A post-mortem of Sweden's six month presidency of the EU drew praise from across the floor of the European Parliament Wednesday morning (16 December). Climate change, the Lisbon treaty and the economic crisis all featured strongly in the last six months and in the debate.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt led told the House that when the Swedish presidency took over on the 1 July there was a new Parliament, no confirmed Commission President of EC and an Irish referendum ahead. "It was not clear whether the Lisbon Treaty would be ratified by all member states and whether it could enter into force during the Swedish presidency. Then the drama unravelled."
Praise came from the European Commission with its President José Manuel Barroso saying that of the 11 presidencies he had dealt with, the Swedish one would definitely "be on the podium".
"Verifiable commitments at Copenhagen"
The leader of the largest political grouping in the Parliament, Joseph Daul of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) congratulated Mr Reinfeldt on the "honest and responsible way" Sweden had chaired the Council of Ministers.
On the Copenhagen climate summit Mr Daul called for "verifiable commitments which are linked to financial sanctions in the case of violation".
Speaking about the Commission's "Europe 2020" plan for job creation and a green economy he warned against repeating the mistakes of the Lisbon Strategy to make the EU the most competitive economy in the world by 2010, which was based on "unrealistic objectives". He said he hoped it would not be a lot of "smoke".
Mr Sarkozy, Ms Merkel kept cards" very close to their chests"
Martin Schulz for the centre-left Socialist and Democrats group (S&D) said the rotating Presidency had not allowed Stockholm to exercise enough influence on issues like Copenhagen.
He said the Swedish presidency had also to "experience once again that Mr Sarkozy and Ms Merkel kept the cards very close to their chests and people were saying - the prime minister of Sweden does not know what is going on."
For the Liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrat in Europe (ALDE) their leader, former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt said the EU should follow the strategy of close cooperation between Europe, the US and China because if these three agree, "you have a proper basis to convince others". He also said that the Union should up its existing offer of 20% greenhouse gas cuts and make it 30% by 2020.
Mr Barroso said at the last European Council he felt "there was a strong shared sense that everyone has an interest in the EU pulling its weight". He urged action on climate change saying: "We cannot negotiate with science, we cannot negotiate with physics."
2°C reduction goal "a mission impossible"
For the Greens and European Free Alliance party, Rebecca Harms underlined that "the 2°C goal will be a mission impossible, if the Europeans stick to their current offers. The reduction target is simply not enough. At the same time, Europeans have all the loopholes wide open and a reduction policy is going to be avoided at home".
For the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party, Michał Kamínski thanked the Swedish prime minister for avoiding "the temptation of being populist in a time of crisis". On the other hand he regretted the lack of support for Israel during the whole six months.
Lothar Bisky for the European United Left and the Nordic Green left (GUE/NGL) criticised that a new strategy that carries on with the Lisbon strategy "that so far has failed". He said that now is the time to start a new debate and to focus on "people's social needs rather than on economic profit".
For the Europe for Freedom and Democracy group (EFD) Mario Borghezio criticised the Swedish Presidency for not doing a lot on illegal immigration, refugees and organised crime and for statements condemning the Swiss referendum on minarets.
