 To conclude this point, I give the floor to our Chair Istova for final remarks. Two minutes. Thank you, dear President. The number of colleagues that intervened on this topic indicates how important it is for us on local and regional level. And if we refer back to the map that the Commissioners with the showed, and if we see the red color of Europe, which is accounting for 30 percent, this means that we are in a kind of emergency situation and we have to address this issue. And I see the year of skills as a great opportunity to address these challenges, to try to decrease the negative effects of brain drain and demographic issues. But also, I see this year as a great opportunity to showcase that if we are together, if we work in partnership on local, regional, national and European level, we could really have a comprehensive approach to this societal challenge and we can have set of good tools that we can use. And I would like to mention something that I experienced on Friday last week. When I was in Helsinki and had the privilege to be the whole afternoon with our colleague Marfa Markova, who showed me and explained to me how his ecosystem in ESPO worked and the indicator that you will easily understand about the quality of his approach and the partnership that they have in his city is that now they register each and every year increase of young people who stay in his region. And this is partly because they have in one yard a kindergarten, a secondary school and a university. I think that we can use this year to showcase also the good examples and to establish good partnership that will help countries like mine, which is totally in red color to overcome these challenges and increase the quality of living in the whole Europe. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Thank you so much and we're going to move to point number five. It's a debate on the priorities of the Swedish presidency. It is my pleasure and honor to welcome Eric Slotner, he is the Minister for Public Administration of Sweden. I ask you to join me here in the podium and we will have the chance in this critical time for Europe to hear from him about the priorities of the Swedish presidency. Minister, welcome. Thank you so much. Long time. Long time no see. Please. I would like to give you the floor right now for initial remarks of 10 minutes. You have the floor. President Cordero, members of the committee of the region, thank you very much for the invitation to come here to be with you and to speak with you. I must say it is a particular honor for me to be with you here in this room, a room that was named after Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindt. I think this is a sign of our international cooperation. She was murdered shortly before we adopted the Euro in Stockholm. Now Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has a huge impact obviously on the Swedish presidency and our priorities. Our main role as presidency is to help ensure Europe's security, nothing else is as important as that. Now, so far Europe has given a strong, united and decisive response to Russia's invasion and the Swedish presidency prioritizes both continued financial and military support and of course support for Ukraine's European path as well. Before the invasion Ukraine started to work on the development of local self-government and I am convinced that this has had an impact on local resilience and on the important role of mayors as well and the role they have played. Now, further steps are needed for the reconstruction and reforms aimed at EU integration. And I would like to congratulate the committee of the regions on the initiative they took to create the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine. This strengthens the role of the local and regional level in reconstruction together with Ukraine's central government, the European Union and other international partners too. Now, the Swedish presidency is working in an environment of high economic uncertainty where Russia's invasion of Ukraine, high inflation, a severe energy crisis and rapidly rising interest rates are holding back consumption, production and investment. So member state governments are under severe pressure to deal with these consequences for households and for businesses as well. The presidency will work towards EU cohesion and will make effective use of the common instruments that are available to us. Now, the situation we currently find ourselves in has a strong impact on the citizens of the Union and on elected politicians at local and regional level too. I have taken note of the committee's report, a report published last autumn on the state of the regions and cities of the Union and I can note from that that we have common challenges regardless of whether we operate at national or local or regional level. It's important that we monitor developments carefully so that from the Union and national level we can empower cities and regions to carry out these important tasks. Greener, safer, freer. This is how we can summarise Sweden's priorities during the presidency of the EU council. We've set four priorities in place, firstly, security, then competitiveness, then with the green and angry energy transition and then democratic values and the rule of law. These all contribute to the EU's economic, social and territorial cohesion and to the long-term competitiveness of the local and regional level. Now, in terms of the long-term challenges we're facing, we need to focus on efforts to drive economic growth. Europe's strength, resilience and