[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 134 (Friday, November 19, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11620-S11621]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WHERE TO NEXT?
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, in the next several weeks I will be
visiting Europe to meet with government and business leaders in London,
Paris, and Brussels. I believe the United States' relationship with the
European Union and the states of Europe is of supreme importance.
America's economic, security, political, and institutional links with
Europe are stronger and deeper than with any other region of the world.
Recently, the importance of this relationship was explained very well
in an article written by the Honorable James Elles, who is a Member of
the European Parliament.
I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Elles's article be printed in the
Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
On EU/US Relations: Where to Next?
Once the race for the US Presidency is finally over, the
new President and his advisors will move from reflecting on
the results of a successful campaign and will look for the
conduct of policy in the months ahead.
What are the immediate priorities with which to deal on
both the domestic and foreign fronts? How, for example,
should economic growth best be fostered? How are priorities
to be handled in far away places such as Iraq, Afghanistan
and Palestine? What is to be the real objective of the four-
year mandate by which he would like to be judged as being a
truly successful President?
As these questions are being mulled over between now and
the Inaugural address early next year, he might reflect that
thinking is taking place across the other side of the
Atlantic on many of the same issues. Although the incoming
Commission President has not yet got the approval of the
European Parliament for his new team, he will be also
considering how to answer a similar set of questions.
How similar are the policy challenges for the incoming EU
and US administrations? Is it correct that Europe is swamped,
as many would have us believe, by a huge anti-American wave
generated by hostility to the Iraq War? Or is there an
extensive common agenda which could be drawn up in the next
few weeks and serve as a basis for joint action over the
period 2005-2008?
Certainly, there is no shortage of potential flash points
in external policy which the pessimists can draw attention to
and which are already on the transatlantic agenda. The war
against terrorism will certainly be at the top of the US
agenda, in its continued search for ensuring domestic
security.
In this context, the run-up to elections in IRAQ will
require steel nerves. So will their aftermath, in particular,
determining what
[[Page S11621]]
role European Governments will wish to play in a military and
financial capacity. Hot on the heels of this dilemma will be
the question of IRAN. How will the new US administration wish
to address this issue? Will it be happy to let the Europeans
take the lead or will it wish to take a more active approach
as some suggest should be done?
Linked to both these questions is the overall pursuit of
peace in the MIDDLE EAST. What has become of the initiative
to bring European and American involvement together to make
progress in the Broader Middle East? Should for example the
roadmap be resuscitated?
Last but not least is the question of ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE
to both Afghanistan and Africa (a potential priority for the
G8 next year). How should this best be coordinated by the two
major global donors--the EU and the US--who contribute about
80% of the world's assistance programmes?
This is all enough to cause indigestion. Certainly more
questions are posed than answers are available. Even if
cooperation is seen to be highly desirable, with the aim of
moving from a transatlantic community of values to a
community of action, how can it be done?
The best chance available to the incoming administrations
is, as they say, not to start from here. These problems have
been around for many months and will be around for many more.
A recently released document published by the Transatlantic
Policy Network (TPN) lays the groundwork for a potentially
successful approach to deepening joint cooperation between
the EU and the US.
At the outset, it recommends a strategy which articulates a
common purpose, building on strengths and reinforcing
linkages while accommodating differences. This is based on
the recognition of growing linkage between the partners'
economic, defence and security, and political interests.
In short, should strengthened partnership be a shared goal,
if so a bold new agenda for economic collaboration needs to
be linked with a commitment to enhanced joint action on the
highest shared political priorities.
What does this mean? Avoid well known areas of dispute such
as a free trade area (FTA) and focus instead on what already
exists to a large degree--the transatlantic market. The TPN
document recommends deepening and broadening the
transatlantic market, with a view to its completion by 2015.
An accelerated 2010 target date should be set for financial
services and capital markets; civil aviation; the digital
economy; competition policy and regulatory cooperation.
Furthermore, there should also be provision for a broad
security partnership between the EU and the US, together with
a mutually reinforcing interface between the EU and NATO.
Last, but not least, there should be put in place, by 2007,
an enhanced basis for cooperation between the two partners--a
transatlantic partnership agreement--building on the 1995 New
Transatlantic Agenda and reflecting the strategy proposed.
Is this approach realistic and practical? Maybe
surprisingly, the broad outlines of this approach have
already been approved by the European Parliament in May 2004.
The economic option has the great advantage that most of
the elements are already in place: the administrations are
jointly consulting stakeholders as to how to remove the
remaining barriers to trade and investment. Given the more
than quadrupling of cross investment over the past 10 years,
the process of interdependence between the EU and the US is
not likely to slacken.
The vital ingredient for the success of this proposal is
the factor of political will. Will transatlantic leaders take
a fresh look at how to bring the EU and the US together
before getting sucked into the daily grind of politics?
Perhaps the best advice for the incoming Commission
President would be to pay a short informal visit in early
January to Washington. This should be not just to compare
notes but also to put forward a joint plan which will allow
Europeans and Americans to work as closely as possible in the
interests of their peoples in the years ahead.
____________________