No EU migration deal under our watch, says Swedish presidency

It's a good day. There is a new Europe Express under new management. Every weekday morning, I will serve you up the most important things you need to know, and I am happy to do so.

I won't make any changes to the recipe. It is going to be concise and crisp. My colleagues in the European network of the Financial Times keep you up to date with the latest news and analysis. If you have any tips or advice on how I am doing, please let me know.

I sat down with Sweden's ambassador to the EU as they took control of the power of the EU, and European capitals were working on a deal to screen Chinese visitors.

Have fun.

Sweden takes control

According to the man tasked with herding the cats, the Swedish presidency of the EU will have no migration pact, increased support for Ukraine and a shot of free market realism to temper the gusto of those wanting to flood Europe with state aid.

Sweden took charge of the EU council's decision-making bodies for six months with the continent mired in crises, from Russia's war and its impact on energy and food markets to how to respond to US green energy subsidies.

The Swedish presidency is complicated by its domestic situation. The Sweden Democrats are a Eurosceptic party. The country's ambassador to the EU says that won't affect the bloc's leadership.

The Sweden Democrats are likely to have taboo topics. He took his instructions from the government.

He said that people in the city are not very concerned. Look at the results after a couple of weeks. I'm very happy to talk about it.

The presidency will push ahead with the legislative work to put it in place, even though it won't get it over the line.

With full force, we will move the work forward. During the Swedish presidency, there won't be a completed migration pact, according to Danielsson.

The commission president will visit frozen northern Sweden next week to propose measures to improve the EU's economic competitiveness. That is meant to counter her call for a torrent of state aid.

She has a role to play in policy making. He said that her ultimate boss is the member states. She needs to align herself with what's happening most of the day.

Ukrainians will remain top of the agenda. The EU programme to support Ukrainian refugees should be rolled over without dissent, according to Danielsson. New sanctions packages will be the focus of the debate, as well as how to hold Moscow accountable for war crimes.

We are now dealing with less notice when it comes to policy because we are doing a lot of crisis management. Swedish people love to prepare. We have to test our ability to make things.

Chart du jour: Inflation easing

German inflation slowed to a lower than expected 9.6 per cent in the year to December, falling into single digits for the first time since the summer to give the European Central Bank some respite.

Back to the pandemic future

When it comes to a clash between science and politics, always put your money in politics.

The European Commission promised before a meeting on Tuesday to discuss new Covid measures for Chinese visitors to follow a science based approach and pointed to the low risk of new variant arriving on a plane from Beijing. The testing programmes instituted by France, Spain and Italy were not endorsed by it. The idea of pre-departure Covid tests for Chinese travellers was proposed by the health commissioner. There is a chance of a final deal today. People briefed on the talks said that the majority of state officials are on board.

The diplomat said that the commission had to do it because of politics. The countries that were ravaged by the virus in 2020 don't want to go through it again. Can we trust the data from China?

The bloc could bring back passenger locator forms, with travellers saying where they are staying so they can be tracked if an outbreak is traced to their aircraft, according to another diplomat. On arrival, some will test as well.

What to watch today

1. Officials gather for a meeting of the EU's Integrated Political crisis response mechanism to hammer out a unified position on arrivals from China.

2. The German foreign minister is in Lisbon for a meeting. There will be a press conference.

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