Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-04-Speech-3-180"
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"en.20030604.5.3-180"2
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"Madam President, this is an excellent occasion to have a discussion on the transatlantic partnership, now that the Iraq conflict is over and the dust is settling in the desert and before the Council and Commission head to Washington at the end of this month.
It seems to my group that whereas in the 1980s the security partnership underpinned the transatlantic relationship and we had economic differences, now the economic market and integration on trade and investment are underpinning the transatlantic relationship, while the security side is looking somewhat fragile.
Yet, for reasons which they both express clearly, the Council and Commission today see everything in the reasonably short term, rather than providing a longer-term vision of our relationship with the United States. An American diplomat expressed this nicely a few days ago: he said that we, in Europe, are looking at problems from a 2003 perspective: the problems of building the European Union, our foreign policy and the beginnings of an external strategy. The United States, on the other hand, is looking much more to the problems of 2020, with the weapons of mass destruction and a whole range of other things, on a global basis, which we tend not to do. The message which should be sent to the summit is therefore that politics, economics and security policy in the post-Cold War world are all beginning to be closely intertwined.
Firstly, as regards politics. Yes, we need to understand each other, as the Council President has said, but surely we need more collaboration, not just in particular instances, such as the war against terrorism: we need a long-term framework to get to grips with that problem and shift the emphasis from a Community of values to a Community of action, dealing with problems of AIDS in the Third World, nuclear proliferation and a range of other things which Europe and America face jointly as global challenges.
Secondly, in economics. We know, as the Commissioner has said, that global economic challenges bring us closer together, but surely it is by developing closer linkages, by developing a transatlantic market – much of that is already in place, but we need to add on financial services, the digital economy, competition policy and other things – that we can complete a transatlantic market over the next decade.
Thirdly, in security policy, where we have the greatest difficulty, we have to ask the questions: will Europe have the military capability? Does it have the political will ever to emerge as a partner with the United States?
In concluding, it seems to me that we need a long-term European strategy to know what we want before we can shape a transatlantic strategy and think on similar terms with the Americans. Secondly, we need a transatlantic summit which takes a strategic view, rather than looking at particular instances and particular problems.
Finally, the big idea is this transatlantic market where we need to mobilise our business and political communities and listen to those we represent so that we can shape the world of tomorrow to our mutual benefit."@en1
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