Whatever the European Union’s institutional situation may be (with or without the Lisbon Treaty), there is one area where the Swedish EU Presidency will lead: ensuring the Union secures a new international agreement in Copenhagen on climate change. Stockholm has announced two other priorities on environment policy - biodiversity protection and development of a sustainable economy based on eco-efficiency – both of which are closely related to climate.

COPENHAGEN: NO PLAN B

The climate and the international negotiations for a post-Kyoto agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will therefore be the key thrust of the Presidency’s action. Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren admits that the task ahead will not be easy. The Union, he noted on 26 June in Brussels, hopes to conclude an “ambitious” agreement in Copenhagen, in response to the experts’ recommendations to restrict global warming to less than +2°C compared with the pre-industrial age. “We need this agreement. There is no alternative, no plan B,” the minister explains. “The Swedish EU Presidency will lead the EU in the last straight leading to its conclusion. And the more successful the Copenhagen conference, the more ambitious the agreement, the greater the task of implementing it by the following Presidencies, starting with Spain and Belgium,” he added. The EU’s positions are known. There remains the matter of financing aid to the developing countries. Andreas Carlgren confirmed that a figure would not be ready until the end of October. The Council president considers that, at this stage, it is not the figures that matter for getting the negotiations moving, but the development of a viable financial architecture instead.

Time is of the essence, he adds, confirming that there are few negotiating sessions left (three or four weeks) in the run-up to Copenhagen. So, the Presidency will continue preparatory work in the Council as well as multi and bilateral consultations. The October European Council will issue a mandate, but the EU’s final position will be adopted at the Environment Council, on 23 October. Carlgren is willing to organise special meetings if necessary. As his predecessor, Martin Bursik, did at the informal Council in Prague (16 April), Carlgren spells things out clearly: “The environment ministers have overall responsibility for the climate negotiations. Other Council configurations, including the Ecofin Council, have their say but we and we alone are responsible for coordination and speaking with a single voice on behalf of the EU.”

BIODIVERSITY

Apart from the fact that biodiversity is of crucial importance for the environment, the climate (extinction of species, forest degradation, resilience of ecosystems to climate change) and the socio-economic sphere, internal and international target dates are pushing this issue to the fore. Internally, the EU has set the target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010. Although it is already clear that it will not meet this goal, the European Commission must present, in the autumn an assessment of the Community action plan in this area and as detailed an evaluation as possible of the situation. It will then have to propose a new strategy and new objectives in 2010. The Swedish Presidency plans to follow the issue closely and to launch the debate on the post-2010 policy, particularly since these internal options will underpin the position the Union will defend at the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity in October 2010. The Council is expected to be in a position to adopt conclusions in December.

GREENING THE ECONOMY

The third priority for Sweden is setting Europe on track for making its economy ‘greener’ and more eco-efficient. Stockholm has endorsed the message put out long ago by the European Commission, namely that environmental protection is not incompatible with economic development. On the contrary, notes Carlgren, if there is a connection between the current economic crisis and the environment, it is that the environment is a way of tackling the crisis. There is a need to develop clean technologies and energy efficiency and to boost investment in research and these sectors. In short, to ‘green’ the economy. Several texts in this area are awaiting second reading. Sweden will try to push them through (but is dependent on the European Parliament’s calendar). ‘Greening’ of the economy, like the climate, will be the focus of debates at the informal meetings of energy and environment ministers (23-25 July, Åre, Sweden).

BALTIC SEA STRATEGY

Not surprisingly, Sweden places the Baltic Sea strategy among its priorities. It will initiate the debate on the basis of the communication presented by the Commission, on 10 June. Stockholm finds that this issue should serve as an example, showing the other European regions how a polluted zone with numerous problems can be restored to a sound ecological status while giving a boost to its economic development through an integrated approach at the level of a macro-region. Stockholm hopes to have the new EU strategy endorsed at the October European Council.