Sweden Says No Miracles During EU Presidency

At the top of the Swedish programme is the financial crisis, the upcoming climate negotiations as well as several institutional issues. Many questions were posed from journalists of countries hoping to get to join the EU. According to Swedish news agency TT, Bildt believes their expectations are slightly too high.

”Miracles are just not on our agenda", Bildt said to TT.

For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, the Presidency will entail conducting and hosting some 30 meetings in Sweden and more than 200 meetings around the world - in Brussels, New York, Geneva and in many other places.

Two summit meetings - chaired by the Prime Minister - will be held in Stockholm during the Presidency: one between the EU and Russia and the other between the EU and Brazil. Five other summits are scheduled to take place in other countries under Sweden's EU leadership.

As EU Presidency country, Sweden will take on many important issues and challenges in the area of foreign and security policy as well as in development and trade.

This demands a great deal in terms of preparedness to deal with the unexpected, flexibility and the ability to coordinate EU action in crisis situations.
Informal meeting of foreign ministers on 4-5 September

In addition to the regular meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC), EU foreign ministers meet once every six months at an informal meeting in the country holding the Presidency. This is sometimes called a 'Gymnich' as the first meeting was held at Gymnich Castle, north of Bonn, during the German Presidency in 1974.

During Sweden's Presidency, the 27 EU foreign ministers will meet in Stockholm on 4-5 September. The foreign ministers from the candidate countries - Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey - will attend the second day of the meeting.

No decisions are taken at informal meetings. Instead, the purpose is to enable the foreign ministers to meet more informally to discuss current issues of common interest.
EU forum for aid and development issues meets in Stockholm

Sweden, as EU Presidency country, will host the European Development Days (EDD) jointly with the European Commission. The EDD, the annual EU event on aid and development, will be held this year on 22-24 October at the Stockholm International Fairs in Älvsjö. With several thousand delegates, it will be the largest meeting under the Swedish Presidency.
Meetings with international organisations and non-EU Member States

Sweden will speak for the EU at a large number of 'third country meetings' in Brussels, New York, Stockholm and many other places. These meetings are held within the framework of the EU's external affairs and extensive cooperation with non-EU Member States.

This is a significant responsibility for Sweden during its six-month Presidency. Close to 250 meetings with non-EU Member States are expected to be held at different levels, from summit and ministerial level to senior official and expert level.

Seven summits are scheduled during the Swedish Presidency, two of which will be held in Sweden: EU-Russian and EU-Brazil.

The other planned summits are: EU-China, EU-India, EU-South Africa, EU-Ukraine and EU-USA. These will be held in the respective countries.
The EU NGO Forum on Human Rights

On 6-7 July some 150 NGOs, government representatives, international organisations and EU institutions will meet in Solna, near Stockholm, to discuss issues related to this year's theme, which is the rights of the child and combating violence against children. The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the European Commission will co-host the meeting.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Against this backdrop, the meeting will take a closer look at the rights of the child, more specifically at corporal punishment of children, EU Guidelines on the Rights of the Child and their application as regards violence against children, and the issue of violence against children in societies that are affected, or have been affected, by conflict.

By Radio Sweden and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden