Editors: Nadège Chambon and Jonas Eriksson*

The European Commission recently launched a discussion on the architecture of direct payments, with a view to rethinking the philosophy of agricultural regulation within the EU. The debate has been pursued under the Swedish EU Presidency. The European Commission will present a communication to launch a public debate on this theme during the summer or early autumn of 2010.

Notre Europe and SIEPS therefore invited specialists, policy-makers, Commission officials and researchers to a seminar in Stockholm on 16 September 2009, to discuss the question, “Which Common Policy for Agriculture and Rural Areas beyond 2013?” As regards substance the report follows the structure and content of the seminar: Rolf Eriksson, State Secretary at the Swedish Ministry of Agriculture, outlined the Swedish Presidency’s work on CAP reform, after which a morning panel discussed the role of the CAP in European integration. A second panel concluded the seminar by discussing how to improve the regulation of agriculture beyond 2013.

Author: Per Lundborg*

Circular migration has become a central concept for the future EU migration policy, implying that migrants should be encouraged to move repeatedly between the country of origin and the host country. The basic purpose is to utilise international labour mobility to make both countries’ economies more efficient. The author discusses problems of specific migration policies to stimulate mobility based on a review of the relevant literature.

Editors: Fredrik Langdal and Göran von Sydow

In order to better understand the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, SIEPS invited a number of experts on the European Union from different member states. They were asked to write short analytical texts on how the Presidency has succeeded in relation to expectations and ambitions. The judgments are however provisional as they cover the developments up until November 2009. SIEPS’ researchers Fredrik Langdal and Göran von Sydow have edited the volume and written an introduction to the texts. The publication The Swedish Presidency: European Perspectives is part of an on-going project where SIEPS analyses the rotating presidency of the EU.

The contributors highlight the handling of the Lisbon Treaty and the institutional questions and underline the importance of the outcome of the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen for the legacy of the Presidency.

Author: Anna Michalski

The Eastern Partnership (EaP) was launched in May this year as a strengthened policy framework between the European Union and six countries in Eastern Europe and southern Caucasus. The overall aim of the partnership is to ensure stability and prosperity in a region that is characterized by stalled socio-economic and democratic reforms as well as ethnic tension and even armed conflict.

In this context the EU offers closer relations based on deep and comprehensive free trade and regulatory alignment while foreign policy and security cooperation remains rather undeveloped. Will the EU’s approach be solid enough to engage constructively with the EaP countries and their big neighbour in the East?