position in the world depend on our economy and they are closely linked to the single market and global trade opportunities. Economic operators benefit from operating in the largest single market in the world and can compete successfully in world markets as a result. This lays the foundations for Europe's prosperity and international reputation. The European Union must continue to offer the best possible conditions for a healthy and open economy based on free competition, private investment and successful digitalisation. The Swedish presidency also continues work to tackle high and volatile energy prices while at the same time addressing long-term energy market reforms. The global challenge of climate change requires global action. Europe must lead by example by delivering on ambitious climate goals that promote both growth and competitiveness. Those who manage to change early on in times of industrial change gain a competitive advantage. Common European steps towards independence from fossil fuels are necessary not only for the green transition but also for our security. The transition to a resource efficient, decarbonised future will require significant investment in innovative industries that can translate the best ideas and innovations we have into functional solutions. Now Northern Sweden has played a pioneering role in this climate transition through several large and parallel investments in heavy industry. Key factors for the success of this transition are the access to renewable electricity sources and housing construction. And the new situation we have presents opportunities and challenges for affected municipalities and regions that require a reorientation of their way of working. These include planning resulting from major industrial startups, innovative and sustainable community building projects and measures to reduce the environmental and climate impact. The Swedish government started the presidency with a meeting in the northernmost part of Sweden in Kiruna with the meeting for the commissioners of the union. And in April the bureau of the committee of the regions will come to Kiruna as well so I'll be delighted to warmly welcome you to Sweden to a part of the country that is currently experiencing a renaissance through the green transition. And now that I have this privilege to speak to local and regional elected representatives in the union I would really like to stress in particular the fourth priority of the presidency that is safeguarding the principles of democracy and the rule of law. This is the common foundation and strength of the European Union. At the time of global democratic backsliding and threats from authoritarian states such as Russia it is of utmost importance that the European Union is a strong democratic actor not only internally but also vis-a-vis the rest of the world. Democracy must be defended both in words and in actions and we need to restore democracy in places. And we can learn from history that this is a scene of quantum for our political, legal and economic cooperation. The rule of law must be upheld in all countries if we want citizens' rights to be protected across the whole of the European Union and if we want the internal market to function properly. My own country Sweden is characterized by decentralization and strong local and regional self-government and this provides the framework and the conditions for adapting to local and regional needs and preferences. Much of the daily contact between EU citizens and public institutions takes place at regional and local level. It's often at these levels that EU legislation needs to be implemented in practice. So it's therefore essential that the Council of Ministers, the Commission and the European Parliament have a regional and local perspective in all aspects of EU work and that these levels are involved in the creation of the EU and in all its work. Dialogue is sometimes referred to as grassroots democracy and that's the legitimacy of the European Union. Your work in the European Committee of the Regions has a key role to play in promoting this perspective and ensuring that the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality are respected. Our security, our competitiveness and our ability to cope with the green transition depend on common European decisions. The strength of the European Union lies in the fact that together we can manage both ongoing crisis and overcome them and also to drive the EU's political and legislative work forward. President, thank you very much again for the privilege of being here with you today. Thank you very much for listening to me and I'm happy to answer any questions that the members might have. Thank you. Member Geblevic, you have the floor for four minutes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. President, your Minister Sloper, on behalf of the EPP group, I would like to congratulate for the successful start of the Sweden's presidency of a council, especially that you took over the presidency only two months after your government in Sweden was created. So congratulations on that and on behalf of our political family, I would like to compliment you on the perfectly shaped priorities of your presidency facing the current and future challenges. Presidency as a number one, of course, we fully support Sweden's application to NATO together with Finland, of course, we will be stronger and safer. Today security means, of course, support to Ukraine in any possible way. We appreciate that economic and military support for Ukraine is number one priority for your