The possibility of the Russian invasion of Ukraine escalating into a war between Russia and NATO cannot be ruled out, Swedish Ambassador Diana Madunic said in Zagreb on Friday.

There are too many signals indicating that the conflict will last long and we should not forget that we cannot rule out the war escalating into a war between NATO and Russia, Madunic said.

She held a press conference to present the priorities of the Swedish EU presidency, with the security and unity of the Union featuring high on the agenda.

On 1 January Sweden took over from the Czech Republic the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, which will be largely affected by the Russian war against Ukraine and its consequences for Europe.

Madunic said that Stockholm would focus on preserving Europe’s unity against Russia.

We need to continue to provide Ukraine with political, economic, military, humanitarian and reconstruction aid. That will be our greatest and most important priority. We believe that unity is our strength and that we would be much weaker without it, which would benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin in this war, the Swedish ambassador said.

Another priority of the Swedish presidency will be competitiveness, because the EU lags behind the development of information and communication technology in China and the fast development of artificial intelligence in the Silicon Valley in the United States, Madunic said.

We need to improve our quality, further focus on research, development and innovation, and we should not forget about digitalisation, she added.

The third priority will be addressing climate change. The ambassador said that the Swedish presidency plans to finalise talks on the Fit for 55 climate package, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

The fourth priority is the rule of law and democracy, which Madunic said are at risk.

We are seeing democratic backsliding round the world. More and more countries were becoming liberal democracies, but for quite some time now we can see a slow suppression of the media and civil society, the ambassador noted.

Sweden joined the EU in 1995 and this is its third presidency after 2001 and 2009.