Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Sweden 'embarrassed' by EU behaviour at UN meeting

  • Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt during his country's helm of the EU presidency (Photo: Council of European Union)

The recent Swedish EU presidency was deeply embarrassed by the EU's un-co-ordinated actions at last year's UN general assembly meeting in New York where Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a controversial speech, a leaked US diplomatic cable has revealed.

Speaking to a US official a day after US and EU delegates stormed out of the UN meeting in September 2009, Swedish desk officer Iran Ulf Samuelsson confirmed that the Swedish presidency did not leave the room as the red lines agreed upon by the EU-27 had not been crossed, the cable released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks on Wednesday (15 December) indicates.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Red lines included the denial of the Holocaust or of the right for Israel to exist, but US and most EU delegates walked out after Mr Ahmadinejad suggested that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks on its crucial landmarks.

The choice was an "individual decision" by those EU states, Mr Samuelsson reportedly told the US official, adding that were Sweden to use the tool "equally," it would have walked out on a number of leaders' speeches at the generally assembly that year.

A second Swedish official Andres Jato said the lack of EU co-ordination was "embarrassing," reports the cable.

The official was listening outside the room with headphones on, ready to give the "pre-arranged signal" for all EU representatives to walk out. Instead he was "surprised" when he saw first the Germans and then other EU delegations stream past him without the agreed-upon red lines having been crossed.

"We look like we can't co-ordinate anything," Mr Jato reportedly lamented.

The fresh revelations come on top of an earlier WikiLeaks release last month which showed EU plans to walk out of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's inauguration ceremony in the Iranian parliament on 5 August 2009 were complicated by doubts over whether the EU representatives would be able to find the door of the unfamiliar building.

Carl Bildt

The driving force behind many of Sweden's foreign policy initiatives during the country's time at the EU helm in the second half of 2009 was foreign minister Carl Bildt.

"A product of the Cold War, Bildt has no time for governments that limit civil liberties or fail to respect territorial integrity; since his days as a young politician, Russia has been a favorite target of his sharp tongue, something that does not always endear him to his EU colleagues," reports a separate US cable, intended as a background briefing on the Swede ahead of a his visit to New York and Washington in September 2009.

Tackling Iran's nuclear ambitions, Middle East peace talks, Afghanistan and Turkish EU accession were among the tricky dossiers the Swedes attempted to push forward, with Mr Bildt generally highly regarded for his vast experience in the foreign policy field.

Other remarks in the leaked cable note the foreign minister as having "little time for small talk" and "a fascination for technology," adding that he can "easily dominate a conversation, lacing his comments with dry humor."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us