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Swedish PM Stefan Löfven to outline vision for EU's future

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Swedish PM Stefan Löfven to outline vision for EU's future
Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and EU President Donald Tusk earlier this month. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is expected to stake out Sweden's path in the EU in a speech on Thursday.

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The speech, to be held in front of an audience of university students in Uppsala, comes at a time of upheaval for the European Union, where Brexit, migration and increasing friction between Brussels and member states such as Poland and Hungary have been setting the agenda for the past year.

French president Emmanuel Macron has previously said that Britain could yet have a place in the EU when he set out his proposals for a more effective, less bureaucratic union in a speech in Paris last month.

It is now Löfven's turn to outline his vision for the union.

The Social Democrat leader last held a major policy speech on the EU in 2015. He then pushed for a more socially responsible Europe, stressing the importance of an open internal market, environment and that the EU should focus on implementing existing policies rather than launching new reform proposals.

He is expected to stick to the same line in Thursday's speech, the TT news agency reported: deliver existing promises, focus on the social dimension and improve the living conditions of EU citizens.

Löfven is set to host the EU's social summit in Gothenburg on November 17th, which the government argues is evidence that the Swedish EU vision resonates with other member states.

The EU agreed earlier this week on reforming the rules for posted workers, which includes paying foreign workers the same wages as locals to prevent so-called social dumping across the union.

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