Sumario: 28 September 2007, New York - Speech by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, "Opportunities and Challenges in the EU-US Relationship," at a breakfast meeting at the French-American Foundation
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In preparing for today's speech I remembered the quote from Oscar Wilde: "when good Americans die they go to Paris"! Yet judging from what I have heard of the French American Foundation's work your role is far from preparing US citizens for an after life on the old continent.
More seriously, I would like to thank you for the invitation to address you today, and also for the fine work you are doing to promote better understanding between the United States and France and to strengthen relations between those two great nations. Organisations like yours play a vital role in cementing transatlantic ties.
Relations between France and the United States are a vital component of the Transatlantic relationship. There is a long and glorious history of exchanges and cross-fertilisation between the two nations. There may have been ups and downs of late, but it is clear that President Sarkozy is keen to put all that in the past. I am convinced that we are entering an even more productive era in Franco-American and indeed Euro-American relations.
That is extremely welcome when one looks at the world around us. For the moment the EU-US relationship is still at heart of the international system. Our combined economic and political weight on the world stage give us a privileged role in global affairs.
But the current status quo will not last forever. What legacy will we leave for that uncertain future?
Only time will tell, but for me the right response is clear: the most important contribution we can make to world is to forge together a powerful common response to global challenges we face.
President Bush's speech to the UN General Assembly earlier this week was a timely reminder of the challenges of poverty, hunger, disease and tyranny which confront far too many of the world's population on a daily basis. And President Sarkozy called for a global environmental and economic New Deal, a world order for the 21st century based on the idea that we all have responsibility for humanity's global heritage of water, energy, food, medicine and knowledge.
Today I'd like to focus on three areas where I believe transatlantic cooperation can have the biggest impact: global security; transatlantic economic integration; and climate change and energy security.
1) Global Security
This year we are celebrating 50 years of European Union. We have come a long way from the simple trading bloc first created: now we are a strategic partner for issues as varied as international terrorism, climate change, HIV/AIDS, and resolving the world's most entrenched conflicts.
Europe now has more than 70,000 troops deployed on peace support missions across the globe. It provides the backbone of the international community's presence in trouble spots like Lebanon and Kosovo. The EU is also the biggest aid donor, giving 60% of the world's development assistance.
In the Middle East we are working with the US in the Quartet to create the climate to re-launch the peace process. Only last weekend we met here in New York. It was a highly positive meeting and we are cautiously optimistic that the Quartet's new Representative, former Prime Minister Blair, together with increased diplomacy in the run up to November's international meeting, will be able to make a real difference to the situation on the ground. In the meantime the EU will continue its
vital role of providing a lifeline to the Palestinian people through social security payments and essential supplies for hospitals and schools. Our Temporary International Mechanism which has been a godsend for the Palestinian people has been extended until the end of this year.
Elsewhere in the Middle East the EU and the US have been working closely together in dealing with the continuing difficulties in Lebanon and the ongoing problem of Iran's nuclear aspirations. We are fully engaged in supporting reconstruction in Iraq and are committed donors to the Iraq compact.
Also high on my agenda this week in New York has been the situation in Afghanistan. The EU and the US are both heavily engaged - bilaterally and through NATO. Many EU member states support the NATO presence, whilst the EU contributes substantially to improvements in infrastructure and basic services.
We are particularly concerned this week by the events unfolding in Burma/Myanmar. Over the last couple of days we have been having very intense diplomatic talks here in New York. Through every diplomatic channel we have been calling on the authorities to refrain from violence. They need to find a solution which enables peaceful demonstrations to take place, and that needs to happen immediately. We are ready to consider further measures, for example sanctions, but we must be aware that
their impact will only be felt further down the line.
The dense level of EU-US activity is a reflection of our commonality of outlook and our shared recognition that the problems we face in the sphere of security are greater than one state's capacity to respond. As the EU strengthens its foreign policy role in the coming years with our new Reform Treaty, the US will find us an ever more willing and able partner; better equipped to take an even greater share of the diplomatic, aid and military burden.
2) Transatlantic Economic relations
There is growing awareness on both sides of the Atlantic that the US and Europe need to leverage our current global economic dominance to shape the rules of the global marketplace for the future.
