BEIJING, July 3 --  Sweden on Wednesday took over the presidency of the European Union (EU), the world's largest integrated economy with nearly half a billion citizens.

    "After two year's preparation, Sweden takes over the presidency of the EU," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said at a joint press conference with the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

    The current international financial crisis and climate change will be the two priorities, among other challenges, during Sweden's presidency, he said.

    One of the big challenges for the Swedish EU presidency is to pull Europe out of the current economic crisis as soon as possible.

    The current economic crisis has been created by a financial turmoil caused by the lack of effective mechanisms of international financial supervision.

    Another big challenge for Sweden's EU presidency is managing the global climate change.

    "Together with the financial crisis, climate change is therefore the Swedish Presidency’s most important priority. There is no time to lose if we don’t want our children to experience drastically worse living conditions than we do," the Swedish prime minister emphasized.

    It is his hope that an international climate agreement can be concluded at the UN conference in Copenhagen in December.

    Barroso expressed confidence in Sweden for its ability to lead the EU to deal with the financial crisis in the following six months. He also hoped Sweden could lead the EU to forge a unified stance at the upcoming UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December, to reach consensus on greenhouse gas emission cuts.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Stockholm.

    (Source: XHTV)