[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16136]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        U.S.-EU SUMMIT IMPORTANT

  (Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, today this city is the site of the annual 
U.S.-EU summit. Leaders of the European Union are here meeting with 
President Bush and members of his administration in order to strengthen 
transatlantic relations and to work on a common agenda which seeks 
solutions to issues within this relationship.
  A balanced and well-defined U.S.-EU relationship is critical to 
global peace and stability. Although the difficult debate over Iraq 
presented yet another challenge to the relationship between the United 
States and Europe, it remains clear to this Member that a strong, 
mature transatlantic relationship is critical to the long-term 
economic, political and security interests of both the United States 
and Europe. And one of the central ingredients to a successful 
partnership with Europe is a stable and integrated European Union. It 
is important that the EU has evolved to become, along with NATO, one of 
the two critical international organizations to achieve these 
objectives.
  Summits such as the one today along with legislative exchanges can 
serve to reinvigorate transatlantic relations in order that we, the 
United States and the Europeans, can together meet the global 
challenges we face.

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