Ambassador Beijer: Swedish Presidency Led EU Forward in All Spheres

Swedish Ambassador to Bulgaria Paul Beijer (left) and Spanish Ambassador Jorje Fuentes (right) during Thursday's news conference in Sofia dedicated to the end of the Swedish EU Presidency. Photo by M3 Communications Group

The Swedish Presidency of the European Union has managed to lead the EU forward in all of major spheres of cooperation, according to Sweden’s Ambassador to Bulgaria, Paul Beijer.

Ambassador Beijer gave a special news conference in Sofia Thursday dedicated to making a recapitulation of Sweden’s term as a Chair of the rotating EU Presidency, which started on July 1, 2009, under the motto “Taking on the Challenges.”

Ambassador Beijer underscored the fact that the Swedish EU Presidency had been “lucky” not to have any major international crises during its term, which allowed it to focus all efforts on achieving its goals.

“The Council of the EU which Sweden chaired for six months is a complex mechanism for cooperation between the member states in a wide spectrum of areas. The real measures of success does not lie with several dramatic and widely-publicized problems but in the stable progress of the whole range of cooperation. I believe we have managed to achieve that,” Sweden’s Ambassador to Bulgaria stated.

His Excellency outlined three major achievements of the Swedish EU Presidency: completing successfully the ratification and the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU-wide measures against the effects of the global financial and economic crisis, and the crafting of a joint EU position on climate change in preparation for the UN Summit in Copenhagen.

“Thanks to the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Swedish EU Presidency will be the last traditional Presidency,” Ambassador Beijer stated.

In addition, he mentioned the efforts of the Swedish EU Presidency in several other spheres including the crafting of a new five-year scheme for growth and employment in continuation of the Lisbon Strategy and as part of the EU 2020 strategy, the Stockholm Program in EU justice, police, and migration cooperation, the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea, and the work on the EU enlargement process.

The briefing was also attended by Spanish Ambassador to Bulgaria, Jorje Fuentes, whose country is going to take over from Sweden on January 1, 2010, but under new conditions as the Lisbon Treaty is already in force and new institutions of EU President and Foreign Policy High Representative are already in place.

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