The Swedes Europe must know – POLITICO

Sweden’s time period on the helm of the Council of the European Union appears set to be notably difficult, because of a brewing financial disaster created by the battle in Ukraine and a packed legislative agenda. Getting nations to return to an settlement on a bunch of recordsdata with the tip of the Fee and European Parliament’s time period in workplace quick approaching will take supreme diplomatic abilities.

Listed below are the folks Europe must know forward of the Swedish presidency.

Lars Danielsson: Chief negotiator 

Because the Swedish ambassador to the European Union, Danielsson will steer the Swedish ship by means of the nation’s third presidency of the Council of the EU. The profession diplomat with greater than 4 a long time of expertise will lead 200 officers in Brussels in tackling a few of Europe’s most urgent challenges, together with maintaining the bloc united in its help for Ukraine and limiting the rise of power costs, in addition to dozens of different legal guidelines within the making.

Danielsson isn’t any stranger to brokering European offers on controversial points. The previous state secretary for EU affairs led his nation’s first presidency in 2001, when Sweden labored on getting nations like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into the EU. 

Past the EU, Danielsson has gained diplomatic expertise in Geneva, on the United Nations, Beijing, Hong Kong and Seoul. He additionally is aware of Stockholm’s political corridors very properly: He was twice a international coverage adviser to prime ministers. 

He’ll want all of that know-how to navigate what is going to seemingly show to be a tough presidency. With the European election across the nook in 2024, Sweden’s prime diplomat in Brussels since 2016 and his groups should work twice as onerous to finalize dozens of legal guidelines below the instructions of a brand new authorities in Stockholm.  

“The problem for us is to not be submerged by disaster administration,” Danielsson advised a European Coverage Centre occasion in November. 

Jessika Roswall: First-time European minister 

Roswall has made her objectives as Sweden’s new European affairs minister clear: turning her nation right into a “main pressure to be reckoned with” once more.

A former lawyer specializing in household and felony regulation, Roswall was elected to Sweden’s parliament from the center-right Average Occasion in 2010. Rising up by means of the ranks, she grew to become the get together’s spokesperson on EU relations in 2019. She’s additionally a eager (and classy) skier who has competed for the parliament’s ski group.

The free-trade defender who grew to become a minister for the primary time in October may have little time to organize for her function within the EU presidency however has said that she felt “as ready as may be.” Roswall, who additionally counts Nordic affairs in her portfolio, will work inside the prime minister’s workplace.  

She is going to search to push ahead Sweden’s priorities: stepping up safety for EU residents; stopping organized crime; accelerating efforts to restrict local weather change; doubling down on the EU’s competitiveness; and defending the Union’s elementary values. 

Roswall has mentioned that whereas Sweden is predicted to be neutral, there will probably be room “to place a sure nationwide stamp on the presidency and to concentrate on points which are within the pursuits of each Sweden and Europe.” 

There are considerations in Brussels although that this “nationwide stamp” will include a far-right slant, since Roswall’s coalition authorities depends on help in parliament from the Euroskeptic Sweden Democrats. 

Christian Danielsson: Veteran EU adviser 

As state secretary to the EU affairs minister, Danielsson will act as Roswall’s adviser and can work on the coordination of the Swedish presidency of the Council of the EU.

Danielsson is a Brussels bubble veteran: He has labored in all three EU establishments and has constructed a cumbersome contacts e-book within the course of.

He was answerable for enlargement, or accepting new member nations to the bloc, throughout his nation’s first presidency in 2001. And he was Sweden’s everlasting consultant to the EU throughout the nation’s second presidency in 2009. 

In 2021, he was requested by European Council President Charles Michel to grow to be his envoy to supervise delicate mediation talks in Georgia to resolve a political standoff between the federal government and opposition leaders. The brokered deal was hailed as a hit.

The nomination got here after working because the Fee director common for neighborhood and enlargement negotiations (DG NEAR). He was additionally deputy head of Cupboard for European Fee Vice President Günter Verheugen, accountable for relations with Turkey and competitiveness. Earlier than turning into state secretary, he was head of the European Fee’s Illustration in Sweden. 

Ylva Johansson: Bullish commissioner

Sweden’s Commissioner for Dwelling Affairs Johansson will characteristic prominently throughout her nation’s presidency. Although she is a social democrat, she has embraced a lot of Stockholm’s new priorities, from preventing organized crime to securing the European Union’s exterior borders and serving to Ukrainian refugees within the bloc.  

Johansson has ample understanding of the inside workings of Swedish politics as a former lawmaker. She has additionally been minister for employment and integration, minister for well being and colleges minister.  

