On the 1^st of July 2009 the Sweden took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from the Czech Republic for the second half of the year.

In the words of Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, “It's going to be a very exciting six months, but the task before us is not an easy one. I'm looking forward to tackling the autumn's challenges together.” Dealing with the financial crisis and tackling the rising unemployment that is currently affecting the whole of Europe together with climate change are the two priorities that will dominate the Swedish Presidency. Other priorities for Sweden are: within Justice and Home affairs, the "Stockholm Programme" including Asylum and Migration issues; enviroment and growth in the Baltic Sea Region; promoting the EU as a global actor; as well as EU Institutional issues.

To discuss the priorities of the Swedish Presidency, as well as Malta’s priorities within the EU for the next six months, the Ambassador of Sweden to Malta and the Malta-EU Steering & Action Committee organised a public dialogue that was held on Friday, 17^th July 2009 at the Hotel Phoenicia in Floriana.

The discussion was opened by H.E. Ms Ulla Gudmundson, Ambassador of Sweden to Malta, who presented Sweden’s Programme and outlined its priorities for the next six months.  Her intervention was followed by that of the Hon. Dr Tonio Borg, Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, who provided an insight into Malta’s reactions, perspectives and priorities for this semester. This was followed by a question and answer session with contributions from the floor.