The European Union is the biggest integrated economic area in the world, with a population of 490 million in 27 member states and a domestic product of €11 trillion. The United States follows close behind with 297 million inhabitants and a domestic product equivalent to more than € 10.5 trillion.
Together we generate 57% of world economic output and around 40% of world trade, with exchanges worth over €1.7 billion a day.
That is what I mean when I say we dominate the global economy.
But that will not last forever. Brazil has become a significant actor at international level. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. China is the second biggest EU-trade partner after the US and has become the EU's main source of imports.
The EU and US have a common interest in pushing these new partners to take their place as responsible stakeholders, so that in the future our companies will be guaranteed a level playing field, market access and reinforced intellectual property rights.
We also need to increase our efficiency to guarantee our continued ranking among the economic giants. That is a powerful argument for bolstering our cooperation and strengthening the transatlantic marketplace.
We took an important step towards that at the last EU-US summit when we signed a framework for advancing Transatlantic Economic Integration, laying the long-term foundation for a stronger transatlantic economy. We have set up a Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC), bringing together European Commissioners and US Cabinet Members, jointly chaired by Al Hubbard (President Bush's chief economic advisor) and my colleague Commissioner Günter Verheugen. The first formal meeting will take place on 9
November, when we will endorse a joint work programme focusing on five specific issues: Intellectual Property Rights, Secure Trade, Financial Markets, Innovation, and Investment.
I am convinced this will further the interests of both our consumers and businesses by helping us to remove remaining obstacles to trade and investment.
Yet we will need to tackle some sensitive issues, not least how to get the right balance between security concerns and facilitating the movement of people and goods. I am not sure we have always found the best answers and in the future we will need to carefully weigh the expected security benefits of new legislation against its probable impact on the transatlantic marketplace.
3) Climate and Energy Security
The third area is climate and energy security. It has long been self-evident that our planet's ability to respond to the threat posed by climate change and manage competition for finite energy resources is dependent on nations working in concert together.
The EU has taken the lead in the global response. We have agreed to cut our carbon-dioxide emissions by 20% and to raise the share of renewable energy sources also to 20%, both by the year 2020. Our system of emissions trading has blazed a trail in using market forces to protect the environment.
We now need others to come on board, in particular the United States which with only 5% of world's population is emitting 25% of its greenhouse gases. I very much welcome recent statements that the US government is ready to make progress on this issue, which of course needs to happen through the UN framework. I realise that this is a subject of much debate within the US, with some states, like California, leading the charge, whilst others are more reluctant. I hope it will not be long before a
national consensus can be found.
The focus now is the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in December which will be an essential for agreeing on a comprehensive and global post-Kyoto regime. The EU is engaging in intensive "green diplomacy" in the run-up to the conference. I hope the "Major Economies Meeting" taking place in Washington DC will be another positive step, and that it will affirm the fundamental principle of tackling this issue through the UN.
Energy security is the other side of coin. The US is a highly energy-intensive economy. It imports half its oil and this share is rising rapidly. What is more, its principal suppliers are in some of most volatile parts of our planet. The EU is in a similar position and we have been taking steps to increase our energy security - through technological developments, energy efficiency and our efforts to achieve more transparent and stable global energy markets. Inside the EU we just proposed
last week a new package of measures to open our internal energy market to competition and further develop our energy network infrastructure.
We also need to co-operate more effectively to promote commercial penetration of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and biofuels, as well as the development of clean energy technologies, especially on Carbon Capture and Storage. We agreed with the US at the last EU-US Summit to hold by the end of 2007 a Forum to look at the use of market mechanisms to curb CO2 emissions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me take the liberty of paraphrasing Alexis de Tocqueville, that great French commentator on American society in the nineteenth century, in saying that, in international relations, as in a revolution, the most difficult part to invent is the end.
It is not clear what the future will hold for the EU and the US. The international order we have grown comfortable with is likely to change radically. But one thing is clear: the most effective response to the global challenges defining these early years of the twenty-first century is to draw on the solidarity which has defined the last sixty years of our relations and to channel it into even more intense and more effective cooperation.
Thank you.
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