-It is firstly a question of leading the EU through the financial and economic crisis, dealing with unemployment in Europe and continuing the work to tackle climate change, Sweden’s Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeld said few days before his government took over the chairmanship of the EU from the Czech Republic.
-These two priorities will dominate our Presidency, the Prime Minister said a week before becoming the leading EU statesman for the next six months, a press release from the Swedish Government reads.
The focus on climate change might also bring enhanced Swedish attention to the Arctic, the area where climate change is unfolding more rapidly than any other place in the world. That might make Sweden in its presidency seek to facilitate also enhanced cooperation between the countries located in the far northern region. As reported previously by BarentsObsever, Sweden will from October 2009 also take over the chairmanship of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and might through that body seek to facilitate joint Arctic action on climate change issues.
