Luxembourg, 09/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Union's Foreign Ministers requested at the first exchange of views at the General Affairs Council looking at the European Commission's recent Communication on transatlantic dialogue (see EUROPE of 21 March, p. 10) that the environment be included in the priorities for future EU/United States summit meetings. The Commission is proposing that eight priority areas be set for future summits, namely, security, multilateral trade, fighting organised crime, energy, consumer protection, macroeconomic issues, fighting poverty in the third world and the digital economy. The European Commissioner, Chris Patten, commented at the end of the debate that the environment should be added to the list.
The exchange of views brought the divergences to light between the different Member States on the number of annual summits required to pursue dialogue with the United States. Only France and the United Kingdom clearly support the Commission proposal to only organised one summit a year in order for it to have a greater impact. Other Member States want there to be one summit per Presidency. The French Minister, Hubert Védrine, proposed that the summits be organised on the cusp of two Presidencies of the Council of the EU. The Council is expected to adopt conclusions in this connection at its meeting in May.