Sweden launches the programme, the calendar and official website of its Council Presidency for the first semester of 2023

Brussels, 14 December 2022  

The Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU will begin as of January 1^st, 2023 and will last until June 30^th, 2023. On the 14^th December, Sweden launched the official website of the Presidency, as well as the programme and the calendar with the events and meetings scheduled for the six months.

Sweden set four priorities for its Presidency, namely:

1. Security – unity
2. Resilience – competitiveness
3. Prosperity – green & energy transition
4. Democratic values and rule of law – our foundation

As regards the third point, i.e. green and energy transition, the Sweden Council presidency will prioritise the achievement of EU climate targets and the reduction of EU greenhouse gas emissions, focusing on trialogues on transport legislation within the Fit for 55 package. Indeed, the Swedish Presidency will prioritise moving the negotiations on any remaining parts of the Fit for 55 package forward with a high level of ambition in the Environment Council. It will also be important to take the results of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) forward. The EU plays a crucial role in keeping global ambitions high.T

he further development of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) will be of key importance for the Presidency, in terms of sustainably and efficiently strengthening and modernising Europe’s transport infrastructure. In this regard, Swedish Presidency’s main objective will be to advance the TEN-T negotiations and, if necessary, take forward the work on revising the Intelligent Transport Systems Directive.

The Commission is expected to present a number of proposals on road, rail and intermodal transport in the first half of 2023, including a revision of the Directive on driving licences and a package for green freight transport.

The Presidency intends to initiate negotiations in the Council on a number of these proposals, among which the Maritime Safety Package: a revision of the directives on compliance with flag State requirements, port state control and maritime accident investigation.