After an initial discussion among EU foreign ministers, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, announced that the Europeans would work on a common position on transatlantic relations following the election of Joe Biden.
The Foreign Affairs Council on 7 December will provide an opportunity for a more in-depth discussion on transatlantic relations.
“I hope that on 7 December, the Council will be able to agree on a common approach. [...] I don’t expect us to speak with one voice, but we should speak about the same thing”, Mr Borrell said. He warned, however, that some Member States expect the discussions to take longer and that there will be no full agreement by that date.
According to the High Representative, there is a need to move towards “a common approach”, including on how to “engage in a stronger friendship and partnership with the United States, which is our most important strategic ally”.
Ahead of the Council, German Minister Heiko Maas expressed his conviction that Europe and the United States needed a ‘transatlantic New Deal’. “There is hardly a subject where we are not urgently dependent on each other”, he said, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change. The Minister also took the view that building a better transatlantic partnership did not contradict the need for Europeans to defend their own security. They are two sides of the same coin, Mr Maas reflected.
In front of the press, Mr Borrell pleaded for the EU’s strategic autonomy. According to him, “a capable and strategically aware EU is the best partner for the US“. Acknowledging that the term was controversial, the High Representative explained that this did not mean that the EU would not continue to be a partner for the US, but that it was about being a better partner.
He made it clear that strategic autonomy was not a concept linked solely to transatlantic relations. The EU’s strategic autonomy should also be discussed at the Council on 7 December. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Agathe Cherki)