Sweden demands EU role for leaders of future presidency countries - by Lucia Kubosova
Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt has said the EU should outline a list of co-chairing tasks for leaders of future presidency countries after the new post of EU president is established. Speaking to journalists after his address to the European Parliament on Tuesday (19 February), the Mr Reinfeldt suggested that if there is no role for EU leaders in the future, it could have a negative impact on their engagement with the bloc's agenda.
Mr Reinfeldt, for his part, insisted that enlargement is "close to the hearts of the Swedish people," arguing it should not be marred by "critical voices" from some quarters. "Without continuing enlargement, we would run the risk of instability on our own continent. Enlargement is the most important strategic instrument for disseminating the values that European cooperation is founded on," he said. "We demolished one wall in Europe. We should not start building a new wall against Turkey or other European countries." Some criticised the fact that different countries publicly hold very different positions on EU membership hopefuls. "You should speak to your colleague Sarkozy about Turkey," said the leader of the Socialists, Martin Schulz. "It can't go on like this, with different prime ministers sending different messages" to candidate countries, said the German MEP.
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