Sweden opens EU presidency with focus on Iran, climate

Pakistan News.Net
Wednesday 1st July, 2009 (IANS)

Iran, climate talks, global economic crisis and the unexpected resignation of Croatia's Prime Minister Ivo Sanader were topics occupying diplomatic circles Wednesday, as Sweden took over the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU).

The EU is closely following events in Iran but has no immediate plans to recall diplomats from Tehran, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said.

Street protests in Iran were 'a clear message' that the Iranian people were calling for reforms and freedom, Reinfeldt said at a joint news conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Barroso and other members of the Commission visited the Swedish capital, Stockholm, as part of events marking the launch of the six-month presidency.

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told DPA that an urgent phone call from the Iranian foreign minister was the reason he missed out on an official photo with visiting commissioners and other Swedish cabinet members on the waterfront outside the Stockholm City Hall.

'We have been trying to get hold of him for some time, that's why I had to take the call,' Bildt told DPA, adding no further details.

Sweden succeeds the Czech Republic, widely-considered to have held a rather shambolic presidency. It is the second time Sweden has held the presidency since joining in 1995.

The Nordic country supports enlargement of the bloc and will likely have to mediate between different views concerning Turkey's negotations to join the EU, as well as review possible means to end the border row between EU member Slovenia and Croatia that has blocked Croatia's EU entry.

Bildt said he did not believe the unexpected announcement of Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's resignation Wednesday would 'have any effect ... on that issue.'

The Swedish presidency takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing financial crisis and the threat of rising unemployment in the 27-nation bloc.

Complicating matters is also that the current commission's term expires in October. Barroso - recently endorsed by heads of European governments - is seeking a second term but needs approval from the freshly-elected European Parliament.

Both Barroso and Reinfeldt said they were in contact with leaders of various factions in the pan-European legislature.

The commissioners met Reinfeldt and other cabinet members at Stockholm City Hall, the venue used for the annual banquet held in honour of the Nobel Prize winners.

The Swedish premier later told reporters that he and Barroso had discussed 'positions on climate and how to handle the financial crisis' with regard to a European and a global process.

The global processes include an upcoming meeting in Pittsburgh, US, of the G20 - the Group of 20 richest nations.

Sweden also hopes to help forge a unified EU stance at the upcoming UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December, when participating countries will be asked to agree on substantial cuts in the emission of greenhouse gases, as of 2012.

Reinfeldt underlined the need 'to move from a coalition of willing countries' under the terms of the Kyoto protocol to a solution that in principle covers all major emitters.

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