Sweden goes ballistic over report they tried to prevent EU sanctions
Sweden’s Foreign Ministry summoned Israeli Ambassador Isaac Bachman to a meeting in Stockholm on Monday, seeking clarification about a report that Sweden was trying to prevent further EU sanctions against Iran because of economic considerations.I'm sure that tweet was just a coincidence.
Sweden was concerned the sanctions would endanger a lucrative deal between its mammoth communications company Ericsson and Iran, the Haaretz report said on Sunday.
A Foreign Ministry official said that Bachman clarified that the report was based on an “unauthorized, anonymous official,” and that it did not represent Israeli government policy.
One Israeli official familiar with the matter said of the Swedish summons of the ambassador that “things are never as painful as when they are true.”
According to the report, pressure from inside the EU was placed on the Swedish government over the past week to drop its opposition to the ratcheted-up sanctions, with some of the pressure aimed directly at Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.
According to Haaretz, “Israeli diplomats said that several European officials have wondered about any personal interests Bildt might hold in Iran that could cause him to object to sanctions.”
Not long after Bachman was called in, Bildt tweeted from the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg that there was “great concern among EU FM’s about continued Israeli occupation and settlement activities as well as total standstill in peace process.”
Labels: Carl Bildt, European Union, Iran sanctions regime, Sweden
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:32 PM
2 Comments:
Poor Bildt. He must have forgotten what he said himself after Israel complained about the notorious Aftonbladet "report" about Israeli medics stealing organs from dead Palestinians...
The Swedish foreign ministry and the Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt distanced themselves from the ambassador's statement and underlined that Sweden is a democracy with freedom of press, and that state representatives should not comment on individual articles in newspapers
Aha.
Are there not laws about government officials having large personal financial interests in the specific functions they have policy control over? In the US this would be criminal offense. At the least it would involve Congressional hearings and firing.
Post a Comment
<< Home