The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called for a new transatlantic agenda on Tuesday 10 November, following the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States.
Aware that “some shifts in priorities and perceptions run much deeper than one politician or administration”, Mrs von der Leyen wants to focus on a renewed agenda.
“Europe should take the initiative, with an offer to work together with the new administration on areas that can strengthen our bilateral and multilateral partnerships”, she told the EU ambassadors. According to the President of the Commission, this new agenda should cover “everything from security to sustainability, from technology regulation to trade, from levelling the global economic playing field to strengthening global institutions”.
While these issues are global, Mrs von der Leyen believes the EU-US alliance should be “the backbone of a new global alliance”. “It is about working with emerging powers and like-minded partners from Africa to Latin America, Australia to democratic Asia, and far beyond”, she added.
The President of the Commission also highlighted four topics on which the EU intends to propose a new and positive agenda with Washington: the fight against Covid-19, the reform of multilateralism, climate and environmental protection, and the digital economy, be it the relationship with online platforms, data protection or fair taxation of the digital economy. “Europe must be the driving force towards international cooperation on digital issues”, she argued.
Also speaking to the ambassadors, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, also felt that the transatlantic alliance needs to be “revived” and “renewed”, while remaining vigilant and lucid about the fact that the United States and the EU are changing. “Our respective visions and interests will not always converge in a systematic way, but we will always be determined to find common ground as equal partners”, he promised.
According to a European source, Mr Michel wants to organise a videoconference of European leaders in advance of the December European Council to discuss the revitalisation of transatlantic relations following the US election. No date has been set for this videoconference. According to this source, the President of the European Council intends to focus the discussion on Covid-19, values and multilateralism, climate, trade and security, and common geopolitical interests. Mr Michel also wishes to invite Mr Biden to a videoconference, followed by a summit in Brussels.
Read Mrs von der Leyen’s speech: https://bit.ly/3piH7ci (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)