After the EU Foreign Ministers on Monday 7 December, EU leaders will discuss transatlantic relations at the European Council on 10-11 December, following the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States.
According to a European source, the leaders will hold a strategic debate on the basis of a paper prepared by the cabinet of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, which focuses on five areas: (1) combating the Covid-19 pandemic; (2) strengthening economic recovery; (3) combating climate change; (4) supporting multilateralism and common values; and (5) promoting peace and security.
This document was discussed at the meeting of Member States’ Ambassadors to the EU on Monday 30 November. “Member States welcomed the document and the fact that the European Council will address the issue at its next meeting and that it will provide political guidance to all EU institutions”, a European source said. The source added that “overall, the Member States agreed on the need to reinvigorate the transatlantic partnership while pursuing an agenda to make the EU stronger and more self-reliant” and that a broad consensus had emerged on the five lines of work proposed by Mr Michel’s cabinet. These axes should serve as a basis for future work by the EU Council, the Commission and the European External Action Service.
For their part, the heads of European diplomacy aim to agree, on Monday 7 December, on a common strategy to strengthen relations with Washington (see EUROPE 12605/5).
In addition, the President of the European Council, who has invited the new US President for a virtual summit and then a physical summit in the first half of 2021, is in close contact with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to see if it is possible to arrange a joint visit for Joe Biden in Brussels. Traditionally, a NATO summit is held after each US presidential election to welcome the new president. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)