of the involvement of President Sarkozy who put all his energy and leadership skills in the presidency in an attempt to demonstrate Europe’s determination and willingness to actively face and manage global challenges.
Although some were critical of his authoritarian style he proved to be very efficient and he and his team showed their ability to genuinely and relevantly implement European general interests and simultaneously moving forward the French domestic agendas.
Besides the fulfilment of the programmed objectives which included energy, environment, immigration and security and defence, the French Presidency had the capacity to tackle the unforeseen events which included the Irish “No” to the Lisbon Treaty, the war in Georgia and the severe financial crisis.
During the French Presidency there were two developments of direct interest to Malta. These were the pact on Immigration and Asylum and the establishment of a new Mediterranean union within the EU.
The French heavyweight presidency was followed by the relatively new Member State, the Czech Republic which had as its initial priorities the three E’s: Economy, Energy, and Europe in the world. Its motto was “Europe without barriers”. This was a very ambitious programme to say the least as both Europe and the Czech Republic were facing challenging times. The battle against the recession justifiably became one of the major tasks of the presidency and in line with the motto to remove obstacles between EU Member States Czech Prime Minister Topolanek stated that protectionism and breaking the rules of fair competition in the long run would be more detrimental than the crisis itself.
The least challenging aspect of the presidency was that of strengthening Europe’s role in the world and its external relations. However the aftermath of the crisis between Georgia and Russia on one hand and Ukraine and Russia on the other added to the workload of the presidency.
The Swedish presidency starting tomorrow has as its motto “Taking on the challenges”. This is a daunting task since Europe like the rest of the world is facing the greatest recession since the 1930 Great Depression compounded by the myriad problems the financial crisis has created. It will also be a special presidency since a new European Parliament will be taking office, it will preside over consultations to appoint the next Commission president and new group presidents. Most of the agenda items have been set by the previous presidencies however two overriding priorities of the Swedish presidency will be the creation of jobs and addressing climate change. Millions of workers in Europe have lost their jobs and dealing with this increasing unemployment requires the promotion of innovation and creativity ideas.
There will be other issues. One of them is how to tackle cooperation in justice and home affairs. In Fredrich Reinfeld own words one of the priorities is therefore to negotiate the ‘Stockholm programme’ to outline future work in the area of justice and home affairs. This includes police, border control and customs cooperation, criminal and civil law cooperation, asylum and migration, and visa policy and civil protection. Another priority is to adopt an EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea. The purpose of this is to improve the environment in the Baltic Sea and to strengthen integration and competitiveness in the region. There will be other unforeseen matters starting with the situation in Iran.
Generally the main priorities as outlined by the Swedish presidency are in tune with Malta’s. The area where there might be a divergence as to the level of priority is the immigration problem.
The Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy, Mr Tobias Billström during a very recent visit to Malta acknowledged that the migration situation in the Mediterranean is problematic and will continue to be so during the Swedish Presidency.
He also agreed to the fact that Malta is particularly exposed to this problem and it is therefore important to hold discussions with the Maltese Government. Meanwhile last week the Prime Minister had meetings with the heads of government of Lithuania, Estonia and Sweden with immigration being the main topic of discussion. Together with Dr Gonzi, Dr Tonio Borg and Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, both Dr Simon Busuttil and myself will continue with our efforts to ensure that the momentum gained in resolving this complicated and delicate matter will be maintained even during the Swedish presidency.
Let me finish with one important observation. In 1949 the Council of Europe was founded. Today, 60 years later, the citizens of the Member States are looking at Europe for the solutions to their problems. I am sure that working together during the coming six months, the Swedish presidency will be successful in taking us a step forward to surmount these challenges.
David Casa is a Nationalist MEP
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www.davidcasa.eu