On Monday 7 December, the European Union’s foreign ministers reaffirmed the strategic importance of the partnership between the EU and the United States “as the world’s foremost and closest relationship”.
“The ministers stressed that a strong, reciprocal and far-sighted partnership should become the backbone for a renewed alliance between the EU and the United States”, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell told the press at the end of the ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council.
Stressing that, following Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential elections, a renewed transatlantic agenda is needed to find common responses to global challenges, the EU Council explains in its adopted conclusions that it wishes “to engage in a regular, comprehensive and strategic political dialogue with the United States, including at the highest level, in order to reach the full potential of the transatlantic partnership”.
The Member States expressed their readiness to discuss the strategic direction of all policies of common interest and look forward to further cooperation with the United States.
The conclusions highlight a wide range of areas of cooperation: the fight against Covid-19, the digital and green transitions, trade, foreign and security policy, new technologies, and interpersonal contacts.
Thus, the ministers believe that it is urgent to fight alongside Washington against the coronavirus pandemic, to ensure a green economic recovery, to accelerate the green and digital transitions, to advance the fight against climate change, and to strengthen common values.
“In order to stimulate economic recovery, we should work together to deepen our economic relations, including the resolution of trade disputes”, the EU Council said, calling for the extraterritoriality of US measures to be addressed.
According to the Europeans, it is also “time to turn our support for multilateralism into action”. This includes reforming the WTO and the WHO.
The ministers also propose working with the Americans to strengthen their strategic resilience and energy security, to counter hybrid threats, including disinformation, to resist economic coercion and attacks on critical infrastructure, to intensify efforts to combat unfair trade practices, and to ensure they maintain their technological edge.
Furthermore, the EU Council considers it essential to continue investing in interpersonal contacts, “through cooperation in the fields of science, research and development, education, the Internet and the information society, business, and culture, in order to strengthen our partnership”. It therefore recalls that full visa reciprocity with the United States for all EU Member States remains a priority.
Beyond cooperation on foreign policy, including the preservation of the Iranian nuclear agreement, both sides should, in the EU Council’s view, continue to maintain close cooperation and dialogue in the field of security and defence. The EU and the US should further strengthen their joint efforts, “including through a strengthened and mutually beneficial EU-NATO strategic partnership”.
And while the Americans have not always welcomed the EU’s desire for strategic autonomy, the ministers pointed out that the EU’s security and defence initiatives will strengthen the European contribution to transatlantic security.
More broadly, by “pursuing its strategic course of action and increasing its capacity to act autonomously”, a stronger European Union will actively contribute to strengthening the transatlantic partnership and its ability to deliver on its promises, the EU Council believes. “Transatlantic relations and strategic autonomy go hand in hand. They are two sides of the same coin”, Borrell said.
See the conclusions: https://bit.ly/3owkgsN (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)