presidency. Of course, as local and regional leaders, we cannot help in military way. But we do our best to support our Ukrainian friends. We are standing united in solidarity with our friends, heroic mayors kidnapped or fighting, protecting the cities together with their citizens and sometimes even soldiers. I can only mention that Mayor of Kiev Vitaliy Klitschko have been accepted by our House unanimously as a member of the Committee of Regions. So we are united in symbolic way, but we are united when it comes to direct help, sending glories filled with the goods, equipment, food or to our twin cities all coordinated by working group on the Committee of Regions Ukraine chaired by Aleksandr Kovacovich, Mayor of Gdańsk. Our ambition is not only to help now, but to be involved in the process of reconstruction of Ukraine in modern green way when this cruel war is over. So we ask for your support on that to be, to take on board our cities and regions during discussion about the reconstruction of Ukraine. The importance and competitiveness as well as the prosperity of our citizens and green energy transition, it is of course for all of us, at once of importance, we have been working on the ground with our inhabitants, entrepreneurs, SMEs during pandemic and now when facing a rocking energy prices you mentioned. So certainly we need competitive green and in the same time affordable Europe. So we have to, so our aim is to implement it, this green transition and energy transition on the ground and to meet, I think that we have to see it in the context of EU budget, including current and MMF. So we trust that midterm review of MFF, which is going to start during your presidency, will take into the consideration the voice of local and regional leaders to be successful in implementation of these ambitious goals in competitiveness, resilience, green and energy transition. We also call for direct access to EU funds for cities on the climate project and we ask for your help of the both, including our views on the midterm review and direct funding on the climate projects. Democracy and the rule of law, we need to have our European house built and maintained in democratic way with a legal order to be strong. So rule of law, it is not idea, it is necessity and democratic means free level of democracy, European and national and local and regional. Thank you for invitation to Kiruna and thank you for being with us today. Thank you. Member Huyong, you have for four minutes. Thank you very much, chair, minister, on behalf of the Socialist Group of the European Committee of the Regions, I would like to draw the Swedish presidency's attention to four emergencies, democratic, social, environmental and economic in nature, on the democratic emergency. What's at stake is the European elections in a little over one year's time. How can we ensure electoral participation, mobilisation, at least as big as the previous elections, which then were able to profit from the dynamic at the process of the Spitzenkandidaten and the election for the, and the presidency of the European Commission. Now, the elections, this process is rather sluggish at the moment, it's losing speed and moreover the Council of Ministers still has an unblocked path towards reform in European electoral law proposed by the European Parliament in May 2022 to have one single European election with cross transnationalists and minimum joint standards. Worse, the Council of Ministers is piling up the good excuses so as not to follow up on the recommendations of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Therefore, the resolutions for following up on the part of the European Parliament are not being transmitted by the Council of Ministers to the heads of state and government. It's a lack of respect for the work undertaken by more than 700 citizens, social partners and elected representatives for the work of the Conference on Future of Europe. It also reduces the credibility for any future exercise trying to engage in such a large-scale process of citizen participation. The second emergency is the social dimension. The Swedish presidency doesn't contain a single commitment in terms of the social pillar, whereas the Gothenburg Summit from 2017, those objectives remain fully valid in order to guide us towards a more social, sustainable and fair Europe. As a socialist group, we call for, notably, the rapid conclusion of the directive on work on digital platforms. The introduction of a clause for social conditionality, according to which any European subsidy to businesses would be conditional on respect for working conditions and collective bargaining. We also call for the introduction of a social taxonomy so as to define what can be qualified as a social investment. As the lack of a social, this taxonomy is weighing down currently on investments, notably in healthcare and social services. Minister, the Swedish presidency needs to continue to fight the fight against climate change. However, your government, as far as I'm informed, has removed subsidies to electric vehicles. It's limited the objectives for reducing biofuels, and your partner from the far right is voting against the directives of the 555 package, all of which is very concerning. Allow me one final consideration on the economic emergency we're facing. LRAs are responsible for more than half of public investments. Public investment already had lowered by 20 percent before the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The commission evaluates or deems that the private and public investment