Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-04-25-Speech-3-051"
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"en.20070425.2.3-051"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, honourable Members, although I would like, in view of the lateness of the hour, to keep my remarks very brief, I would like to express my gratitude to you for this lively and frank debate.
One essential point that has emerged from it is that it is better to talk with one another than about one another. It is evident from the way in which contact is maintained between Members of this House and Members of the US Congress that talking with one another is the only way to learn from one another and to better understand one another.
Relations across the Atlantic were important in the past and will be important in the future, particularly in view of the challenges that we in the European Union find ourselves facing together, in the shape of issues relating to energy and climate change, but also, for example, the fight against international terrorism. Our relations with other major economic actors show that we can do all these things only together and not in opposition to one another. Earlier on, Mrs Mann said that neither open enthusiasm nor frustration are of any use in this, and the pragmatism to which you have referred is the right way to go about things, because pragmatism is vital in any ongoing dialogue with the United States.
A number of points of criticism have been made, not only of security issues of interest to the United States, but also matters of interest to the European Union, for example data protection standards, passenger data and the issue of SWIFT; these issues are being addressed openly rather than being evaded, and the Commission and the Presidency have already made it clear that all of them will be raised with the Americans. I would like to highlight once more the waiver of visas. Within the European Union, there must be no differences of treatment when it comes to deciding who will be able to travel to America without a visa; that opportunity must be open to the citizens of all the Member States of the European Union, for it is with the European Union that America has to deal.
Perhaps I might be permitted to discuss some other critical comments. I believe that the European Union has, in certain international conflicts, managed to abandon unilateralism and move towards a form of multilateralism, and it is in this way that the European Union has succeeded in involving America in its initiatives with respect to Iran, something that also involved consultation and partnership with China and Russia. Important steps have been taken in the same way. I know that Members of your House can never be satisfied with what has been achieved to date as regards the Middle East, but, in the aftermath of the conflict between Lebanon and Israel, there was much enthusiastic advocacy of the re-mobilisation of the Middle East Quartet, and addressing these issues in tandem with America makes an important contribution. I hope that this joint summit involving both the European Union and United States will lead to the establishment of a sustainable basis for the future discussion of critical issues. An alliance or a relationship is not to be regarded as impaired merely because there are disputes within it."@en1
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