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.
At the meeting of the Competitiveness Council on 24–25 September, the ministers will discuss the EU’s future innovation policy, measures to improve the internal market and the Member States’ work to implement the Services Directive. The ministers will also hold a general discussion on simplified regulation for ‘micro-businesses’. Also on the agenda are the European Research Area, common reporting of consumer complaints and the enforcement of consumer protection legislation.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt has a packed schedule of meetings during his week in New York. Between Saturday 19 September and Monday 28 September, Mr Bildt will have had around fifty different meetings in various constellations. The Minister for Foreign Affairs will meet US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Turkish foreign minister and many others.
Sir Michael Barber, an expert on schoolschooling, is one of the speakers at the informal meeting of education ministers in Göteborg. In one study, he noted that three things are of crucial importance to create successful schools: persuading the best students to choose the teaching profession, making teachers more effective in their teaching role and providing students with the right education based on their abilities. In his speech, Sir Michael Barber focused on the responsibility of head teachers in this work.
The political leaders of 19 countries and the EU, which together represent 85 per cent of the world economy, are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the autumn’s G20 summit. US President Barack Obama is the host, and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Minister for Finance Anders Borg and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso are representing the EU at the summit.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Minister for Finance Anders Borg have just returned home from the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh where they, together with the European Commission José Manuel Barroso represented the EU when the leaders of the largest economies of the world met. They give their view of the discussions in Pittsburgh in an article in Svenska Dagbladet.
The EU Troika meeting with Iraq was held on 26 September at the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations in New York. Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt opened the meeting by offering his condolences to the Iraqi Government for the bombing that killed some 70 people in Baghdad in September. The Troika meetings that are held in connection with the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York tend to focus on the domestic political situation in Iraq.
Between 30 September and 1 October, the EU Forest Directors-General will be meeting just outside of Göteborg to discuss the issue of forestry and climate. One of the participants will be Lars Olsson who normally works as head of the Agriculture and Forestry Division at the Ministry of Agriculture.
On Thursday the informal meeting of finance ministers begins in Göteborg. The meeting is held over two days, 1 and 2 October. The EU’s finance ministers and governors of central banks will discuss how countries can restore good order to the public finances when the need for support measures recedes. They will also talk about how the EU can create a framework to prevent a similarly widespread crisis from happening again.
It will soon be time for Linda Wallberg to address the UN General Assembly in New York. Sweden’s youth representative tells us about her speech and the importance of young people's involvement. "It feels exciting. And I haven’t had time to get nervous yet," says Linda Wallberg.
