On Thursday 8 March, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said that the EU's relations with the USA were quite good.
"Let's say relations are good, which means they could be better, but they could also be worse. If you ask me in nine hours, I can give you another answer", she said during a discussion at the German Marshall Fund in Brussels, ahead of the US decision on imposing taxes on European steel and aluminium (see other article).
Mogherini wanted to come across as reassuring on relations with Washington. "We don't agree on everything and our points of disagreements are quite clear (...) I would say 90% of the issues we're tackling them together (...) Our agenda is still a common agenda", she assured, mentioning Syria, North Korea, Ukraine and counter-terrorism. She said the US needed the EU as much as the EU needed the US. "We both need each other in different fields (...) We equally need each other", she added. In Mogherini's view, "we have to continue investing in (this) strong partnership, which is a natural partnership. The most natural partnership we will ever have across the Atlantic". "After the second World War, America understood that a strong Europe was in the interest of a strong America, and I think we have to go back to basics somehow and rebuild this sense of commonality of being on the same side, of being part of the same identity", she said.
Asked about the biggest surprise in the transatlantic alliance last year, Mogherini mentioned the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem. "I think this exposes the US to some risks and to the potential (...) risk of losing credibility in brokering an agreement". "I would say that this surprised me probably the most, but maybe it's just because it's the most recent", she added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)