23/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - After a trip to the United States, where they met "many influential members of Congress", the leaders of the EPP-ED group of the European Parliament hoped to borrow from European integration in creating a new transatlantic dimension. "Transatlantic relations must change: they are no longer a matter of foreign policy, but internal policy", said the Spanish member Jaime Mayor Ortega, in a press release published on 18 July. The French member Joseph Daul spoke of his dreams of a "genuine transatlantic market, which will eventually be as complete as the European single market". The President of the group also pleaded for "closer cooperation on geostrategic problems, possibly with a transatlantic Council made up of the American and European Presidents, together with the Presidents of the Central Banks". (O.J./trans.fl)