Brussels, 26/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - The German Presidency and the Bush Administration are putting the finishing touches to three joint statements to be adopted on 30 April at the EU-United States Summit in Washington, focussing on beefing up transatlantic relations, security and foreign policy issues and climate change and energy. The most controversial issues are climate change and energy, explained German Presidency sources on Thursday. The Germans are trying to play down expectations. On Monday, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, will be meeting US President George W. Bush before a round table discussion with the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the EU High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, representing the EU. On the fringes of the Summit on Sunday, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson will be meeting the US Trade Representative Susan Schwab to discuss the Doha trade round.
On the fringes of the Summit, US Transport Secretary Mary E. Peters will be signing the Open Skies Agreement with EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot. The agreement will come into force on 31 March 2008. The two politicians will also discuss the second phase of the launch of the Open Skies negotiations in the first half of 2008, which should lead to an open and fully liberalised transatlantic airspace. The second stage should be concluded by 2010 (see EUROPE 9392). Europeans will be reminding the United States of EU demands for visa waivers to apply to all member states (twelve are currently excluded) and EU demands on the transmission of personal data on air passengers, the Presidency explains.
The economic initiative demonstrates political drive for an obstacle-free transatlantic market with the cutting of non-tariff and regulatory barriers and key pilot projects. The draft text foresees strengthening a series of measures already in place to increase regulatory cooperation. Another annex identifies key growth projects in areas like intellectual property, trade, investment, financial markets and innovation, where progress is expected by the 2008 Summit. The framework agreement adopted on Monday will create a 'Transatlantic Economic Council' (TEC) to monitor and adjust these targets. It will meet annually, be co-chaired by an EU Commissioner (probably Gunter Verheugen) and a high-ranking representative of the US Administration. The TEC will be composed of a group of seasoned figureheads with expertise in transatlantic issues, like people at the head of existing transatlantic dialogue structures and possibly representatives of other government bodies.
The political statement on security issues will survey the main areas of conflict in the world (Lebanon, Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Darfur, Latin America, etc) and horizontal issues like counter-terrorism, crisis management and weapons of mass destruction. The German Presidency points out that it will remain to be seen whether all these issues can be covered. Political and energy relations with Russia will also be addressed, explained the US Ambassador to the EU Boyden Gray.
A German Presidency source said that the Presidency would be ensuring that people say that on both sides of the Atlantic, climate cooperation is an important theme, recognising that Monday's Summit is more of a 'stage' in the road to the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm on 7 and 8 June, which will also be attended by China and India. Washington sees it as more a matter of the US desire to discuss the issue where there is a rather divergent approach, with the US relying on technological issues for energy and the EU focussing more on quantitative targets, explains the Presidency. On Thursday, Gray confirmed that the US is focussing on promoting new technology. The joint statement may be a list of work on both sides of the pond, listing new energy technologies like clean coal and the capture and storage of CO2, renewable energy and energy efficiency. The EU will reaffirm their positions as explained in the EU Energy Policy Action Plan (see EUROPE 9383). The most recent draft text notes that ensuring security and access to energy supplies and dealing with climate change are the key, inter-connected global challenges facing the international community. These issues will require urgent and sustainable action at global level and an integrated political approach, explains the text, calling for reinforced action by industrialised countries and the biggest emerging economies. Ahead of the upcoming UN conference on climate change in Bali (Indonesia) in December 2007, the statement will stress the partners' plan to work together and with other countries but will not actually call for post-Kyoto talks on climate change to be launched in Indonesia. (ab/eh)