Stockholm summit will not duck the issues
Confronting the social issues connected with subjects such as biotechnology, ecology and the economy needs to be done at the Stockholm summit on 23 and 24 March, according to Swedish Prime minister (and President in Office of the European Council), Goran Persson, speaking at a press conference in Stockholm on 22 March. Mr Persson said that the thorny issues connected with subjects such as biotechnology must be tackled. 'We need to devote attention to new technologies such as biotechnology...we must look at the ethical and moral issues too,' he said. He also mentioned that he wanted to see an annual EU ecological assessment introduced and brought up at the summit. He pointed to how ecology can enhance economic development rather than hinder it. 'This [assessment] needs to go with economic development.' Referring to Sweden's own passage from a country in economic recession with the largest public finance deficit in the OECD (Organisation for economic cooperation and development) just ten years ago to one of the best models for an information society today, Mr Persson emphasised that there are no shortcuts. 'We must all the time focus on implementing structural reforms, but at the same time it is important that we have the people's support. That is why it is important that we have a social agenda.' Asked whether he expected progress specifically on the difficult question of a European patent at the summit, he replied that he was 'none too hopeful' that it would be resolved but did expect it to come up. One of the main problems was that some Member States still had problems with the language issue, he said.
Countries
Sweden