A comprehensive statement of Sweden's intentions is contained in the programme for the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, presented by the Swedish Prime Minister to partners on 14 December last. This document, along with an extensive range of other explanatory material is available on the Swedish Presidency website – www.eu2001.se – to which I refer the Deputy for detailed information.
Sweden has set out an ambitious programme of work across the whole range of EU Council formations. However, three particular areas of enlargement, employment and the environment – the three Es – share top priority on the Swedish Government's agenda.
Now that the Intergovernmental Conference has been concluded and much of the early necessary negotiations with the candidate countries satisfactorily completed, negotiations under the Swedish Presidency will enter a more concrete phase. The Swedish Presidency has brought forward a very ambitious programme of work for negotiations with the Luxembourg and Helsinki candidates. This work programme is built upon the Commission's strategy of last November which was endorsed by the Nice European Council. It also takes fully into account the need for differentiation and flexibility in the enlargement process. Ireland fully supports the dynamic approach of the Swedish Presidency. We are anxious to play our full part in the success of the programme of work and look forward to a positive review of enlargement at the European Council in Gothenburg in June.
Full employment, economic growth and social cohesion are the EU's most important economic and social objectives. The Presidency has made it clear it will act to promote an efficient and ambitious follow-up to the meeting of the European Council in Lisbon last March and to ensure that the summit meeting in Stockholm in March contributes to further progress in areas such as employment, economic reform, innovation/IT, education, social security and welfare. It has already indicated that several issues bearing on demographic change and of importance to full employment will be discussed at the summit meeting in Stockholm. We therefore expect a very positive outcome from this European Council that will enable us to show to both Europe's citizens and the world that the Union's objectives defined at Lisbon are being taken seriously.
Sweden sees the second European Council at Gothenburg as a key milestone in the Union's efforts to define an overall sustainable development policy. A strategy for the long-term adjustment of EU policy to the needs of ecologically, economically and socially sustainable development will be tabled at that European Council. The environment formation of the Council, attended by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, will be most closely involved in preparations for this policy area.
As regards EU-Russia relations, traditional Swedish concerns derived from its geographic position, with the added dynamic of EU enlargement, will ensure that relations with Russia feature prominently on the agenda during the Swedish Presidency. The Swedish Presidency work programme stresses the significance of co-operation between the EU and Russia. Ireland supports the suggested approach of the Presidency in this area.
Additional Information.We also fully support the suggested approach of the Swedish Presidency in developing co-operation along EU borders through further development of the northern dimension programme.
Ireland supports the Swedish Presidency's priorities for the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy. We share the high priority being given to human rights and to the role of the EU in preventing and managing crises, in particular by strengthening the Union's military and civilian crisis management capabilities. Sweden's approach to conflict prevention and to co-operation with the UN and the OSCE is very much in line with Ireland's thinking. We will work closely with the Presidency to make progress in these areas.
The Swedish and succeeding Belgian Presidency have been requested to develop proposals for taking forward debate, on a wide basis, on a number of topics relating to the future development of the Union which were identified at Nice. These include the status of the charter of fundamental rights; the simplification of the treaties; the role of national Parliaments in the EU; and a catalogue of competencies outlining at what level issues are best deal with, whether at EU, national or local level. The two Presidencies are due to report to the Gothenburg and Laeken European Councils in June and December 2001, respectively, with proposals for moving ahead with this process, leading eventually to the Intergovernmental Conference in 2004. We look forward to co-operating closely with the two Presidencies, but will obviously wish to ensure that this does not distract from the priority task of securing the ratification of the Treaty of Nice. We also look forward to the active participation of the candidate countries in this process.