Strasbourg, 16/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The President of the EU Council, Anna Lindh, and the European Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, when speaking on Wednesday during the European Parliament debate on the state of the transatlantic dialogue, underlined both the issues that divide Europe and the United States (in particular, the Kyoto Protocol and the death penalty) and those that bring them together (such as the Balkans and the Middle East, said the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs). The Gothenburg Summit with President Bush will enable us to express ourselves over dossiers such as that of antimissile defence, noted Mrs Lindh in particular, when noting that the debate on this issue has only just begun (see other article on the Council deliberations over EU/United States relations).
Chris Patten, who immediately said he had "no sympathy for anti-Americanism", as it translates "a lack of self-confidence in what it is to be European", outlined the board themes of the Commission Communication for a revitalisation of the Transatlantic dialogue. Thus he recalled that it identifies eight "strategic themes" that will remain valid for several years, and also mechanisms allowing to make the dialogue more targeted and concrete: when talking of the "plumbing", Mr Patten underlined that, over the years, cooperation mechanisms have become "more complex than we intended", while he said, we need a sort of "super-tanker" capable of transporting a "large and varied" cargo with relatively low maintenance costs. As for the content of the dialogue, the Commissioner cited in particular "the manifestations of the dark side of globalisation", such as the fight against organised crime, drugs, the trafficking of human beings, transmissible diseases…
The Commission Communication is timely, but we need something more "visionary", felt, during the debate, the British Conservative James Elles. He hopes that the Euro-American Summit in Gothenburg launches a Europe/United States agenda extending until 2004 and suggests the holding of an annual Atlantic summit gathering the European Union, the United States and NATO. As Mr Elles and many others, the CDU member Elmar Brok (who regretted in particular that there is no common EU/United States stance over the Ukraine) insisted on the parliamentary dimension of the transatlantic dialogue. Pat Cox, Liberal President, also raised this theme, when feeling that it is necessary to show "legislative inventiveness" and by underlining the role that the MEPs from both sides of the Atlantic can play to avoid arriving, sometime "par hazard" (he said in French), to new conflicts between the EU and the United States. Which was followed by the President of the Socialist Group, Enrique Baron, who said he had very interesting and frank talks, last week, with Congress, and who criticised in particular the American antimissile shield: to increase world security, it is more of a case of fighting against poverty and instability in the poor countries, he stated. Heidi Haulata, co-President of the Greens/ALE group, spoke in the same vein, when noting that the best contribution one can make to security and stability in the world, is to attenuate the inequalities and ensure sustainable development. Today we can talk of a "crisis" between Washington and Europe, she said, when citing, as did others, the attitude of the Bush Administration over the Kyoto Protocol. Attitude denounced by Francis Wurtz, President of the United Left/Nordic Green Left group, who, when noting that the Clinton Administration was already marked by a certain degree of unilateralism, symbol of the superpower complex (he referred to the opposition to the agreement on antipersonnel mines and the International Penal Court, as well as the Charter of Children's Rights…), felt, when referring to climatic change and the antimissile shield, that the first important decisions made by the Bush Administration "exceed in seriousness all that has been seen until now". Are we condemned to continue protesting, but without finally reacting?, he wondered. He concluded: no, if we present a united front with the fifteen, we will find allies throughout the world and even "in Congress". As for Paul Couteaux, French member of the European of Democracies and Diversities group, he is highly vehement, when talking of the United States as a society "based on genocide" and which "feeds" on violence: we Europeans, are like a rabbit fascinated by the boa posed to bite, he exclaimed, when accusing the United States of wanting to cuff the States of the entire world. The Parliament will adopt a resolution on the transatlantic dialogue this Thursday.