On Wednesday 9 September, the Council Working Parties on Disarmament (CODUN) and Non-Proliferation (CONOP) took part in the EU troika meeting with the United States in Brussels. Christer Ahlström, Head of the Department for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (NIS) at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, was present.

NIS has four Council Working Parties to chair during the Swedish Presidency of the EU, Mr Ahlström tells us. CONOP and CODUN are two of them. CONOP works on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. CODUN focuses on disarmament negotiations, primarily within the framework of the UN. Mr Ahlström explains that the Council Working Parties meet regularly in ‘troika meetings’. The troika includes the Presidency of the EU, the Council Secretariat and the incoming Presidency, as well as a number of representatives from the Commission. Once during each Presidency there is normally a troika meeting with Russia or the United States. The meeting Mr Ahlström took part in was such a meeting.

Mr Ahlström says that Sweden is always part of the Council Working Parties, the difference now being that Sweden is chairing them.
“You have to think from a Presidency perspective and be sure to advocate harmonised action on the part of the EU in the issues that arise,” he says.
In its role as Presidency, Sweden set the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting. It is the Presidency country that places issues on the agenda and submits proposals for which positions the EU should adopt.

Issues concerning nuclear weapons, biological and chemical weapons, and conventional weapons, as well as regional issues such as North Korea’s nuclear weapon programme, were all included in the agenda.
“These are very technical issues we are dealing with, but you have to remember that what lies behind all the technicalities is politics,” says Mr Ahlström.