First day of Swedish EU Presidency
Cecilia Malmström, Minister of European Affairs (Sweden)
It’s 1 July, the first day of the Swedish presidency of the European Union. I’m looking forward to some challenging and exciting six months, that will require a lot of hard work and creative leadership.
It’s no secret that Sweden will be leading Europe in a difficult time. The European Union is facing a number of challenges, and the presidency will work under very specific conditions. But we are not afraid of taking up the challenge. The presidency’s ambition is to achieve results on a range of issues where citizens expect the Union to deliver. While working to create better conditions for growth and jobs, we will also need to unite the world in the struggle against climate change.
The Swedish presidency will be officially opened at the open-air museum Skansen in Stockholm tonight, with world class artists performing music, dance and acrobatics. The ceremony will be held in presence of The King and The Queen, the Swedish government and the European Commission. Czech EU Minister Stefan Füle will be to hand over a glass baton to me, marking the transfer of the presidency between our two countries. Everyone is welcome to the opening ceremony at Skansen at 6.30pm!
As from today, I will use this blog to tell readers about the work of the Swedish presidency and to comment on debates, meetings and other current developments within the European Union. I hope you will join me during the next six months!
By Cecilia Malmström, Swedish Minister for European Affairs (Folkpartiet Liberalerna)
Tags: climate change, EU Presidency, growth, jobs
July 2nd, 2009 at 15:19
On behalf of the Liberal Party of Malta - Alleanza Liberali - I congratulate Sweden for having the Presidency of the European Union and wish that Sweden will do its utmost to see that Malta will have the same rights as other Nordic European countries, especially a divorce law which we the Maltese has been struggling for and still do not have.
Malta is so backwards in civil rights as the two main political parties are afraid of the Catholic Church, that not to lose votes they keep the Maltese citezens deprived of progressive laws such as divorce, gay marriages and rights and abortion.
So while wishing the Swedish Precidency of the European Union a great success we in Malta are very hopeful that with the help of the most progressive country in the European Union (Sweden) we, the Maltese will attain such rights as I mentioned. Thanks for all the support Malta is obtaining from the European Union.