Prior to the regular TEPSA Pre-Presidency Conferences, TEPSA has a tradition of formulating recommendations to present to the incoming Council Presidency. At the Swedish Pre-Presidency Conference on 1-2 December 2022, TEPSA will present key recommendations to the incoming Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. These recommendations are formulated by experts from the TEPSA network, without necessarily representing the views of TEPSA or its Member Institutes.
In addition to an introduction penned by the TEPSA Recommendations Team – Nicoletta Pirozzi (Institute for International Affairs), Funda Tekin (Institute for European Politics), and Ilke Toygür (Center for Strategic and International Studies) the Swedish presidency has been presented with four detailed recommendations:
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“Energy, Security and Climate: the Challenges of the Century”, by Aleksandra Palkova (Latvian Institute of International Affairs) & Marco Siddi (Finnish Institute of International Affairs);
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“EU Defence in Light of Russia’s War Against Ukraine: Capabilities First, Autonomy… Possibly Later”, by Kristi Raik (Estonian Foreign Policy Institute);
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“Fundamental Rights and Migration”, by Peter Bosch (Egmont Institute) & Eleonora Milazzo (Egmont Institute & European Policy Centre);
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“Supporting Ukraine: Next Steps”, by Vasyl Yurchyshyn (Razumkov Centre), Olga Pyshchulina (Razumkov Centre), Oleksiy Melnyk (Razumkov Centre) & Ramūnas Vilpišauskas (Vilnius University).
The main message of the TEPSA Recommendations is that “the European Union is going through a perfect storm. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the war is causing economic turbulence and energy shortages, with different levels of impact on the Member States. A number of emergency measures are on the table at the EU level to mitigate its dependences in crucial sectors such as energy and defence, which have exposed it to adverse circumstances. The EU realized that this has the potential to undermine the solidity of European unity, since national governments will be tempted to privilege the protection of their own interest and try to appease an increasingly worried domestic public opinion. At the same time, the EU’s world shrunk as Russia revealed itself as a systemic enemy, China reinforced its status as an economic competitor and countries in the global South became more vocal in their criticisms of the European model. The EU’s allies also are at critical junctures, given notably the political turmoil and the long wave of consequences of Brexit in the UK and the political consequences of midterm elections in the US. More than ever, the EU has to find its own way to strategic autonomy, social resilience and regional stability. The newly formed Swedish government will have to face the conundrum of these challenges when it takes over the Presidency of the EU Council from Czech Republic in January 2023.”
Recommendations from members of the
TEPSA Network to the Swedish Presidency
