On Thursday 19 December, European leaders held a strategic discussion on the place of the European Union in the world, stressing in particular the importance of the transatlantic link despite the lack of visibility on the positioning of the future US administration.
“The message is clear: the EU is committed to continue working pragmatically with the United States to strengthen transatlantic ties”, said the President of the European Council, António Costa.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stressed that “the priority” for Europeans is to engage proactively with the Americans in order to strengthen trade relations and address common challenges, such as “Chinese overcapacity”. “We need to prepare for all scenarios”, she added, as the re-elected President Donald Trump takes office on 20 January.
The EU27 considered this discussion, promoted by Mr Costa, as “timely”. The Irish Prime Minister, Simon Harris, called for contacts to be made “as soon as possible and at the highest political level” in order to establish a “transactional” relationship with Washington. And he added: “We must organise an EU-US summit as soon as possible”.
No uniform ‘Global South’. In addition to the need to “explore” new avenues in EU-UK relations, Mr Costa stressed the importance of seeing the world as a “ multipolar” space, capable of offering Europeans partnership opportunities on “all continents” and based on “shared priorities: the reform of multilateral organisations, the protection of international law, the fight against climate change, the protection of the oceans and the reduction of poverty”.
Without neglecting transatlantic ties, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the prime ministers from Finland, Ulf Kristersson, from Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and from Portugal, Luís Montenegro, all welcomed the end of trade negotiations between the EU and the Mercosur countries. Not approving an agreement that has been under negotiation for 25 years would have sent “a very bad signal” to our partners, he said.
There are great nations in Africa, South America and Asia whose economic power is growing, noted Mr Scholz.
Mr Sánchez outlined the approach to be followed to enable the EU to deepen its cooperation “with those who allow us to defend our values and interests" - remaining united and consistent in defending European values, and “beefing up” the European project on the basis of the ‘Draghi’ and ‘Letta’ reports on economic competitiveness.
To see the conclusions of the European Council: https://aeur.eu/f/ewi (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion, with the editorial staff)