necessary to reach the EU's commitments for the green and digital transitions is around 650 billion euros to which around 200 billion needs to be added for social infrastructure. So if my math is correct, we need around 1,000 billion investment per year. So, Minister, we need to unlock the capacity for LRAs to invest. We need a reform to the state aid, which significantly lifts up the de minimis thresholds. We need a reform of the ESA accounting standards, and we need reform of economic governments in the European Union in order to better take into account the quality of public investments according to whether they pursue strategic European objectives. Thank you very much. Mr. Francois de Costère, the floor is yours for three minutes. Thank you, Mr. President, Mr. Mies, my chef. Yes, thank you, chair, minister, their colleagues. In last September, Sweden chose a paradigm shift, seeing a new coalition supported by the far right coming to power. In presenting its priorities for the Swedish presidency, the Prime Minister, Christosson, in front of the Swedish president wants the EU in the world, place the EU in the world to be able to defend its economic power and its competitiveness. He indicated that we'll have to show rigor, pragmatism, rigor in terms of values, values and pragmatism to find concrete solutions. Minister, can you explain to us the reasons leading to the fact that systematically your immigration minister, Maria Malmö, Sengard, is always supported by the leader of the far right, Enrico Vinga, for announcements in terms of migration policy, notably the new immigration national office for permits, for work permits and more recently the vast international campaign trying to discourage migratory flows towards Sweden. Minister, I put these questions to you because we deem that when you assume the EU presidency, as your Prime Minister says, we need to defend the European Union's values. These values cannot be mixed up with the combat of the far right, neither in one member state nor at European level or across the Union. So Minister, speaking on behalf of mayors and regions who welcome refugees coming from, whether they come from the south or from the east, notably with the Ukrainian families, we are currently welcoming. The fact that at the Council of Ministers and at the European Council level, we have a not just in terms of policy, not just for managing fluxes and border control, we also need to denounce the inaptitude of operators such as Frontex in terms of their analysis of the situation, but also in terms of integration, we need to help LRAs to better integrate those people coming to live with us to make sure that they can participate to European competitiveness, which is suffering demographic decrease. We need proper ambitious policies and this is how we will be able to contribute to European's values, to unity, which both contribute to increase and improve our competitiveness in future. You have the floor for two and a half minutes. Thank you, President. Minister, I take this opportunity to express my thanks to the Swedish presidency on behalf of the UCR Group for having shown that you have a constructive realistic approach when dealing with the most urgent challenges facing the EU. One of the main issues on the political agenda is the protection of the external borders of the EU. On the one hand, the Union needs coordinated action from member states to have effective management of immigration and asylum. It's equally important to cooperate with third countries to step up efforts being made when it comes to return some repatriations and to stop illegal migratory flows once and for all. As was rightly underlined by Maria Stenegard, the Swedish Minister for Justice and therefore immigration, around two-thirds of migrants who try the difficult, expensive trip to Europe, putting their life in the hands of traffickers, are not refugees and they don't have a right to international protection. The European institutions and the member states need to invest in information campaigns to prevent illegal immigrants from starting off on dangerous voyages to Europe and we also need to step up the sanctions against those running the illegal immigration business. Another very important point, very important for regions whose industrial fabric is linked to the automotive industry, the recent decision to delay the phase out of internal combustion engines to 2035 is excellent news for those who want a competitive Europe globally and have a more pragmatic vision of the green transition when it comes to how we do this. We're happy to see that the Swedish presidency is allowing further reflection on the use of the internal combustion engine. Otherwise, this would have created a dramatic economic disaster in Abertsur, many other areas of Europe to industry and technology are changing extremely quickly and the opportunities and possibilities for innovation and competitiveness are more than they were in the past. It's therefore the crucial for us to defend the principle of technological neutrality leading to lower emissions anyway. Our citizens and their families who depend on the automotive industry expect their representatives to do everything to protect their jobs and that's why it's fundamentally important that we try to find a result that offers technologically neutral or open solutions. Flo, you have the floor for two minutes. Thank you, president, colleagues, the minister's lot. I will speak in my language in Dutch. So I listened with great attention to the Swedish priorities and I think the right focal points