Voorzitter EP Jerzy Buzek bezoekt Zweeds voorzitterschap

Jerzy Buzek i, President of the European Parliament, met Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt i and Minister for EU Affairs Cecilia Malmström in Stockholm on Friday, 4 September.

“We had good discussions on this autumn’s upcoming events, including institutional issues and the issue of cooperation between the EU institutions”, said Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at a press conference following the meeting.

Jerzy Buzek stated that our citizens expected the EU to be able to take decisions on issues such as the financial crisis and the climate, and that it was therefore important to resolve the institutional issues. In this context, Mr Buzek brought up the need to get a new Commission in place as soon as possible. In his opinion, the European Parliament was likely to vote on the post of President of the Commission on 16 September.

Cecilia Malmström added that as these are times fraught with great challenges, it is important that the EU institutions are able to cooperate.

The other major institutional issue is the new EU treaty, the Treaty of Lisbon. On 2 October a referendum on the Treaty will be held in Ireland.

“We have listened to the criticism from the previous referendum and I think that we have addressed the concerns expressed by the Irish people”, said Fredrik Reinfeldt.

Both Mr Reinfeldt and Mr Buzek said that they hoped that the referendum would result in a ’yes’ vote, but emphasised that the Irish must be allowed to make their own decisions about the Treaty. They further emphasised that the Treaty must also be signed by the heads of state or government of three further Member States before it can enter into force.