The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen - the American President, Joe Biden, having decided to skip the press conference - emphasised the renewed partnership with Washington at the end of the EU-US summit in Brussels on Tuesday 15 June.
In addition to the agreement on the suspension of tariffs in the Boeing/Airbus dispute (see other news), the leaders decided to set up a working group on vaccines and a climate action group.
Cooperation in the fight against Covid-19
Despite tensions over patents and vaccine exports (see EUROPE 12716/2), Europeans insisted on transatlantic cooperation on Covid-19. “We agreed that we need to move faster and faster to help vaccinate the world. To achieve this, we have decided to set up an EU-US Task Force on Vaccines to really work on the details”, explained Mrs von der Leyen. According to her, this working group will help identify and solve problems related to the production of vaccines and therapeutic products.
The Commission President said that both partners agreed that much more cooperation was needed to build production capacity in areas where it did not exist. She highlighted the issue of transfer of technological know-how to these regions, i.e. the discussion around the lifting of patents and open and secure supply chains.
“We need to ensure that people have access to vaccines”, Mr Michel said, explaining that the goal is to vaccinate two-thirds of the world’s population by the end of 2022.
The EU and the US will also work more closely on the reform of the World Health Organization.
Climate and biodiversity
On the climate front, the summit did not result in any significant new developments, except for the commitment to establish a high-level EU-US Climate Action Group to strengthen cooperation on climate issues.
“The main focus is really to work together on the momentum that has been created by the Earth Summit (see EUROPE 12704/14) and to really work on climate diplomacy so that we have many, many countries going with us towards COP26 in Glasgow”, said Mrs von der Leyen.
Reaffirming their commitment to achieving their climate goals, the two sides also announced that they will work towards the establishment of a transatlantic green technology alliance.
As already expressed in the last G7 declaration (see EUROPE 12740/13), the EU and Washington also stressed the need to move away from coal (but without setting a specific date) and reaffirmed their commitment to mobilise €100 billion per year until 2025 to support developing countries in tackling the climate crisis.
Nor is there anything new in the area of biodiversity. Both parties reiterated their commitment to achieving the goal of conserving or protecting at least 30% of the world’s land and 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, by conserving or protecting at least 30% of their own land during this decade, including terrestrial and inland waters as well as coastal and marine areas.
They also reaffirmed their intention to work towards an agreement for an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in Kunming.
Cooperation at international level
In terms of foreign policy, the President of the European Council explained that both partners have the ambition of promoting fundamental values, democracy and international cooperation.
In their joint statement, the two sides stated their intention to join the Democracy Summit proposed by Mr Biden by committing “to concrete actions to defend universal human rights, prevent the rollback of democracy and fight corruption”.
While Mr Michel and Mrs von der Leyen only mentioned China to the media after being asked about it, the US Presidency’s communication focused on EU-US cooperation on the challenges posed by China.
According to their joint statement, Europeans and Americans will consult and cooperate closely on a range of issues within the framework of their respective similar and multifaceted approaches to China, including on common concerns such as Xinjiang or Hong Kong, economic coercion, disinformation campaigns and regional security issues.
The two sides also announced their aim to establish a high-level dialogue on Russia to coordinate their policies and actions. “We are united in our principled approach to Russia and are ready to respond decisively to its repeated negative behaviour and harmful activities, which Russia must address to avoid further deterioration in relations”, the transatlantic partners warned.
They also announced their intention to launch a specific dialogue on security and defence and to pursue closer cooperation in this area. They will also work together to raise the level of ambition of NATO-EU to further strengthen this “key strategic partnership”.
See the joint statement: https://bit.ly/3cM5oTw (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Damien Genicot)