Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-16-Speech-3-048"
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"en.20010516.3.3-048"2
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"Mr President, relations between the EU and the US are of vital importance both for Europe and the US and for the rest of the world.
However, as I said, there are also differences of opinion. The new administration’s stated opposition to the Kyoto Protocol is a source of great disappointment to us. It is highly worrying that the US, which is responsible for 25% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, is choosing to stand aside from an international agreement negotiated over a decade. The new administration has justified its opposition to the Kyoto Protocol by the fact that it does not require the same undertakings of developing countries and is also damaging to the American economy. We do not accept these reasons, and above all we do not accept the US thereby distancing itself from the agreement.
The EU’s reaction to the actions of the US has been swift and powerful. Prime Minister Persson and Mr Prodi, President of the Commission, have criticised the decision in a letter. At the informal meeting of the environment ministers in Sweden, the Swedish chairman, Mr Larsson, stated that no individual country has the right officially to declare a multilateral agreement dead, and he expressed his hopes that the US would return and take part in the ongoing Kyoto Process.
The EU Troika, headed by the Swedish Minister for the Environment Mr Larsson, travelled to Washington in April to continue nevertheless to attempt to maintain the dialogue with the US on the global problem of climate change. In these talks, it emerged that the US does not question the problem of climate change. The US admits the importance of finding global solutions to the problem. The EU considers that the solution is to be found within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, while the US insists on the need to find alternative solutions.
The EU’s goal is to make the Protocol ratifiable within the next year with or without the US. However, without the participation of the US, the Protocol will be considerably weaker. We therefore welcome the US attending the environment meeting in Bonn in July and hope to see a constructive dialogue with a fruitful exchange of views.
I would like to emphasise that both the EU and the US bear a heavy responsibility for global problems and challenges such as the threat posed by climate change. We will never get the countries of the Third World and developing countries to take action if no joint responsibility is taken by the EU and the US.
To conclude, a few words on the areas in which the EU and the US are taking, and have succeeded in taking, joint responsibility. In this context, I would particularly like to highlight our joint efforts to promote peace and stability in the Balkans, as well as our consultations on the situation in the Korean peninsula and the Middle East peace process.
Links between the EU and the US are vitally important in today’s world. It is only through cooperation and dialogue that we can meet global challenges and create the preconditions for a world of peace, democracy and economic development.
I therefore see with great satisfaction that the European Parliament is taking action to develop and strengthen the dialogue with the American Congress.
I would also like to point out that a meaningful dialogue must also address issues on which the EU and the US disagree. Constructive dialogue is based on sincerity, and sincerity means not hesitating to voice criticism. This means that, in the future too, the EU will direct criticism at, for example, the US’s use of the death penalty.
Mr President, I now look forward to hearing the opinions of the Members of the European Parliament.
Transatlantic relations are good. Today, we are working closely together within a number of areas, and our dialogue by and large comprises all the important issues. We have a shared responsibility to meet global challenges and contribute to a more peaceful and more democratic world as well as to work for a dynamic multilateral trade system. We also have differences of opinion in various areas but conduct a close dialogue on these.
Since our dialogue was formalised in 1990 with the adoption of the Transatlantic Declaration, it has been constantly deepened and broadened. In 1995, we also adopted the New Transatlantic Agenda.
At its meeting on Monday, the General Affairs Council welcomed the Commission’s report on how we can further strengthen the transatlantic dialogue and charged the Presidency and the Commission to ensure, together with the US, that the dialogue becomes more efficient and action oriented.
The Council would like to see the dialogue, which comprises regular summits, focusing on a number of strategic themes and prioritising the issues which are important for promoting continuity. The Council has particularly demanded that “the environment” and “climate” constitute one of these strategic themes.
At the Gothenburg Summit on 14 June, the EU and the US will jointly stake out a clear structure and focus for continued cooperation. At the Summit, all the issues which have been prioritised during the Swedish Presidency will be raised in one way or another.
The EU and the US have coordinated the initiatives designed to help Russia implement disarmament and non-proliferation agreements, particularly regarding the Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Programme and the destruction of chemical weapons. We have also worked together within the framework of the EU’s Northern Dimension initiative. In close consultation with the forthcoming Belgian and Spanish Presidencies, we have begun multiannual cooperation on justice and home affairs, focusing on combating drugs, combating child pornography on the Internet and supporting Russia’s fight against organised crime and its consolidation of a society based on the rule of law.
We have worked together on issues related to the new economy. We have worked together on the fight against HIV/Aids and other infectious diseases in Africa.
In the field of trade policy, the Swedish Presidency has given high priority to seeking unanimity between the EU and the US on a platform which will make it possible to launch new WTO negotiations in the autumn. In addition, we have emphasised the importance of concrete progress being made to solve the bilateral trade disputes which constitute a serious cause of irritation in our relationship. The theoretical solution to the banana dispute that was recently achieved is one example of this."@en1
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