Leading the European Union
Keyword(s):
This chapter analyzes how Sweden acted as Presidency of the European Union in 2001 and 2009. It explores the different roles associated with the Presidency:administrator, agenda-setter, mediator, andrepresentative. Using role theory, the analysis focuses on the Swedish government’s own role conceptions, and the expectations of other actors with regard to how the government would perform these various roles, and how it actually enacted them. The analysis demonstrates that role conceptions, external expectations, and actual execution were quite similar both times Sweden held the Chair, despite notably different Presidency contexts. Overall, both of Sweden’s Presidency periods were considered fairly successful.