The Swedish EU Presidency

1.55.43pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 5th Jul 2009

On 1 July 2009, Sweden took over the Presidency of the EU. Their website tells us that this means that for six months, Sweden will lead the EU's work and be responsible for moving important EU issues forward. The Presidency of the Council rotates between the Member States on a half-yearly basis. The country presiding over the Council functions as the driving force in the EU's legislative and political decision-making process. Read on for Sweden's stated aims.

According to the website -

It is the Government's ambition that Sweden should be an involved and proactive force in the EU. The Government's aims for the Presidency are as follows:

•The Government will conduct an effective, open and results-oriented Presidency in the interests of the whole of Europe.

•The Government will advance the EU's common issues and Sweden's priority issues.

•The Government will strengthen Sweden's role in the EU, serve the EU's interests and strengthen the EU's role as a global actor.

The Government has high ambitions for the Presidency. At the same time, it is important to have realistic expectations of what the country holding the Presidency can do in its six months. The Presidency will "inherit" a large portion of its agenda, since most of the matters to be dealt with by the EU in the second half of 2009 will already have opened before our Presidency. The country holding the Presidency must also be prepared to deal with unexpected events and therefore has limited opportunities to pursue its own issues.

See http://www.se2009.eu/en for more details