Sweden will be the watchdog against protectionism within the European Union when it assumes the EU Presidency in July, Ewa Bjorling, Sweden's Minister for Trade told The Times Business.

Ms Bjorling, who was in Malta for talks with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said she was worried that some EU member states had been turning towards protectionism.

"Sweden has always been in the forefront in the fight against protectionism and in promoting free trade and that is something we will continue to do during our presidency. We will ensure that we do not get any more protectionism - even though these are difficult times - and we will strive to get more free trade agreements such as between the EU and the Gulf Co-Operation Council, the EU and India, the EU and Canada and the EU and South Korea. The Doha Round must also be fulfilled," she said.

Ms Bjorling said that in her official talks in Malta she had discussed the priorities of Sweden's upcoming EU presidency. These include climate change, the Baltic Sea Strategy and tackling unemployment in the EU, the financial crisis and immigration. The Baltic Sea Strategy is the EU's first regional-level policy - which plans to create a new club for the eight Baltic coastal countries which may in future meet regularly at Foreign Minister level to push forward local-interest projects.

She said the EU internal market was extremely important for Sweden since it was so dependent on trade.

"Fifty-three per cent of our GDP comes from exports and it is necessary for us to steadily increase this. Today there is a decrease in worldwide trade and this is worrying us since we are an open free trading country very much dependent on the world around us. We need to develop the internal market and remove the existing trade barriers that we still have within the EU. We also need to be more competitive when it comes to the outside world," she said.

Ms Bjorling said the EU services directive, which is due to take effect in December, could make the EU economy more resilient during this difficult economic period.

"The services directive can help many SMEs throughout the EU. It will create 600,000 new jobs if implemented. We will be working hard to ensure that this directive does come into force as planned, in December."

She also highlighted the importance of trade and development in Africa in the fight against illegal immigration.

"There are many reasons why we should increase trade with our neighbourhood which means North Africa, the Middle East but also sub-Sahara Africa. We need to increase our trade in general and it is always easier to trade in our neighbourhood. We also have a lot of people in Sweden with a foreign background and this is very useful because they know the language, culture and trade culture. They have many networks and can act as mentors for other Swedish companies. This will of course create a lot of job opportunities within Africa which can then stimulate their own economy and reduce the pressure of immigration."

Asked to comment on the current Czech EU Presidency - which has been in the spotlight due to the collapse of government Prague - as well as the expectations for the Swedish presidency, she replied: "I will not comment on the Czech presidency except to say that I think it started in a very positive manner by pushing for more free trade and by fighting protectionism. There are a lot of expectations for the Swedish presidency which starts on July 1, but it has been so for a long time."

She stressed that with the Copenhagen UN conference on climate change taking place in December, Sweden's top priority during its EU Presidency will be "climate, climate and climate".


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