Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-21-Speech-3-229"
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"Mr President, in my remarks, I shall touch upon the forthcoming EU-US Summit that will be an important milestone in our transatlantic partnership, as well as addressing certain EU-US aspects, particularly on climate change negotiations under way and also some critical GLS issues.
Now there is also a new Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC). That will be complementary to the Energy Council, which we will re-energise as well. The TEC meets in Washington next Tuesday – so before the Energy Council – and its outcome will obviously feed into the summit talks as well.
A promising area in our transatlantic cooperation is what we call upstream cooperation. We will discuss policy approaches early on, so that we will avoid divergent regulation down the road. It goes without saying that we need such cooperation more than ever. The needed coherent response to the financial crisis is the best example for it. We will also explore whether we can intensify this forum of cooperation for nanomaterial health care-related information.
Upon a US initiative, we also intend to launch closer cooperation in the area of innovation. Both sides recognise that enhancing the innovative potential of our industries and our workforces is essential for the creation of jobs and growth and therefore for a successful emergence of the coming crisis. And the Commission, of course, will also repeat our European concerns on some critical issues such as securing trade, potential distortions of competition from State aid and procurement policy in the US.
Finally, we as the Commission have also, from the very beginning, strongly relied on the European Parliament’s support for the TEC process, and we are grateful for this. So rest assured that we will very much support the initiatives by the European Parliament’s delegations for relations with the USA to strengthen parliamentary involvement in TEC matters on both sides of the Atlantic.
We would like to consolidate the TEC’s role as a bilateral forum to address both day-to-day and strategic issues regarding transatlantic trade and investment. And importantly, the TEC will have reached out to the transatlantic legislators’ dialogue and civil society stakeholders, too, so clearly we need the expertise and political thrust of legislators to tap the full potential of the transatlantic market place.
My colleague has already mentioned that GLS will also be very important. There will be a Troika meeting on GLS affairs on 27 and 28 October in Washington, in the framework of our cooperation on justice, freedom and security. Vice-President Barrot will represent the Commission. We are in the final stages of preparing a statement that will aim to renew our transatlantic partnership in these areas. In the Washington meeting, there will be the opportunity formally to exchange the instruments of ratification of the extradition and mutual legal assistance agreements so that they can enter into force in early 2010. These agreements will strengthen our efforts in fighting crime in today’s globalised world.
On another critical matter close to the hearts of the citizens, we certainly need to make further progress, as was mentioned. We will reiterate the call for visa-free travel to the US for all EU citizens; we will express our concern over the prospect of a fee for the electronic system for travel authorisation as the de facto new tourist tax; and we will once again remind the US of the need to lift the restrictions on travellers with HIV/AIDS under the US visa waiver programme, as you have mentioned.
Finally, a delegation from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs will be travelling to Washington around the time of the ministerial meeting, so we trust they will also be able to convey the same messages. Vice-President Barrot is also ready to meet the Committee on Civil Liberties delegation while in Washington.
The change in the US Administration in January has had a very significant impact on EU-US relations, and our partnership has got off to a good start. I would say we have re-energised our relations and I am convinced that the Lisbon Treaty, once in force, will also contribute towards the further strengthening of this vital relationship by providing the European Union with an even stronger foreign policy identity. That is also what our friends in Washington expect.
But let us be also clear. Our aspiration for a true partnership of equals with the United States also means that Europeans must be willing and able to deliver. I would say that it is a dual momentum, internal and external, that makes the summit in Washington so important.
The first formal summit with President Obama took place after our informal meeting in Prague this spring. Now the preparations for the Washington Summit are in full swing. We are working with the US side on delivering tangible results in priority areas. The global economy and climate change are likely to be the two major areas of focus of the summit discussion, in addition to a number of key foreign policy challenges.
On the economy, the focus in Washington will be on joint efforts to combat the economic and financial crisis and securing a sustainable global economic recovery to secure jobs and create growth. We will move further on governance issues for the global economy, notably on financial regulation and a timely follow-up to the G20 Pittsburgh Summit. The Commission will also emphasise our joint interest in countering protectionist tendencies and we will call on the US to renew efforts to bring the Doha Round to a successful end.
Secondly, on climate change, we as the European Union will encourage the US to go to the Copenhagen conference with ambitious objectives to reach a sound global agreement, and we will also engage with the US to make progress on establishing a cap-and-trade system across the Atlantic.
Thirdly, on foreign policy, we will, of course, also discuss with the US how to meet urgent foreign policy challenges. Here we will focus on how to cooperate further and more closely on the Middle East peace process, on the challenges posed by the nuclear ambitions of Iran, and on ways in which we can assure the renewal of the compact in Afghanistan, which is at the basis of our concerted efforts there. I will have a separate foreign policy meeting with Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Bildt to discuss these matters in greater detail.
Furthermore, I expect the summit also to adopt a declaration on non-proliferation and disarmament, taking forward EU-US cooperation in many of the areas identified by President Obama in his speeches in Prague and New York. This initiative, which carries strategic importance in itself, is indicative of the renewed US commitment towards effective multilateralism, which the European Union has every intention of supporting and consolidating.
Last but not least, a further major summit outcome will be the creation of a new EU-US Energy Council which will have its first meeting on 4 November. On the EU side, the Council will be chaired by myself, my colleagues, Commissioners Piebalgs and Potočnik, and the Presidency, and on the US side by Secretary Clinton and Secretary Chu. The Council will look at global energy security, energy markets and product regulation, at new technologies and research. In short, it will provide added value in a policy field, the importance of which is obvious."@en1
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