have been made. We talk about economic growth, competitiveness, also about consultation with regions and LRAs and of course about support military and financial support to Ukraine. Of course, Ukraine still dominates the news. So we're curious about the state of play about accession of Sweden to NATO as a country which has an order with Russia but open strategic autonomy how do we become less dependent? That's the objective and we need to invest there for new technologies in innovation and new nuclear plants potentially open strategic autonomy also has an impact on trade policy. The last trade agreement which we approved was the Vietnam deal. What steps will the European presidency under Sweden take to turn the tide to prevent that autonomy becomes protectionism? The cause been made for less state aid room as an answer to the American Inflation Reduction Act but this can lead to disruption of the internal market. Big member states have more opportunities than smaller member states to support their own industries. I would like to get your position on that and what role Swedish region such as Lapland play and other local authorities in the presidency. Are they also actively involved in the presidency? Also migration remains an important point and we're very curious about your standpoint about migration and the sending back of illegal migrants and finally on the blue deal we're in a period of a drought we've seen this in the summer we see this in France currently here in Flanders we work on a blue deal project to combat drought to invest in irrigation because drought is a major problem and how do we develop our expertise to combat drought thank you. Florian Hasler your floor resource for two minutes. Thank you thank you chair minister dear colleagues the European Union stands in the middle of a great foreign policy security and economic turning point and minister thank you for setting out the priorities of the Swedish presidency from my point of view they're the right ones thank you for that on the behalf of my group the Greens as my speaking time is limited today I would just like to bring out one point which you indicated our view also needs to turn towards the competitiveness of the EU at a global level and minister the innovative and economically strong regions within EU are very important many of them are in your own found in your own country in Sweden from my point of view for these regions too we need tailored support policies supporting the green and digital transformations also in economically stronger regions with I feel as a lack of this rather currently thinking also of the European promotion projects transformation regions need to be more strongly supported than in the past because of these global relations and an extension beyond the just transition funds to transformation regions is a possibility or further developments for cohesion policy or innovation fund for a mission trade one can imagine a stronger possibilities for the green transformation here also in terms of state aid we need more flexibility this because competitive competition is global these days we saw a limited change to state aid rules from the commission recently that's going in the right direction but not enough for the big change which we need so I'd encourage the Swedish presidency to really take this discussion on to set the course when to ensure that we shape the transition so that we are competitive in Europe as far as possible for one minute thank you thank you for coming to speak to the community of the regions and setting the priorities of Swedish presidency I would recall to the minister that before he stepped into the government he was vice mayor of Stockholm and worked for a very long period at the local government level and I hope that that has informed his approach and he's taken that into the Swedish presidency because the importance of the local and regional level is essential sometimes that's forgotten at national level when decisions are taken and it means that you as as a minister really are very well placed to draw on this for the remainder of the Swedish presidency and you also have the opportunity in your capacity as a minister to exercise influence on your colleagues in the EU meetings to strengthen the local government dimension thank you president miss dear minister the president the prime minister of Sweden said that a Europe which is greener and safer is one of the priorities of the Swedish presidency taking into account that the Swedish government is in power with Swedish democrats how are these priorities going to be implemented especially with the social welfare state the protection of the environment the immigration issue and the inflation I would also like us I would like you to explain how are you going to deal with the veto aspect with the veto topic by Turkey with respect to the accession of Sweden to NATO thank you member Gonzales Gonzales the floor is yours for one minute minister thank you very much president minister as a member of the Spanish delegation as someone responsible from a region with serious demographic challenges because of the aging of the population the brain drain and depopulation I would underline how important cohesion policy has been in developing our regions and local authorities throughout the EU as a whole what we need is for the future multi-annual financial framework to ensure that we have a cohesion policy which is improved which is stronger and plays a central role in Europe guarantees the necessary instruments to develop the regions properly we expect the