In Brussels, she has constructed a repute as a bullish politician, pushing for her recordsdata to offer extra energy to Europol and battle baby sexual abuse materials on-line. Her combative method has labored properly: She was instrumental within the swift intervention by the Fee to safe a historic deal to offer protections and rights to Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn nation.

Away from politics, Johansson is an honorary member of Hammarby soccer membership in Stockholm — although she additionally seems to have a comfortable spot for Liverpool.

Johansson can even depend on her head of Cupboard, Åsa Webber. A Brussels insider, Webber began working on the Swedish everlasting illustration in 2005 and was the deputy everlasting consultant to the EU from 2014 to 2019. 

Gertrud Ingestad: HR chief

Wish to safe a lofty and highly effective job on the European Fee? It will not harm to be on good phrases with Gertrud Ingestad, director common for human assets and safety.

The Swede has, since 2020, been overseeing the recruitment coverage, coaching and dealing situations for round 32,000 everlasting and contract workers on the European Fee. 

Ingestad bought her foot within the Fee door in 1995, when she began as a translator. Earlier than turning into the Fee’s HR chief, she headed the IT division at a time when 82 p.c of adviser-level workers had been males. 

She took over the human assets helm on the day Belgium entered its first lockdown to comprise the coronavirus pandemic. She has since led work coverage adjustments to nudge Eurocrats to bid goodbye to their workplaces — that is concerned ramping up teleworking and using shared desks in open-plan flooring.

A few of her objectives have been to extend gender parity within the Fee, enhance using digital instruments and make the establishment local weather impartial by 2030. Because the Fee begins imposing sweeping tech legal guidelines just like the Digital Providers Act, Ingestad can even have to draw one of the best candidates to do it. 

In the event you encounter Ingestad with a shotgun and a pack of hounds, do not be (too) alarmed. She hunts recreation birds along with her three short-haired Weimaraner searching canine: Viktor, Max and Charly.

Jessica Polfjärd, Karin Karlsbro, Sara Skyttedal: The European Parliament trio

Out of Sweden’s 21 representatives within the European parliament, three European lawmakers hailing from political events within the coalition authorities have been engaged on essential legal guidelines for Sweden. 

Polfjärd (Moderates, EPP), Karlsbro (Liberals, Renew), and Skyttedal (Christian Democrats, EPP) will probably be Stockholm’s lifeline to the European Parliament. 

Polfjärd has a robust background in Swedish politics. A member of the parliament from 2016 to 2019, she was the Moderates’ group chief from 2015 to 2017 and a spokesperson for the get together on two separate events on labor market coverage and tax coverage. 

A primary-time European lawmaker, Polfjärd has made her mark as a fierce defender of nuclear energy. She is a member of the committee on the atmosphere, public well being, and meals security and the delegation to the Euro-Latin American parliamentary meeting. She has additionally been the lead lawmaker on nationwide local weather targets for EU nations and greenhouse gasoline emission cuts ,and is at present engaged on a regulation for the round economic system and second-hand market, in addition to on a regulation to make batteries extra sustainable.  

Skyttedal (Christian Democrats, EPP) has been engaged on more durable border guidelines and a 2022 plan to beef up the European protection business by means of widespread procurement. She is a member of the business, analysis and power committee in addition to the committee on civil liberties, justice and residential affairs. Skyttedal hasn’t shied away from making her positions emoji-clear on Twitter, together with on a rumored tax on beloved Swedish tobacco pouches snus. The Fee later clarified it had no plans to impose such a tax. Earlier than coming into politics, Skyttedal was a Miss Sweden entrant in 2006.

Karlsbro is commerce coordinator for the Renew group as a member of the committee on worldwide commerce. She can also be vice chair for the delegation for relations with Belarus. She works on the EU’s regulation on deforestation, a crucial file for Sweden, and on batteries. Karlsbro’s place in Brussels and at dwelling will probably be difficult. The Swedish Liberal Occasion confronted heavy criticism within the Renew group after it entered a authorities with the help from the far-right Sweden Democrats get together. Karlsbro has additionally expressed her fears concerning the Sweden Democrats’ views on EU coverage. 

Karlsbro enjoys climbing and protested towards France’s atomic bomb assessments on the islands of the South Pacific in her youth. She additionally just lately acquired a cat, however household negotiations are at present underway over whether or not to name him Karsten, Frans, Bilbo, or Stefan.

Wilhelmine Preussen, James Randerson and Tristan Fiedler contributed reporting.