Strasbourg, 25/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - The financial crisis and the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States have given the European Union the opportunity to take stock and, if necessary, amend relations with this major ally, replacing the New Transatlantic Agenda of 1995 with a new agreement better suited to the realities of the day. That is the conviction of the foreign affairs committee rapporteur Francisco Millán Mon (EPP-ED, Spain), who believes that there has never been a better time to strengthen transatlantic cooperation. The new US administration is aware that it cannot act alone in the world and the EU has been enlarged since 1995 and will be stronger with the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty. This justifies a series of changes on the institutional level (see EUROPE 9868). To this must be added the increase in practical cooperation, open discussion on geopolitical issues (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia), growing disarmament and the fight against terrorism, without infringing human rights, and cooperation in the area of justice and home affairs.
The opportunity to see if this desire for change is shared by President Obama will come in about 10 days' time, during the informal meeting with the US President in Prague, Alexandr Vondra, who has just returned from Washington, said on behalf of the Council. Vondra welcomed the “energetic” start made by the new US administration, with the desire to resolve economic problems and deal with sensitive issues such as the closure of Guantanamo and the search for a solution to the conflict in the Middle East. This change of tone must be followed up by concrete results on a whole range of issues of common interest: - energy security and climate change; - the economic and financial crisis: the reform and supervision of the financial system must be carried out in such a way as to avoid any competition distortion on the transatlantic market; - Afghanistan: terrorist attacks on Europe and the USA can be traced to this country and citizens must be told this, Vondra stressed, pointing out that, on 10 March, Vice President Joe Biden made it clear to his European allies that he expected commitment to be matched with concrete resources.
The Commission also backed stronger relations with the USA, Benita Ferrero-Waldner said: of her contacts with the US administration, particularly with Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, she retains the impression that the EU is “their partner of choice as far as reliability is concerned”. The EU must be this reliable partner in the face of the challenges of international politics and the transatlantic economy (half of world production and trade). In this renewed transatlantic relationship, “legislators will be crucial”, Ferrero-Waldner said. MEPs, who already have close relations with the House of Representatives, must also cultivate relations with the Senate, the commissioner said.
The views of the rapporteur were largely accepted by the plenary session, but Adrian Severin (PES, Romania) stressed that closer transatlantic relations must not be perceived as an “alliance against Russia”. Sarah Ludford (ALDE, UK) called on the US quickly to shut Guantanamo and all CIA detention centres, ending the “shameful outsourcing of torture”. Ludford raised another specific issue in the treatment of non-Americans involved in online betting. While not having any particular sympathy for gamblers, she said she was against discrimination. Immediate problems must be resolved, said Erika Mann (ALDE, Germany), referring to trade disputes (in particular the Airbus-Boeing affair), security of containers, and energy intensive industries. British Conservative James Elles drew attention to something that had become widespread over the last few years: the influx of American think tanks in Brussels “telling us what we have to do”. Where, Elles wondered, were our own think tanks, and he called for more balance in this area. The EU must not restrict itself to demands on the USA, opined German Social Democrat MEP Helmut Kuhne: Europeans must say what they are prepared to do, for example with regard to the police mission in Afghanistan and the reconstruction of that country. Poland owed “a debt of gratitude” to the USA, stated Urszula Gacek (EPP-ED), because it was the US that allowed it to join NATO even before EU accession, but this support “must not be taken entirely for granted”.
A small number of MEPs were sceptical of building transatlantic relations, particularly some from the new member states who deplore the US policy with regard to visas: 80 million Europeans still have to queue at US Consulates to obtain a visa, exclaimed Dushana Zdravkova (EPP-ED, Bulgaria). The scepticism of British Conservative Geoffrey Van Orden was more fundamental in nature: he called on the USA “not to interpret the European narrative as fact” but as a story that is not shared by those European citizens who still value national sovereignty. The US administration seemed to have heard a large number of the messages sent to it, concluded Vondra: in the active phase in the debate, Europeans must not be surprised if the new administration asks for concrete commitments, particularly on Afghanistan. To be a credible partner in this new phase, Europe had to speak with one single voice.
The European Parliament will vote on the Millán Mon report on Thursday 26 March. (L.G./transl.rt)