Swedish presidency to be aware of just how important a challenge this is because this means that we have a policy that's based on solidarity between regions between individuals in conclusion I'd wish your presidency all the best in the committee of the regions the work that you've done helps us to prepare for the semester the European semester thank you you have the floor for one minute thank you I will reflect on only one priority of Swedish presidents and that's prosperity green and energy transition I have four messages multiple crises we are living in are a new opportunity to move greener and faster do not waste it get rid of overlaps in the green deal targets and policies clean up that mess which stole the proper implementation improve governance of energy and climate policy this is the only way towards efficient implementation revise the governance of the energy union and climate action regulation this is a key mechanism for full implementation of the green deal and the timing is right green deal is our answer to all the crises we experience at the moment this year marks the fourth year of the green deal as the big and this is the final big policy push before the EU elections and all these reasons is why we should immediately open a strategic discussion on the revision of the governance regulation a key step to keep the momentum and maintain thank you of the green deal which still want to be our guide to green and energy transition thank you thank you members Schwartzki for you on the floor for one minute thank you minister thank you chair it's impossible important to reiterate that the EU will only be successful when villages cities and regions in Europe are successful it's only possible if we bear in mind subsidiarity and we're not simply dependent on the central government level so i hope that during the Swedish cancer presidency a further step towards raising direct payments to LRAs will be made what we can't influence so much are of course international relations as we've seen from russia's aggression so i think the hungarians i would like to apologize for hungary's government's behavior in blocking sweden and finland's accession to NATO it's important that we stand shoulder to shoulder when confronting these international challenges thank you the fund Radef you have the floor for one minute member Ciambetti you have the floor for one minute minister as rapporteur for the opinion on the short-term rental sector which we will be adopting today in our plenary i'd like to express my thanks to you for the work done by the swedish presidency on this file and recently i did in fact meet with the swedish permanent representation the positions of council and the committee of the regions are extremely similar on this subject the short-term rental sector continues to grow at an exponential rate and requires a common framework and a harmonized set of standards and rules guaranteeing transparency in the sector the opinion of the committee of the regions aims to protect tourists local renters and platform managers and we want to bring to an end illegal practices and any unfair competition the tourism market needs legal protection for all of the stakeholders so that we can deal with phenomena such as excess tourism gentrification without compromising the economic benefits of short-term rental thank you ladies and gentlemen president we wish to fall we wish to offer full support to the swedish presidency of course our minds are turned to Ukraine to a great extent i just wanted to mention that we need to bear in mind the future perspective of local and regional governments especially when it comes to the so frequently mentioned green and digital transition and crisis resilience in the meantime however we must not forget about the overall European route of southeastern europe sweden has played an important role in the field of democratization and protection of human rights setting up new borders according to the shengen agreement is important Croatia has a vital interest in stabilizing the Balkans and we hope that we will enjoy a wholehearted support on the part of the other member states in order to further expand the european union you have the floor for one minute Dr Ella for excellent it's thank you chair i'll speak that chair minister one of the priorities of the swedish presidency as we've just heard is the energy crisis combating it my call to the minister is forget don't forget SMEs and use draw on the power of regions to help the digital approach with the european digital innovation hubs of the is a good example to deal with the the digital transition in eastern medallions the province's work on regional smart energy hubs where we make clean energy through wind and other sources it's stored in high hydrogen and batteries and the concept of smart energy hubs can be used in all and rolled out to all european regions to create a european network we can share experience about practical aspects and european commission an investment bank can make investment available so SMEs can be less vulnerable to high energy costs and less dependent on fossil fuels thank you for one minute i present her minister and his present minister from bavaria thank you very much for the presidency i think you took on board a lot of tasks from the check presidency at a very tricky time and i think you've done a very good job so thank you also for being transparent in your presidency in the bavarian presidency we had the Swedish presidency for an exchange so thank you for that and please be remain close to the citizens for the