Sweden assumes the presidency of the EU with Ukraine still very present and challenges in immigration and energy

BRUSELAS, 31 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Sweden will assume the rotating presidency of the European Union for six months on January 1, for which priorities have been set to strengthen the bloc's security, advance in the ecological transition, reinvigorate the competitiveness of European companies and strengthen the rule of law; although the agenda will inevitably be marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the need to reform the common migration policy after years of paralysis.

"The Union that became synonymous with peace, freedom and trade now lives alongside the kind of war that once created the very need for the EU. The war will have decisive repercussions for the Swedish presidency," the Swedish president warned in a recent speech. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

For this reason, Sweden, which hopes to complete the process for its entry into NATO, places the security of the European Union at the top of the priorities for the semester, both from the unwavering support for Ukraine against Russia and from the need to reinforce the geopolitical weight of the Twenty-seven, in an "increasingly insecure" world.

It will also do so after the end of the year in which Hungary shook the unity of the bloc with what a senior diplomat defined as "blackmail diplomacy" for maintaining successive vetoes for weeks that endangered key decisions such as the latest package of sanctions against Russia. or the aid of 18,000 million to Ukraine for 2023.

The European Union is also committed to building solid economic relations with "reliable" partners that will allow it to leave behind, for example, its energy dependence on Russia or break with China as the main supplier of raw materials, for which 2023 will be key to progress in the completion of free trade agreements with countries such as Mexico, New Zealand or the Mercosur bloc.

The need for a profound reform of the energy market will be another of the great debates that will mark the first half of 2023 after the urgent intervention measures that the Twenty-seven have negotiated during this year to contain the rising prices of energy.

It will also be an important semester for relations after a first rapprochement with Donald Trump's replacement in the White House, but which are once again strained by the Biden Administration's Law to Reduce Inflation, which provides billions in subsidies for key sectors such as that of the automobile but that the EU considers "unacceptable" for discriminating against its companies.

Another of the issues that will mark the agenda of the countries of the European Union during the semester that Sweden will coordinate is migration management in the face of the reactivation of irregular entry routes from the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean.

The European Union has dragged on since the so-called 'refugee crisis' of 2015 the need to resolve the deep differences between partners regarding the way in which to face the migratory pressure and share the weight of the burden of receiving those who arrive irregularly and those who requesting international protection upon arrival.

After several rejected proposals, the Twenty-seven have kept on the table for two years the reform proposal of the European Commission to agree on a "Migration and Asylum Pact" with which to agree on the balance between responsibility and solidarity that satisfies all the capitals.

The agreement remains stagnant on fundamental issues, but in recent months the countries have managed to come closer to positions on elements necessary to move forward and agree on the interest of reinforcing control of the external border and convincing third countries to expedite the deportations of those who arrive irregularly to the EU.

The way in which to deal with the increase in arrivals has been the reason for serious friction between the partners during the end of 2022, for example due to the refusal of the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni to allow the disembarkation in Italian ports of migrants rescued on the high seas that collided with the censorship of the Government of Emmanuel Macron, who announced the suspension of his participation in a voluntary European program for the reception of asylum seekers.

The veto of Austria and the Netherlands to Romania and Bulgaria's entry into the Schengen area without borders, despite having the support of the European Commission for a decade and the support of the rest of the partners, is another element that remains pending and that the European Union has promised to resolve in the first months of 2023.

Likewise, it will correspond to the Swedish presidency to prepare the first discussions for Twenty-seven on the recent request for accession to the EU of Kosovo, a territory whose independence is not recognized by five countries, including Spain, since the decision of the Member States will depend on when to ask the Brussels an evaluation on the request.