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Moving forward on climate
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Today, I was one of the speakers at a climate event hosted by IPPR, Christian Aid and WWF-UK. Below you will find a somewhat expanded version of my introductory remarks on Europe´s role in global climate politics. ——– Two major...
Climate breakdown shows need for new EU environmental strategy
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After the failure in Copenhagen, many must consider what went wrong. Europe needs to rethink its international environmental strategy. The European Union can look back at a number of green success stories. Working together with developing nations,...
The Swedish Presidency: Effective but not Exciting
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It is too early yet to make a final assessment of the Swedish EU Presidency. Negotiating a climate treaty in Copenhagen is the most important goal for Fredrik Reinfeldt and his colleagues. At the end of the week we will know if this aim was ac...
A Green World Power – But For How Long?
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Finally, the Copenhagen Climate Summit starts. Reaching an agreement at the conference is `a very big and important task´ for the Swedish EU Presidency, Fredrik Reinfeldt stated in July. Now it is clear that Copenhagen will not produce a bindin...
Sweden moves Justice and Home Affairs forward
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When José Manuel Barroso presented the new European Commission, he noted that Swedish Member Cecilia Malmström will have the responsibility to implement the Stockholm Programme, negotiated during the Swedish EU Presidency. Barroso could have...
Ashton and Van Rompuy will have a tough start
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The time for celebration is over. Now Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton must start preparing for their new jobs. Catherine Ashton has a delicate balancing act to perform. The High Representative should take up her new responsibilities on...
Russia – a Challenge for the High Representative
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Wednesday´s EU-Russia Summit will be the last major foreign policy event under the Nice Treaty. On 1 December, the new President of the Council and the new High Representative will assume their posts. Russia will be one of their main chal...
Progress on Enlargement
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The final approval of the Lisbon Treaty opens the door to the European Union again. Many obstacles to further enlargement remain, but there has been significant progress during the Swedish Presidency. At a ceremony in Stockholm this week, the...
Failure on Climate Financing
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Read the conclusions, do not trust press conferences. That is good advice when it comes to understanding political decisions – in the EU as well as in domestic policy. José Manuel Barroso and Fredrik Reinfeldt claimed success on climate aft...
Climate Financing: The 50 Billion-Euro Question
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Words can be explosive. Especially if they imply that billions of euro will be transferred from state coffers. So it should not come as a big surprise that the Swedish government has difficulties in finding agreement on the financing of climate...
Reinfeldt´s Big Test
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Preparing a European Council is never easy, but this time it seems extremely difficult. Few will envy Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish Prime Minister. After Ireland voted yes to the Lisbon Treaty, the prospects for the EU Summit 29-30 October looked...
A decisive week for Latvia
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`Let´s hope for the miracle save´ That was the response from a high-level official at the Swedish Central Bank in December 2008 when former IMF senior economist Torbjörn Becker questioned the policy towards Latvia. The comment was made public l...
The crisis is not over
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A feeling of relief was evident among EU policy-makers when the result of the Irish referendum was made public yesterday. The revised Lisbon Treaty had cleared the most significant hurdle. Everybody is now looking at the Czech Republic, wondering...
Confrontation with Iran getting closer
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Tension is growing between US, Europe and Iran as the meeting in Geneva on Thursday approaches. After Iran´s test-firing of two short-range missiles, a test with the Shahab 3 long range missile is scheduled for Monday. Although Iran´s nuclear pr...
The Baltic Sea strategy needs more teeth
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If anyone of the delegates to the Baltic Sea meeting this week lost concentration for a second, the mosaic in the Golden Hall might have caught the attention. One of the pictures in this part of Stockholm City Hall recalls Swedish king Karl XII an...
Dark clouds gathering over Copenhagen
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Recently, a high level Japanese delegation visited Brussels to discuss environmental co-operation. One of the guests confided in a Commission colleague: `The technical parts of the climate negotiations are so complicated. Can´t we do more on comm...
Good news for the enlargement
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Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar had good reason to be optimistic at the Gymnich meeting in Stockholm last week. Today the Prime Ministers of Slovenia and Croatia agreed on the way forward to solve the bilateral border dispute. Slovenia...
`November, my goodness´, said Solana
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Carl Bildt can be satisfied with the informal Foreign Ministers´ meeting in Stockholm. Almost everything went according to plan. Javier Solana´s praise for the Swedish Presidency at the concluding press conference was not only flattery. Discussi...
Iran looms over Gymnich meeting
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What line should the EU take on economic sanctions towards Iran? This is one of the crucial questions at the informal meeting with EU Foreign Ministers, starting tomorrow. Angela Merkel´s statement last week on Iran has been interpreted as a shif...
Don´t forget about the Baltic Sea
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On Friday, EU Foreign Ministers will gather for their semiannual informal meeting. The venue this time is Skeppsholmen, a small island in central Stockholm. Once a stronghold for the Swedish navy, now a peaceful place for museum visits and nice st...