tricky topics that we're dealing speak to the citizens about them involve them and be a presidency of actions for difficult issues such as migration i know in my own region we've had the biggest wave of refugees since 2015 we need to find solutions from Brussels from Berlin at european level otherwise we cannot offer support to those who need it most as chief lavish you had the floor for one minute their minister their president we wholeheartedly support the priorities of the swedish presidency which aim to tackle the challenges before the EU however i would like to point out three important topics for the local and regional administrations in terms of economic policy i would like to see the swedish presidency reject the initiative for the treatment of wine as alcoholic beverages only and to put it on an equal footing with tobacco we all know that wine should be treated as had is it had been in the past in the past as food it is important not only for the Mediterranean region but from any other regions in Europe furthermore please do not forget about the expansion of the European Union to the western Balkans following the principle of open doors and with under the condition of meeting the necessary criteria please also do not forget about the regions and cities in general in terms of all aspects of your presidency ladies and gentlemen dear colleagues i would just like to correct something that has been said recently Hungary is not against the joining of NATO by Sweden and Finland the Hungarian parliament has the issue on its agenda our prime minister had an express demand request to the parliament asked them to vote for their membership in NATO so the information you just received was incorrect so our request for the floor i will now give the floor to minister Slotner for four minutes for final remarks still talked for a layer well first of all let me express my warm thanks to all of you for the comments for the questions that you've addressed to us and you've also raised some points I will pass on in four minutes obviously I can't answer each and every point let me try and focus on a few instead first of all my very warm thanks to everybody here for the support that you've expressed for the Swedish presidency I'm so happy about that thank you for your support thank you for your help too in all of the things awaiting us as we particularly reinforce security in Europe a very important question was asked about the capacity of the regions when it comes to helping Ukraine I think it's very important that we focus on this and that there be such cooperation at regional level in particular and that comes too that goes too for the reconstruction of Ukraine which hopefully will happen as soon as possible and Mr. Seplevic also made a comment on state the fact that European member states are united on this front and I think there's nothing more important for us than to ensure that actually we act together to reduce inflation in this economic crisis now I haven't mentioned Swedish foreign policy but that was our force priority the principle of aid and assistance and that's something that's very much at the heart of our government's action the three parties making up the government are the three parties that were the most active and committed when it came to introducing such measures and we were firmly behind the measures for introducing the euro as you know then again moving on to the immigration pact that's something that is under discussion and that will also be I'm sure a very important subject at the next elections Commissioner Johansson I know has been discussing this with you as a major responsibility for us as well we also have a responsibility when it comes to welcoming refugees from Ukraine of course we need to support that country and neighboring countries and Mr. Gonzalez you mentioned coordinated policy of course it's vital for coordination to work properly I think we're going to need more coordination set against this political background any ideas are welcome and the involvement of local and regional authorities will be absolutely vital if we're to make progress in this field and we'll have to see how we can coordinate our policies better Mr. Vanikom I'm sorry pronunciation may be out apologies but yes we do need to support SMEs that's vitally important for Europe for its growth for its development but also for its competitiveness in the future then what else climate clearly this is something that was raised by various speakers particularly Mr. Huion yes this is a major challenge for all of Europe and producing electricity will be the key to the future the Swedish government is very aware of this at national level and we've been working on that too in the European Union to be able to further develop a new way of producing electricity which does not involve coal and we have to try and ensure that we produce clean cheap sources of energy that will be important for Europe's competitiveness in future right I think my four minutes are up maybe there's a few seconds left but I would conclude by expressing my very warm thanks to you once again for your welcome it's been a great pleasure for me to spend this time with you today and I'd be happy to meet with you bilaterally and I'm sure we will do that when you come and visit us as committee of the regions thank you once again minister thank you so much for taking the time to be with us I wish you all the best in your future endeavors concerning the Swedish presidency all the best thank you so much thank you so much ladies and gentlemen we will continue to point