Christian Chronicle June 8, 2021

Almost all member states have submitted their respective proposals, and the European Commission wants to present an assessment of the content of the meeting of the Council of Europe on June 23-24. We can already count on the decision of the Council on several national projects in July. Then the plans begin to be implemented. These are comprehensive investments with the necessary reforms. This makes Europe more competitive, more flexible for future crises and better equipped to meet the challenges of green and digital transformation. Swedish business can expect new interesting business opportunities in many strategic sectors, e.g. Infrastructure and green and digital technology, areas with technically leading Sweden and strong companies.
Relations with the United States will be at the center in the days to come. President Biden makes his first trip to the “old continent.” The G7 summit will be held in the UK on June 11-13, followed by the NATO summit on June 14, followed by a summit with European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel on June 15. With the Biden administration, there is a strong desire to deepen cooperation between the EU and the United States on everything from climate, epidemic management and vaccination issues, green trade and technology cooperation and the establishment of a new security policy dialogue. This initial meeting with the EU during the first six months of Biden’s administration is a key signal of the importance of EU and US cooperation in Atlantic cooperation and the willingness to jointly address global challenges.
In representation, we are actively working this week with EU Commissioner Syncavicius’ visit to Sweden on Monday, June 14th. Virginius Cincinnatius, who is responsible for environmental issues at the European Commission, is particularly interested in learning about Swedish forest policy. The European Commission is developing a new forest strategy, which is scheduled for July. The role of the forest in tackling the climate challenge and the role of the forest for biodiversity are key elements of the strategy. The Commissioner will have a meeting with Rickstock, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Agriculture. He will also meet with representatives of the forest department, forest owners, forest research and environmental organizations.

Vaccine status in the EU on June 7:
328.6 million vaccines are provided to EU countries
270 million vaccines were made
48% of EU adults have received at least one dose

Christian Danielson
Head of EU Representation in Sweden