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The Domestic Politics of European Union Presidencies: The Case of Sweden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

Karl Magnus Johansson ,
Fredrik Langdal  and
Göran von Sydow
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Abstract

This article aims to start filling a gap in contemporary research on the rotating EU presidencies. In particular, the article pays attention to the role played by domestic factors in the development and fate of EU presidencies. What is the level of conflict between the government and the opposition during EU presidencies? This question is central for us and we address it through an in-depth analysis of one single case, Sweden, through a comparative examination of the role that domestic politics played in the Swedish EU presidencies of 2001 and 2009. In conjunction with our four main explanations for the varying degrees of political conflict during EU presidencies we present four hypotheses that could be advanced in the comparative study of EU presidencies.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , 2012 , pp. 206 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2012.

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References

1 Studies of EU presidencies include Emil Kirchner, Decision-Making in the European Community: The Council Presidency and European Integration, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1992; Ole Elgström (ed.), European Union Council Presidencies: A Comparative Perspective, London, Routledge, 2003; Schout, Adrian and Vanhoonacker, Sophie, ‘Evaluating Presidencies of the Council of the EU: Revisiting Nice’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 44: 5 (2006), pp. 1051–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jonas Tallberg, Leadership and Negotiation in the European Union, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006; Thomson, Robert, ‘The Council Presidency in the European Union: Responsibility with Power’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 46: 3 (2008), pp. 593–617 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Warntjen, Andreas, ‘The Council Presidency: Power Broker or Burden? An Empirical Analysis’, European Union Politics, 9: 3 (2008), pp. 315–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Bulmer, Simon, ‘Domestic Politics and European Community Policy-Making’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 21: 4 (1983), pp. 349–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Simon Bulmer and Christian Lequesne (eds), The Member States of the European Union, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005.

3 Quaglia, Lucia and Moxon-Browne, Edward, ‘What Makes a Good EU Presidency? Italy and Ireland Compared’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 44: 2 (2006), pp. 349–68, p. 354 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 George, Alexander L. and Bennett, Andrew, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2005, pp. 67ff Google Scholar.

5 Lijphart, Arend, ‘Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method’, American Political Science Review, 65: 3 (1971), pp. 682–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Leif Lewin, Democratic Accountability: Why Choice in Politics is Both Possible and Necessary, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 2007; see also Kjell Goldmann, Sten Berglund and Gunnar Sjöstedt, Democracy and Foreign Policy: The Case of Sweden, Aldershot, Gower, 1986.

7 Lijphart, Arend, Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries, New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1999 Google Scholar.

8 Arter, David, Democracy in Scandinavia: Consensual, Majoritarian or Mixed?, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2006, p. 5 Google Scholar.

9 Ibid., p. 266.

10 Putnam, Robert D., ‘Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games’, International Organization, 42: 3 (1988), pp. 427–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Ibid.; Kenneth Hanf and Ben Soetendorp (eds), Adapting to European Integration: Small States and the European Union, London, Longman, 1998; Bengt Jacobsson, Per Lægreid and Ove K. Pedersen, Europeanization and Transnational States: Comparing Nordic Central Governments, London, Routledge, 2004; see also Lars-Göran Stenelo and Magnus Jerneck (eds), The Bargaining Democracy, Lund, Lund University Press, 1996. Former Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson's state secretary for foreign and EU affairs, Lars Danielsson, explains that Sweden is ‘a small country’ and therefore ‘must be as well coordinated as possible in order to assert ourselves' (interview with Lars Danielsson, 28 September 2005).

12 Research on EU presidencies often refers to three roles of the presidency: the presidency as broker, the presidency as agenda-setter and the presidency as representative. See Tallberg, Leadership and Negotiation in the European Union.

13 Danica Fink-Hafner and Damjan Lajh, The 2008 Slovenian EU Presidency: A New Synergy for Europe?, Stockholm, Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, 2008, p. 38; see also Kajnc, Sabina, ‘The Slovenian Presidency: Meeting Symbolic and Substantive Challenges’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 47 (2009), pp. 89–98 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 David Král, Vladimír Bartovic and Vera Rihacková, The 2009 Czech EU Presidency: Contested Leadership at a Time of Crisis, Stockholm, Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, 2009, p. 29.

