European Foreign Ministers must make a real contribution to achieve a deal at Copenhagen.

Twenty per cent of children in the EU do not possess adequate literacy skills. Unemployment levels among young people are more than twice that of the rest of the population. Through EU cooperation, challenges such as these are can be better addressed, said Swedish Minister for Youth Policy Nyamko Sabuni in her speech at the ongoing conference on EU youth policy.

Today is the first day of the high-level conference on sustainable urban development. Elisabet Falemo, who is State Secretary at the Ministry of the Environment, will take part in the conference.

EU heads of state and government will meet for an extra informal meeting in Brussels on Thursday. The invitations from Fredrik Reinfeldt have been sent out today. The purpose of the meeting is to coordinate the EU's position ahead of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.

Today the European Parliament approved José Manuel Barroso as President of the European Commission.

When the EU’s ministers for migration meet in Brussels on 21 September, a discussion on a common EU programme for resettlement will be high on the agenda. Other issues that the ministers will discuss are the problem of children who come to the EU without their guardians and the Free Movement Directive, which regulates free movement for citizens of EU countries and their families. Sweden’s Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy Tobias Billström will chair the meeting.

Today the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, President of Estonia Toomas Ilves, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and other representatives of the EU Member States gathered in Stockholm. On the agenda was the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, as well as other similar initiatives in other regions of the EU.

Today, the first Justice and Home affairs council of the Swedish Presidency was chaired by Tobias Billström, Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy. The main point on the agenda was the Commission initiative on a joint EU resettlement programme.