[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 160 (Thursday, November 6, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING CONTINUED IMPORTANCE OF TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONSHIP AND 
                PROMOTING STRONGER RELATIONS WITH EUROPE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. JO ANN DAVIS

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 5, 2003

  Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. 
Res. 390, which passed the House last night, and wish to commend the 
Chairman of the Europe Subcommittee for his efforts to bring this 
important measure to the House.
  As the Chairman noted, the recent debate over Iraq was a particularly 
difficult time for overall transatlantic relations. As my Colleague 
correctly pointed out, it is important to recognize that this dispute 
was with four nations in particular and not the whole of Europe. France 
and Germany are important friends and allies and it was particularly 
frustrating that we were having such a disagreement with them. However, 
we must not ignore the contributions and sacrifices the British, the 
Italians, the Spanish, the Poles and the many others who did stand 
beside us, provided during this difficult and dangerous time. And while 
some of us may have consumed ``freedom fries'' and avoided Bordeaux 
wines or Bittberger beer, many of us were happy to travel to Prague for 
the NATO summit or to Rome for the Legislators' Dialogue in order to 
assess the state of our relationship and to work on ways to reenergize 
the U.S.-European partnership.
  Now, however, it is time to move on. We must work to reestablish the 
kind of strong transatlantic relationship with all of Europe which is 
necessary if we are to deal effectively with those international issues 
which effect us on both sides of the Atlantic. The resolution before us 
recognizes that both the United States and Europe face serious 
challenges at home and abroad and that to meet these challenges we must 
adapt and strengthen the transatlantic partnership into a transatlantic 
community of action. As the resolution correctly states, the 
transatlantic relationship is much too important to allow an issue such 
as Iraq, however difficult, to result in both the United States and 
Europe drifting apart or worse, becoming rivals.
  As Chair of the U.S. delegation to the Transatlantic Legislators' 
Dialogue, I am especially pleased that the resolution mentions the 
importance of this organization and the kind of dialogue the TLD 
promotes with our counterparts in the European Parliament. As my 
Colleagues may know, in July, after the bitter debate over Iraq 
subsided, we had a very successful meeting of the TLD. During that 
meeting, both delegations pledged to rededicate ourselves to 
strengthening the transatlantic partnership by renewing our pursuit of 
common values such as democracy, human rights and open markets and 
societies and by reinforcing inter-parliamentary contacts.
  At that meeting we also agreed to try to enhance the effectiveness of 
our operations by establishing new consultative mechanisms which would 
serve as an ``early-warning'' system designed to allow intensified 
dialogue on possible contentious issues at early stages of the 
legislative process.
  Mr. Speaker, next week our Colleagues from the Parliament will be 
coming to the United States to continue our discussions. I believe we 
all understand and appreciate the importance of this dialogue and the 
need to continue to support stronger relations with Europe and its 
Union through mechanisms such as these Parliamentary exchanges.
  I urge passage of this resolution.

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