15 Hans Hegeland and Karl Magnus Johansson, ‘Ordförandeskapet och riksdagen – borgfreden som höll’, in Jonas Tallberg (ed.), När Europa kom till Sverige, Ordförandeskapet i EU 2001, Stockholm, SNS Förlag, 2001.

16 Göran Persson, Min väg, mina val, Stockholm, Bonniers, 2007, pp. 285–6.

17 Hegeland and Johansson, ‘Ordförandeskapet och riksdagen’ p. 176.

18 Ibid., p. 174ff.

19 Case C-341/05, Laval un Partneri Ltd v. Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet.

20 Karl Magnus Johansson and Göran von Sydow, ‘Swedish Social Democracy and European Integration: Enduring Divisions’, in Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos (ed.), Social Democracy and European Integration: The Politics of Preference Formation, London, Routledge, 2011, pp. 157–87.

21 Socialdemokraterna, Socialdemokraternas prioriteringar inför EU-ordförandeskapet 2009: Ett hållbart, tryggt och solidariskt Europa, 14 May 2008, http://www.socialdemokraterna.se/upload/Rapporter/Socialdemokratiska_prioriteringar_infor_EU-ordf09.pdf.

22 Mona Sahlin, Maria Wetterstrand, Peter Eriksson and Lars Ohly, ‘Jobben och klimatet måste prioriteras’, Svenska Dagbladet, 23 June 2009.

23 There is unfortunately no data for dissenting views available for the period around the 2001 presidency as they were not recorded in the protocols at the time. The most comprehensive account of domestic politics during the 2001 presidency (Hegeland and Johansson, ‘Ordförandeskapet och riksdagen’) shows that there were no significant conflicts within the European Affairs Committee.

24 Annica Kronsell, ‘Miljöpolitiken’, in Jonas Tallberg (ed.), När Europa kom till Sverige, Ordförandeskapet i EU 2001, Stockholm, SNS Förlag, 2001, does not mention any domestic party political conflicts over environmental issues generally.

25 Peter Eriksson, ‘Regeringen på villovägar mot klimatmötet i Köpenhamn’, Politikerbloggen, 30 September 2009, http://politikerbloggen.nyheterna.se/2009/09/30/23968/; see also Maria Wetterstrand, ‘Klimatmötet i Köpenhamn ett monumentalt nederlag’, Dagens Nyheter, 19 December 2009.

26 Riksdagens protokoll 2009/10:50, anf. 20.

27 Eva-Britt Svensson and Wiwi-Anne Johansson, ‘Sluta fega, Carlgren’, Svenska Dagbladet, 24 July 2009.

28 EU-nämndens stenografiska uppteckningar 2009/10:4, anf. 56.

29 Thomas Bodström, ‘Platt fall för Stockholmsprogrammet’, Europaportalen, 11 December 2009, http://www.europaportalen.se/2009/12/s-platt-fall-for-stockholmsprogrammet-0.

30 ‘Skarp kritik mot massregistering’, Svenska Dagbladet, 16 August 2009.

31 Urban Ahlin, ‘Sprickan mellan Carlgren och Reinfeldt en orsak till misslyckandet’, Newsmill, 20 December 2009, http://www.newsmill.se/artikel/2009/12/20/sprickan-mellan-carlgren-och-reinfeldt-en-orsak-till-misslyckandet?page=1.

32 Riksdagens protokoll 2009/10:75, 16 February 2010, 1§, anf. 1.

33 In a study of European elections in Sweden, Oscarsson and Holmberg argue that ‘the EU issue-voting has decreased, while at the same time issue-voting based on left–right ideology and domestic issues has increased somewhat’, Henrik Oscarsson and Sören Holmberg, ‘Åsiktsröstning’, in Henrik Oscarsson and Sören Holmberg (eds), Väljarbeteende i Europaval, Gothenburg, Göteborgs Universitet, 2010.