Paris, 3 June 2009 – Strengthening the European Union (EU) as a global actor will be high on Sweden’s list of priorities when it takes over the EU Presidency on July 1, Gunnar Lund, Swedish Ambassador to France, said on Wednesday.

Speaking for Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Bildt, he told the Assembly the country would continue its strong commitment to the development of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) which “should be seen in the light of our long tradition of contributing to international peace support operations, notably within the framework of the United Nations”.

For the ESDP, Sweden planned to take up a number of tasks, he said. On the civilian side, it will focus on the supply of personnel in member states, mission support, training and civilian-military cooperation. It aims to fully staff the rule-of-law mission EULEX Kosovo, to reach full personnel capacity in the EU police mission in Afghanistan, EUPOL Afghanistan, and to start discussions on the possible extension of the EUMM Georgia mission whose mandate expires in September.

On the military side, the Ambassador said Sweden planned to look more closely at maritime surveillance. This is “a complex domain that requires a well-coordinated approach”, while there are “obvious synergies between military and civilian maritime surveillance” and a need to “avoid duplication”. It would also like to open a discussion about “the usability and flexibility of EU Battlegroups” which play an important role in the transformation of the armed forces in many countries though they have not as yet been used.

The Swedish Presidency will concentrate on transparency and harmonisation in the defence industry so as to achieve a level playing field and a strong European Defence and Industrial Technological Base, and it will launch a debate on the future of the EU’s first maritime operation, Atalanta, off the Somali coast, which will be evaluated this month during the Czech Presidency. It will continue discussions on the future of the military operation EUFOR Althea and the police mission EUPM in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and will conclude the process of evaluating the lessons learned from the EUFOR Tchad/RCA operation. It will also work to ensure the effective integration of human rights into security and development, promote the participation of women in conflict prevention and peace support operations, and develop the EU’s mediation and dialogue capacity as part of the implementation of the European Security Strategy and the EU conflict prevention programme.

Urging ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, Mr Lund said that he welcomed its provisions for national parliaments to be involved at an earlier stage in the European legislative process. When Sweden joined the EU 15 years ago, it believed European legislation should be left to the European Parliament, but now it feels that national parliaments should also be involved.