A closer and deeper strategic partnership with the USA

Published: 27 March 2009 y., Friday

Rankų paspaudimas
A new transatlantic partnership is needed to strengthen ties between the EU and America now that Barack Obama has taken office, says the European Parliament. MEPs are calling for a new institutional architecture including a political council and a joint transatlantic assembly. The report was adopted with 503 votes in favour to 51 with 10 abstentions.

The “new transatlantic agenda” dating from 1995 should be replaced by a new transatlantic partnership agreement based on a new institutional architecture, argues the report by Francisco José Millan Mon (EPP-ED, ES) adopted by the EP.  The EU-US relationship is described in the report as “the most important strategic partnership” for the EU.
 
MEPs propose the creation of a Transatlantic Political Council as “a body for systematic high-level consultation and coordination in respect of foreign and security policy”.  It would be chaired by the High Representative/Vice-President of the Commission on the EU side and by the Secretary of State on the US side, and would meet at least every three months.
 
A unified transatlantic market: meet the target date of 2015
 
The full potential of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) should be used to overcome the existing obstacles to economic integration and to achieve a unified transatlantic market by 2015.  MEPs ask the European Commission, on the basis of the study authorised and financed by the European Parliament in its 2007 Budget, to draw up a detailed road map of existing obstacles which need to be removed with the aim of achieving that target date.
 
They highlight the role to be played by the TEC in transatlantic macro-economic cooperation and they call for closer coordination between European and American monetary institutions.
 
An EP-US Congress transatlantic assembly
 
A transatlantic assembly should replace the current Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue, says the report. It should be compromised of Members of the European Parliament and the US Congress, and should meet twice yearly.
 
The transatlantic assembly should be able to make proposals to the Economic and Political Councils and to the EU-US summits. Both its co-chairs should be invited to participate in the opening session of meetings of both Councils.  The assembly should also have the right to conduct hearings with representatives of those Councils.
 
The report also recommends that EU-US summits take place twice a year “to provide the partnership with strategic direction and impetus”.
 
CIA secret prisons, global issues
 
The U.S. administration is urged to close down any detention centres outside the United States, to put an end to the policy of extraordinary renditions and to ratify and accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
 
MEPs believe the new partnership should also enable the two sides to address, with Russia, the various challenges, threats and opportunities of mutual concern, such as  disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.
 
Prague summit 5 April 2009
 
Parliament warmly welcomes the upcoming summit to be held in Prague on 5 April 2009 between President Obama and the 27 EU Heads of State and Government, and hopes that that meeting will provide a strong impetus for the strengthening of the transatlantic relationship and the establishment of a common agenda.
 
Iran
 
The House welcomes the announcement by President Obama that consideration will be given to direct contacts with the Iranian side and supports the objective, pursued jointly by both partners, of finding a negotiated solution with Iran, in coordination with other members of the Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Parliament considers that any initiatives that one of the partners may launch concerning Iran must be closely coordinated between them in a spirit of trust and transparency.  MEPs call on the transatlantic partners to define as soon as possible a common approach towards Iran, without waiting until the issue needs to be confronted as a matter of urgency.
 
Lastly, it should permit better coordination of responses on other matters of joint interest such as promoting sustainable peace in the Middle East through the Quartet, the fight against terrorism and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, notably in Africa.

 

Šaltinis: europarl.europa.eu
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

2010: European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion

Approximately 80 million people in the EU have such limited resources that they cannot afford the basics and face unpredictable long-term consequences of the 2008 international economic and financial crisis. more »

Uganda Launches Second Northern Uganda Social Action Project

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on February 8 launched the Second Northern Social Action Fund (NUSAF II), aimed at improving access for beneficiary households and communities in Northern Uganda to income earning opportunities and improved basic socio-economic services. more »

IMF Statement on Greece

Caroline Atkinson, Director of External Relations at the International Monetary Fund, issued the following statement in Washington today. more »

Statement following the meeting of the Heads of State and Government on 11 February 2010

Following the meeting of the Heads of State and Government on 11 February 2010 in Brussels, Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), made the following statement. more »

Parliament marks twentieth anniversary of liberation of Nelson Mandela

EP Vice President Libor Rouček told MEPs that Thursday was the twentieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from prison, recalling his role in the dismantling of apartheid and that he was the first winner of Parliament's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought. He then gave the floor to Michael Cashman, chair of the European Parliament delegation for relations with South Africa, who paid a tribute on behalf of Parliament to that country's former President. more »

Human rights: Venezuela, Madagascar, Burma

Three human rights resolutions, on the media in Venezuela, the political crisis in Madagascar and the situation in Burma, were approved by Parliament on Thursday. more »

Climate change: call for "new climate diplomacy"

The EU should create a "new climate diplomacy", and its future budget must provide enough funding to protect against, and adapt to, climate change, say MEPs in a resolution approved on Wednesday more »

Germany: 2010 Article IV Consultation Concluding Statement of the IMF Mission

After a sharp fall in the first half of 2009, the government’s globally-coordinated policy measures were crucial to the resumption of growth in the second half. more »

EBRD boosts energy security in south-eastern Europe

The EBRD Board of Directors has approved a €150 million sovereign loan to Serbijagas, a state-owned Serbian company responsible for the transmission, storage, distribution and trade of natural gas, to finance the upgrade of the country’s gas transmission network and the construction of a new gas storage facility. more »

Commissioner Hahn attends the Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki

Johannes Hahn, the new European Commissioner for Regional Policy, will today address the Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki. more »