On the occasion of the visit of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to Brussels, Americans and Europeans underlined their willingness to resume their cooperation after four years of the Trump administration.
Mr Blinken stressed his country’s determination to revitalise its alliances and partnerships, adding that the US and the EU are the “closest of partners”.
“Today we open a new chapter in our relations marked by stronger cooperation on key foreign policy and security issues”, stressed the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
Beyond “ways to strengthen EU-US relations and coordinate responses to priority foreign policy, security and economic issues”, the two men “also committed to cooperate in the face of global challenges, including addressing the global climate crisis, bringing an end to the Covid-19 pandemic, facilitating a sustainable economic recovery, and defending democratic values and fundamental freedoms including within multilateral structures”, says a joint statement.
According to Mr Borrell, the meeting with Blinken resulted in two “important” decisions.
Firstly, the two sides decided to re-launch the bilateral dialogue on China, “as a forum to discuss the full range of related challenges and opportunities”. This dialogue was launched under the Trump administration (see EUROPE 12589/30). The EU and the US also agreed to continue meetings under the framework of the dialogue at senior official and expert levels on topics such as reciprocity, including economic issues, resilience, human rights, security, multilateralism and areas for constructive engagement with China, such as climate change.
In addition, Mr Blinken and Mr Borrell agreed - “and this is may be the most important”, according to the latter - “to support the fullest possible involvement of the United States in the European Union defence initiative and to enhance our dialogue on these issues”. According to the High Representative, “the European Union Security and Defence Policy contributes to the transatlantic security and offers concrete opportunities for our cooperation”. Until now, some Member States have been reluctant to allow non-Member States to participate in permanent structured cooperation and the European Defence Fund.
On Iran, both sides acknowledged that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the US left in May 2018, remains “a key achievement of multilateral diplomacy, despite existing difficulties”. The United States expressed its readiness to engage in results-oriented discussions with the aim of ensuring full implementation of the JCPOA nuclear and sanctions lifting commitments.
On Russia, the High Representative and the Secretary of State expressed “their determination to continue to address, in a coordinated manner, Russia’s challenging behaviour” and agreed to coordinate their response to the shrinking space in Russia for independent political voices, civil society and media freedom and the dwindling respect for human rights and the Rule of law. At the same time, both sides said they are ready to engage with Moscow on issues of common interest.
They also expressed their interest in “developing a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship with Turkey, underpinned by the Rule of law and respect for fundamental rights”.
The declaration also refers to Afghanistan, the Western Balkans, Tigray and Ethiopia.
Speaking to the media ahead of her meeting with the Secretary of State, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the fight against the pandemic “the most immediate priority” and said she looked forward to engaging with Mr Blinken on strengthening the global supply chains for vaccines (see EUROPE 12464/1). The US, like the EU, is taking steps to limit exports of vaccines or vaccine components.
See the statement: https://bit.ly/3ckjYC0 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)