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On paper and in the obligatory media briefings, everything looks the same. Sweden, a reliable net contributor, vouches for a solid and constructive Council Presidency as Council President.
“The Prime Minister and I are both big EU fans,” said Sweden’s conservative Europe Minister Jessika Roswall when presenting Sweden’s most important priorities for the next six months: security, climate protection and democracy. Indeed, no controversial concerns given current challenges.
Sweden becomes a stumbling block
And yet Sweden and with it Europe are facing a politically uncertain six months. And not just because of the Russian war of aggression against the EU candidate country Ukraine, the measures required to meet global climate goals and the ongoing waves of refugees from international crisis areas.
No, for the first time since the people decided to join the EU in the mid-1990s, the Swedish government and its program are itself a stumbling block.
Power deal with the post-fascists
Let’s remember: in the parliamentary elections three months ago, neither the previous social-democratic government nor the middle-class opposition got a majority in the Swedish parliament. Instead, three bourgeois election losers made a political deal with the post-fascist Sweden Democrats: government power against government program.
Or to put it another way: the Sweden Democrats support a minority government led by Ulf Kristersson against promises to implement large parts of the political program of the Sweden Democrats.
Less climate protection, higher border hurdles
And because the political goals of the Sweden Democrats have little in common with the common requirements in the EU, a politically inexperienced country is now taking over the presidency of the Union, whose domestic government program not only amounts to a watering down of the climate goals, but also Sweden with various – constitutionally problematic in some cases – wants to make measures one of the least attractive immigration countries in Europe.
In a headlock in Ankara
After more than 200 years of neutrality policy, which in the last 30 years has been combined with an active foreign policy within the framework of the EU, Sweden is also in the forecourt of the NATO military alliance – and will probably have to remain there until the end of the EU Council Presidency.
Meanwhile, the Nordic country — long a strong global voice for human rights and democracy — is coming under increasing pressure from authoritarian NATO member Turkey.
The bottom line: the conditions for a solid, predictable and constructive EU Council Presidency were more favorable, especially in the case of Sweden.