Strasbourg, 13/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - A few weeks ahead of George W. Bush's visit to Brussels (on 22 February), the European Parliament voiced its hopes on Wednesday that talks with the American President and the start of a new administration will bring in a better phase in transatlantic relations. Will the meeting on 22 February be of the "troika" variety, or a "25 + 1"? Answering this question in a press conference, Jean-Claude Juncker admitted that he would not support this formula, which does not reflect the weight of the United States. During the debate, Sean O'Neachtain (UEN, Ireland) was almost the only one to raise relations with Canada, and the European Commissioner Janez Potocnik commented that this relationship was "really flourishing", and maybe this is the reason it is so little discussed. In the debate on the Luxembourg Presidency, Jean-Claude Juncker noted that during this six-month period, there will be a "summit between friends" with Canada, to discuss "problems of mutual importance".
During Wednesday's debate, the President of the Council, Nicolas Schmit, stated that the Luxembourg Presidency intends to take the opportunity of President Bush's visit (which is an "important political and symbolic gesture") to "breathe new life into the relationship". The Luxembourg minister for European affairs mentioned three dossiers of particular urgency for EU/US cooperation: the Middle East peace process, Iraq and Iran. In the case of Iran, "shared objectives coexist with different approaches", Mr Schmit admitted, also recognising that "between us, there are points of genuine disagreement, such as climate change, the criminal court and the death penalty", which must all be resolved, even is "it will not always be possible". (Mr Schmit welcomed the opening of negotiations of the Airbus/Boeing affairs: see EUROPE of 12 January, p.8). According to the President of the Council, "the best proof of the maturity of transatlantic relations is that we are talking less of the relationship itself than of the missions we will set together". The tenth anniversary of the New Transatlantic Agenda "invites us to think about this relationship, including its institutional mechanisms", Schmit concluded, speaking in favour of reinforcing euro-American dialogue at all levels, including parliamentary, because in the United States there is an "important power zone in Congress". European Commissioner Potocnik, who was standing in for Benita Ferrero-Waldner (on a visit to the United States), echoed this sentiment, announcing that the Commission was to launch an independent study analysing the advantages and disadvantages of the framework governing transatlantic relations. After a "turbulent period", we want to commit to reinforcing relations, he said.
Kyoto Protocol, International Criminal Court, death penalty, the situation in Guantanamo: these contentious points cropped up again and again in the MEPs' contributions. The MEPs were almost unanimous in their recognition of the need to overcome certain disagreements of the past to start a new phase. The only discordant voice belonged to Tobias Pflüger (GUE, Germany), who took the opportunity to opine that the European Constitution would bring about a "militarisation" of the EU: I will be taking part in the demonstration in Mainz at President Bush's visit, he said. "Let's give President Bush a chance" to seek an improvement in relations with the EU, said the German Green (of Turkish origin) Cem Ozdemir. Elmar Brok (CDU), president of the committee on foreign affairs, expressed his astonishment that the EU had "no contractual relations" with the US, except for those within NATO, and Cecilia Malmström (ALDE, Sweden) suggested that a transatlantic parliamentary committee be set up (it is worth noting that there is a NATO parliamentary committee already in existence). We must "upgrade" transatlantic relations, make it more visible, and act in three fields where there should be "community of action", said British Conservative James Elles, referring to peace in the Middle East, global security (the fight against terrorism, but also against poverty and under-development), and the completion of a transatlantic market by 2015. The New Transatlantic Agenda is not "political" enough, it is too "technical" and hard to understand, said German Social Democrat Erika Mann, who hoped for a reinforcement of economic and trade cooperation, adding: we are against a "transatlantic free-trade area". Former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema (PES) called upon the Europeans to avoid both "sterile anti-Americanism" and the race to "join the coalition of the victorious" (which they are not, as Iraq demonstrates): Europe must stand before America "united, faithful to its principles", and be itself, he stressed.
British Conservative Jonathan Evans said that he hoped that John Bruton (former Irish prime minister and now Head of the EU's delegation in Washington) would contribute to raising the profile of their relations and that he would in the future be invited to debates of this kind.
During the debate, several MEPs affirmed that the international action of the USA was more efficient than that of the EU: Philip Claes agreed (Vlaams Belang, Belgium) but criticised the USA for its "interference" in the affairs of the Union over Turkey. Miroslaw Piotrowski (Ind/Dem) said that in Europe there were too many clichés about the USA. His compatriot Bogdan Klich (EPP-ED) asked why they were inviting president Bush to address Parliament. From the same group, Jerzy Buzek from Poland said that the EU and USA had to act together to strengthen democracy in the world but Mark Czarnecki (non-attached) also from Poland noted that some of the new EU Member States had closer relations with Washington than did the older Member States (he said that in Poland the unions were against the war in Iraq but for a closer relationship with Washington). Polish Socialist Jozef Pinion said that the EU needed the USA but that the USA should not impose its "diktat" on the Union. He exclaimed that they did not need a "pan-European nationalism" set against the USA but neither did the world need US domination. Istvan Szent-Ivanyi (ALDE, Hungarian) said that they should not become a rival to the USA but rather a partner on an equal footing.
EP supports Agreement for partnership which will enter into force in 2007
The European Parliament has adopted by 319 votes for, 94 against with 151 abstentions, a resolution from the EPP-ED, PES, ALDE and UEN in favour of implementing an agreement by December 2005 for updating the New Trans-Atlantic Agenda of 1995 by replacing it with a Trans-Atlantic Partnership to be implemented as from 2007. The "Trans-Atlantic dialogue of legislators" is expected to "incorporate all of its different aspects". It will be necessary to immediately set up an early warning system between the two parties and gradually transform inter-parliamentary exchanges in a Trans-Atlantic Assembly. The EP has expressed its wishes in this context for the setting up of an "action Trans-Atlantic community" to meet regional and global challenges based on: peace in the Middle East (Palestine, Iran and Iraq); global security (fight against terrorism, UN reform, reduction of poverty, infectious diseases and degradation of the environment); a new dimension for strengthening the economic partnership (the EP has approved an amendment by Jan Marinus Wiersma (PES, Netherlands), calling on the USA to "assume their share in providing economic stability in an increasingly independent world".