Stockholm - Iran, climate talks, the global economic crisis
and the unexpected resignation of Croatia's Prime Minister Ivo
Sanader were topics occupying diplomatic circles Wednesday, as Sweden
took over the rotating presidency of the European Union.
The EU is closely following events in Iran but has no immediate
plans to recall diplomats from Tehran, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik
Reinfeldt said.
Street protests in Iran were 'a clear message' that the Iranian
people were calling for reforms and freedom, Reinfeldt said at a
joint news conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso.
Barroso and other members of the executive European Commission
visited the Swedish capital, Stockholm, as part of events marking the
launch of the six-month presidency.
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told the German Press Agency dpa that
an urgent phone call from the Iranian foreign minister was the reason
he missed out on an official photo with visiting commissioners and
other Swedish cabinet members on the waterfront outside the Stockholm
City Hall.
'We have been trying to get hold of him for some time, that's why
I had to take the call,' Bildt told dpa, adding no further details.
Sweden succeeds the Czech Republic, widely-considered to have held
a rather shambolic presidency. It is the second time Sweden has held
the presidency since joining in 1995.
The Nordic country supports enlargement of the bloc and will
likely have to mediate between different views concerning Turkey's
negotations to join the EU, as well as review possible means to end
the border row between EU member Slovenia and Croatia that has
blocked Croatia's EU entry.
Bildt told dpa that he did not believe that the unexpected
resignation announcement Wednesday of Croatian Prime Minister Ivo
Sanader would 'have any effect ... on that issue.'
The Swedish presidency takes place against the backdrop of the
ongoing financial crisis and the threat of rising unemployment in the
27-nation bloc.
Complicating matters is also that the current commission's term
expires in October. Barroso - recently endorsed by heads of European
governments - is seeking a second term but needs approval from the
freshly-elected European Parliament.
Both Barroso and Reinfeldt said they were in contact with leaders
of the various factions in the pan-European legislature.
The commissioners met with Reinfeldt and other cabinet members at
Stockholm City Hall, the venue used for the annual banquet held in
honour of the Nobel Prize winners.
The Swedish premier later told reporters that he and Barroso had
discussed 'positions on climate and how to handle the financial
crisis' with regard to a European process and a global process.
The global processes include an upcoming meeting in Pittsburgh,
US, of the G20 - the Group of 20 richest nations.
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 greenhouse gases, as of 2012.
Reinfeldt underlined the need 'to move from a coalition of willing
countries' under the terms of the Kyoto protocol to a solution that
in principle covers all major emitters.
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