Summary: March 12, 2004: Speech by Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, on Transatlantic relations at the International Advisory Board - Citigroup in Paris
This time last year, colourful metaphors were circulating on relations between the European Union and the United States.
Many were looking for evidence that divisions would drive us apart for ever. A year after - luckily, may I add -- those bleak predictions have not come true.
In no way do I want to pass over or minimise the scale of our differences at the time.
The Iraq crisis shook our relationship with the United States to its core and it had major consequences for the Union's internal affairs too.
But the way the Iraq crisis was handled also prompted in-depth thought on what international relations are based on.
Today certain basic issues are still being debated.
Do we need a legal basis to intervene militarily or it is sufficient that the intervention is legitimate? And if legitimacy is sufficient, who is going to state that the intervention is legitimate?
And therefore what are the limits on pre-emptive military intervention?
What role -- and here I refer to both the United Nations and NATO -- must multilateral institutions play?
How can multilateralism and effective international action be combined?
Who must direct the physical and political process of rebuilding a country after military intervention and how should this be done?
These are complex issues that have no easy or obvious answers. But the way these questions are answered will lay the foundations for international relations for years to come.
I am personally convinced that hard thinking will continue on both sides of the Atlantic.
Even in the most complex situations, Europe and the United States have always managed to find the right responses on a strategic scale that have had a positive impact on world order.
This sort of cooperation and our capacity to tackle and deal together with the challenges of our time is what we must rely on.
Regular summits between US and EU show this ambitious.
This year too, our dialogue will make progress in many areas. There is the -- now definitive -- agreement on the Galileo and GPS satellite systems. There is the future Open Aviation Area Agreement. There is cooperation in the use of hydrogen for fuel. There is the possibility of creating a common research area.
Europe and the United States are also considering the possibility of working together in new ways to stimulate economic growth.
We want to strengthen the Positive Economic Agenda and further step up the integration of our economies.
We want an even closer dialogue between our business communities within the Transatlantic Business Dialogue.
Already today, the Transatlantic economy accounts for some 50 % of the world GDP and 40% of world trade. In terms of bilateral trade, the US is by far the main trading partner of the Union and vice versa. A special relation that exists also in the field of Foreign Direct Investments.
Ever-greater openness and integration between our economies translate into greater well-being, more jobs and better-quality products and services.
Substantial ground has already been covered. I am thinking of financial services, civil aviation, competition policy and issues relating to the development of the E-economy.
On other subjects we have started working and hope to achieve meaningful results shortly: I am thinking of the huge field of regulatory convergence and the approximation and mutual recognition of standards.
Over the past few years our economies have suffered from unfair if not patently dishonest financial practices. These scandals have hurt a large number of shareholders and investors and many people risk losing their jobs and pensions.
Swift and decisive action was taken both in the United States and in the European Union.
In the next few weeks the Commission will be presenting a set of proposals for strengthening the accounting and audit procedures on which the credibility of the whole economic system depends.
Whatever form a stronger cooperation between Europe and the United States takes, I must just stress that this must be done in such a way that it is not seen as an alliance against the interests of other countries.
This principle also applies to trade, another crucial aspect for economic growth.
It is clear that in this area, cooperation between Europe and the United States is vital to ensuring the success of the negotiations on the Doha Development Round.
Such cooperation is necessary but not sufficient on its own. Cancún teaches us that a good EU-US agreement is not enough to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.
New players have arrived on the world stage and it is up to us to show the intelligence and political sensitivity to avoid sidelining them.
On the contrary, we need to include them in the decision-making process, which is multilateral by definition.
Inclusion has been the main idea behind what has been the key strategic choice of my work in Brussels.
When I was appointed President of the Commission in fact, I took a major decision: in these five years we had to ensure the success of the Union's enlargement. And I am proud to say we have succeeded.
In a few weeks, ten new Member States will be joining the Union, and for the first time ever, the continent will be unified peacefully and democratically.
It has been a long, sometimes even tedious job. We had to revise hundreds of pieces of legislation to make them compatible with our rules and regulations.
For all these countries this has implied a change of mentality and not only from an administrative point of view.
This process has been accompanied, assisted, financed by the Commission.
And the work is not yet over. Negotiations are continuing with Romania and Bulgaria with a view to these countries joining in 2007. There are still obstacles along the road, but I am confident the leadership in these countries have the political will to tackle and resolve the remaining difficulties.
And once again I must stress the Commission's readiness and determination to provide support as the negotiations draw to a close -- what they call the final sprint in cycling.
This year the Commission will make a recommendation to the European Council on Turkey.
In it we will say whether progress made allows negotiations on accession to start.
Turkey has taken great strides in terms of reforms -- by abolishing the use of torture, by making progress in the area of freedom of religion, speech and association, and by redefining the role of the armed forces in the political system.
In January I visited Turkey and had the honour to address the Grand National Assembly in Ankara. I told them the determination shown by the Turkish Government to carry through the reforms is an encouraging sign for us.
The European Union expects Turkey to embrace the fundamental rules and principles -- especially respect for human rights -- that form part of our heritage. Our assessment will be based exclusively on a thorough examination of Turkey's capacity to meet the criteria laid down for the opening of talks.
No more and no less than for all the other countries that have applied to join the Union.
I want to stress that the door to membership is open to the Balkan countries too. For Croatia, the process has already started, and if Zagreb manages to meet the political criteria fully, I am confident negotiations on accession can start soon.
Macedonia would also have already presented its application were it not for the tragic air crash that cost President Trajkovski his life. But, as I told the Prime Minister in Skopje attending the funeral of President Trajkovski, the best way to honour his memory is to remain committed to the principle of tolerance and reform which have guided his political life. I expect that Macedonia will present very soon its candidacy.
The story of the Balkans is truly remarkable.
Only one decade ago, daily reports from the region were full of bloodshed, violence and suffering.
In the space of ten years we have seen proof that regional cooperation and the desire to be part of the European integration process have brought the region's peoples to work for reform and reconstruction.
And the crises that have arisen -- and they have been difficult at times -- have been overcome in the name of a European ideal of peace, stability, security and prosperity that has now become a fundamental reference for all the Balkan countries.
The success of enlargement also brings new challenges. More and more countries are asking for closer and deeper relations with the Union.
Enlargement cannot -- and, I add, must not -- be the only response to those who want to strengthen their links with the Union. That is why we have decided to develop a coherent policy towards our present and prospective neighbours. A policy aimed at creating an area of stability and prosperity -- a ring of friends around the Union -- stretching from Morocco to Russia.
With these countries we intend sharing everything except our institutions, basing our relations on a community of values and interests. The ultimate, long-term aim is to extend to these countries the four freedoms - goods, services, capitals, people -- on which the Union is based.
We want to give tangible form to our commitment not to erect new barriers across Europe.
It is a very ambitious project. We want to redefine the bases of our relations with all these countries. We want to set up a common agenda, agreed together where we both commit to work in the direction of a greater integration.
I want to stress in particular the importance of this approach when we speak about Middle East and the Arab world.
We have already started working in this direction with the creation of the Euro Mediterranean Foundation. I am also working to establish a Euro Mediterranean Bank building on the positive experience of the Financial Facility of the European Investment Bank already active in the region.
I want to create institutions where we sit on an equal footing with the beneficiary countries and where decisions are taken together. This is for me the real meaning of "ownership". And any initiative on Middle East cannot be based on different ground. Otherwise we run the risk of feeding extremisms and radicalisms.
On both sides of the Atlantic, we share two aims:
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