The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, sent a positive message to the United States during an online conference organised by the Atlantic Council on Wednesday 10 February. He welcomed the signals sent out by the new US administration and spoke in favour of strengthened ties on the international stage.
“Multilateralism is part of our DNA, both in the European Union and the United States. It is a mistake to think that strategic autonomy does not go hand in hand with multilateralism”, said Mr Michel.
In a lengthy interview in which he set out his vision of transatlantic relations for the coming months, the President of the European Council reiterated the EU’s desire to engage with the United States in order to promote shared values. He stressed the need to “support and trust international organisations” such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Regarding bilateral trade relations between the United States and the EU, he recalled that the priority was first and foremost to put an end to the trade dispute between the Airbus and Boeing aircraft manufacturers, which has strong commercial repercussions. On this point, the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, had said the previous week that he was waiting for the official appointment of the next US Trade Representative to tackle these issues (see EUROPE 12654/11).
“I hope we can make progress and find reasonable solutions. Because, at the same time, China is developing a dominant position in these areas and this shows that we need to find solutions”, said the former Belgian Prime Minister.
On China too, Charles Michel justified the EU’s desire to move towards an investment agreement by the need to encourage Beijing to come closer to European standards in terms of respect for the environment and human rights. In this context, he stressed that the EU and the US could “mobilise appropriate tools” to achieve their common goal of promoting their shared values on the world stage and particularly towards China. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)