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 financial and economic crisis, the constitutional and institutional uncertainties and the climate change issue will dominate the Swedish EU Presidency. This European Policy Analysis outlines, in turn, the European and global context; the tasks and roles of the presidency; and the priorities of the Swedish government for its stint at the helm of the European Union.

The Swedish EU Presidency during the second half of 2009 will be constrained by a number of external factors such as the investiture of a new Commission, a newly elected European Parliament and it will probably be held under constitutional uncertainty. Nonetheless, the Swedish Government will want to make a mark on the priorities of the European Union during the Presidency.

SIEPS’ annual conference 2006 was held on the theme Why Europe? Possibilities and limits of European integration. The focus of the conference was the consequences of the failure to ratify the Constitutional Treaty from different scholarly perspectives.

Issue 4 of the European Policy Analysis deals with the mandate to the reform treaty agreed at the European Council meeting on 23 June 2007. The new treaty represents a new attempt to give the EU new tools to address future challenges.

In connection with the conclusions reached at the meeting of the European Council in Nice in 2000, it was stated that a clearer distribution of decision-making powers between the EU and its member states should be discussed. A catalogue of competences defines who, or which level, has the authority to make decisions on specific matters.