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Sweden takes over EU presidency (1st Lead)
Jul 1, 2009, 8:14 GMT
Stockholm - Sweden on Wednesday took over the rotating presidency of the European Union.
As part of events marking the launch of the six-month presidency, the European Commmission headed by President Jose Manuel Barroso was due to visit Stockholm on Wednesday for meetings with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and other cabinet members.
Barroso and other commissioners were also due to meet Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Sweden succeeds the Czech Republic, and it is the second time the country has held the presidency since it joined the bloc in 1995.
Priorities for the Swedish EU presidency include tackling the ramifications of the global financial crisis and rising unemployment in the 27-nation bloc.
Sweden also hopes to help forge a unified EU stance at the upcoming UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December, when participating countries will be asked to agree on substantial cuts in the emission of dangerous greenhouse gases, as of 2012.
Compared to the Kyoto protocol it is necessary 'to move from a coalition of willing countries that only account for 30 per cent of global emissions to a solution that in principle covers all countries,' Reinfeldt said on Swedish breakfast radio.
'This requires that all countries, above all the United States and China I would say, adjust their thinking and their economy,' he added.
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