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This second day of the EU summit would deal with the economy, the strengthening of the EU internal market and what is called strategic autonomy, that is, how the EU should be more independent from the outside world. But this did not lead to any discussion. Perhaps because the person who pressed the most on the issue, Frenchman Emmanuel Macron, was not present.
In Macron’s absence, EU President Charles Michel opted to talk about greater coordination to deal with the Corona crisis. It is precisely on this issue that Sweden stands out. We have few restrictions and no entry ban unlike most other EU countries. And in this debate, Sweden had no voice in the meeting.
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was unable to attend for private reasons, and since a head of state or government can only be represented by someone of the same level, he had asked the Finnish Navy to present his case at the meeting, which would not be a problem as Finland and Sweden equally think it was on the agenda.
But precisely on the issue of coping with the pandemic, which was not on the agenda but still under discussion, Sweden and Finland have clearly different strategies.
EU Minister Hans Dahlgren, who was behind the scenes at the summit, notes that the leaders did not agree on any controversial conclusions, but only on greater coordination, which Sweden can support. But he also claims that precisely on that question, Sanna Marin could not speak for Sweden.
But at the press conference after the meeting, President Charles Michel said that it had been agreed to increase cooperation based on the proposal presented by the European Commission.
Among other things, the Commission wants create a map of the whole EU in which countries and regions are divided into red, yellow and green based on a joint assessment of the risk of infection.
Sweden has previously stated that this is a national competence and does not plan to apply any EU-wide infection risk assessment.
Changing the agenda of a summit in this way is unusual. And the sources Ekot spoke with also criticize how the meeting’s leader, Charles Michel, has handled the meeting.
