The Swedish Embassy in Abuja has taken over the leadership of the European Union Council for six months from the Czech Republic.

Sweden took over the leadership at a ceremony at the Swedish Embassy in Abuja.

The Swedish presidency will continue the leadership responsibility of the bloc’s core functioning co-legislature power.

The presidency of the council of the EU is responsible for the functioning of the council of the EU, which is the co-legislation of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament.

This rotates amongst the member states of the EU after every six months.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, the ambassador of the Czech Republic, Zdeněk Krejči, said the responsibility of the Czech presidency was to create the condition of security and prosperity for the bloc.

He also added that bringing sustainable peace to Ukraine soil was paramount on the council’s leadership agenda.

“The events of the last months have shown that Europeans in a crisis triggered by an external threat are able to act quickly, effectively and in a united way. The overall objective of the Czech presidency was to contribute as much as possible to creating the desired conditions for the security and prosperity of the EU,” stated Mr Krejči.

Sweden’s ambassador-designate to Nigeria, Annika Hahn-Englund, lauded the leadership of the Czech presidency for uniting member states to have common ground to work at a difficult time for the bloc due to the Ukraine war.

“Sweden is number three in the presidency trio since the bloc calendar commenced in 2021. First, it was French, then (the) Czech Republic, and on January 1, our leadership will commence,” Ms Hahn-Englund explained.

(NAN)