H.E. Mr. Magnus Ryd?n:

I thank the Senator for her questions. On Russia, we see increased support for Ukraine, politically, economically, militarily and in humanitarian and legal support. The establishment of an international platform for the co-ordination of reconstruction support will also be an important element going forward. We need to continue putting pressure on Russia, Belarus and others responsible, for example through more sanctions and by ensuring accountability for international crimes. Russia's aggression has consequences for the EU's internal security, as I mentioned and as the Senator mentioned. Combatting organised crime, terrorism, violence and extremism is a priority in order to ensure the safety of EU citizens, which is something we will take forward during our Presidency.

I thank the Senator for the question on the free trade agenda. It is important to continue the work on free trade agreements and we have to negotiate and ratify the trade agreements, which we are working on, together with the Commission. Hopefully we can take a step forward during our Presidency. The reconstruction of Ukraine is also on the trade agenda, as I have just mentioned. We will also need to prioritise trade relations with the United States, which is extremely important for transatlantic trade relations. We are looking at a modern and forward-looking trade agenda. We want to include digital transition and sustainability and we also need to look at the reform of the World Trade Organization as part of our Presidency. We have some important fights being discussed in Brussels, which we also need to work on, such as the anti-coercion instrument and the generalised scheme of preferences, GSP, system. That will be part of our trade agenda.

Migration is also one of our important questions which we need to take further. There will be a European Council meeting in February and we will discuss migration at that time. We will work on the migration and asylum pact in line with agreement between the institutions. There is a deadline set for before the next European Parliament election; that is the timetable the Council, the Parliament and the Commission have set for themselves. We need to look at that and at the clear and fair division of responsibility, where all countries contribute. We are looking forward to a discussion on migration next month in Brussels.