22.9.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 228/32

1.1

EU-US relations are today taking place in a new environment and are facing growing challenges and expectations. The election of President OBAMA has created high expectations worldwide and a renewed optimism in the potential of transatlantic relations. In many areas, from a common response to the current financial and economic crisis, to the issue of climate change or the promotion of human rights, to the bilateral economic relationship, there is genuine hope that the EU and the US will work together and provide leadership.

1.2

European and American civil society and social partners have a key role to play in contributing to this renewed cooperation, through their representative character or their expertise in a given domain.

1.3

The EESC encourages the EU policymakers to seize the opportunity and push, in agreement and in cooperation with the US, for the necessary reforms in the UN system, the WIPO (1), the International Criminal Court, G8, G20, the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF and strengthening the ILO to make these institutions more effective in solving the long-term challenges that stem from a globalised world and from the current global financial crisis.

1.4

Given the depth of the financial and economic crisis transatlantic economic cooperation must be intensified. As a first step the EU and US must deliver greater coordination of their monetary and fiscal actions to stimulate the global economy through the G20. They must then work together to deliver a common new approach to effective and efficient regulation global financial system so that the economy is never again threatened by excessive risk-taking. Clear rules for international finance should be established as part of a major reform of international economic bodies so as to send a strong signal to the public and to businesses.

1.5

The goal of the Framework for Advancing Transatlantic Economic Cooperation - to achieve deeper transatlantic economic integration and growth that will benefit our citizens and the competitiveness of our economies - should be achieved under the supervision of the Transatlantic Economic Council.

1.6

At the core of the Framework is the idea of regulatory cooperation. The European Union and the United States have much in common in the values which underpin our approaches to regulating our economies, though on some issues we have disagreed. Regulatory cooperation implies working together from the outset to seek joint identification of social, environmental and economic problems and their solutions. The EESC encourages the Commission and the member states in the context of transatlantic relations to promote the European social model, which is founded on highly-developed systems of social protection and civil and social dialogue.

1.7

The Transatlantic Economic Council has important work to do in the near future:

1.8

To achieve these and other goals, it is crucial that the TEC process be continued under the new US Administration as well as under the new EU Commission and Parliament. The EESC calls on President OBAMA to move swiftly to appoint a new US Co-Chair of the TEC so that its important work may continue.

1.9

The current economic challenges would be severely exacerbated by any return to protectionism around the globe, as occurred during the economic depression of the 1930s. The EESC encourages the EU and the US to work closely together to fulfil the pledges made by G20 summit leaders to this end on 15 November 2008 and do all they can to strive to reach an early and successful conclusion of the Doha Round, as well as prevent the creation of new barriers to trade or investment.

1.10

The EESC similarly encourages the EU and US to work closely together to dissuade others from resorting to policies that may restrict access to investment or procurement markets, as has unfortunately been the outcome of recent discussions in Congress. We also look to the EU and US to address the issue of how to reinvigorate world trade so as to enhance global trade negotiations by incorporating sustainable development considerations and social standards. The EESC welcomes the concern of President OBAMA to mitigate the negative effects of trade adjustment on particular workers or citizens.

1.11

The EESC strongly recommends setting up funding mechanisms for the Transatlantic dialogues (TABD (2), TACD (3), TALD (4) and TAED (5)), and including the TALD and TAED into the Group of Advisors for the TEC.

1.12

The EESC encourages the EU and the US to increase the accessibility and openness of the transatlantic dialogue process and to increase the involvement of civil society stakeholders also from outside the four dialogues.

1.13

The EESC calls on the European Commission to organise in the near future a transatlantic stakeholder meeting in order to take stock of the new situation and to exchange views on and to co-ordinate actions to be taken on new initiatives. The EESC reminds the Commission of a suggestion made in its 2005 Communication to organise a tripartite conference in the field of industrial relations.

1.14

On its own behalf the EESC proposes to initiate contacts with the US economic and social partners and will closely follow the setting up of advisory groups within the US administration to identify possible counterparts on various topics. The EESC will also seek ways to better promote the exchange of knowledge and experience with US civil society stakeholders. To carry out these tasks the EESC should set up an informal contact group to oversee the EESC activities in the field of transatlantic relations.

1.15

The EESC believes that it would be appropriate and useful to step up the collaboration between the EU and the US in the fields of science and culture (cultural dialogue), so as to lay the groundwork for improved mutual understanding and enhanced political cooperation. The EU and the US must work together to promote and support creativity in science, technology and innovation and particularly in the arts, for the sake of new values, growth and the enrichment of men and women.

2.1

EU-US relations are today taking place in a new environment and are facing growing challenges and expectations. The election of President OBAMA has created high expectations worldwide and a renewed optimism in the potential of transatlantic relations. In many areas, from a common response to the current financial and economic crisis, to the issue of climate change or the promotion of human rights, to the bilateral economic relationship, there is genuine hope that the EU and the US will work together and provide leadership. In its opinion (6) in 2004 the EESC identified a range of issues, including the need for improved global governance, that should be included in the Transatlantic agenda. Recent events emphasise the importance of co-operation in this area.

2.2

The challenges that the EU, the US and the wider world are currently facing are serious and a new common approach is required to ensure that never again is the global economy laid open to the depredations of unregulated financial capitalism. The transatlantic and global economy is in the midst of its most acute economic crisis in decades, the phenomenon of climate change requires action by all players to make progress, and many important foreign policy issues must be tackled to promote peace, democracy and human rights in the world. Without deepened EU-US cooperation, our efforts to solve these problems will be insufficient.

2.3

European civil society and social partners have a key role to play in contributing to this renewed cooperation, through their representative character or their expertise in a given domain. For this to take place, improved engagement with all stakeholders by the many political bodies through which the European Union and the United States Government hold dialogue is vital. Citizens’ freedom of movement represents another important step for improving EU-US relations by encouraging business, cultural and social exchange. Extending the visa free travel between the EU member states and the US should continue to be developed as one of the political priorities.

2.4

To date, bilateral relations between the EU and the US have been conducted under the framework of the Transatlantic Declaration (7) in November 1990, followed in 1995 by the New Transatlantic Agenda (8) (NTA) and, in May 1998, by the Transatlantic Economic Partnership (9) (TEP). A further institutional development was the signature of the Framework for Advancing Transatlantic Economic Integration (10) in April 2007, which created the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) (11).

2.5

All of political interactions have to date focused more on foreign policy, economic and trade issues than on social and sustainability matters. In addition, with few exceptions, the involvement of stakeholders, who have a strong tradition and performance both in a number of European countries and at EU level, has not yet become a strong element of EU-US relations. While strengthening and enhancing what works well in this new period of transatlantic cooperation, the EESC calls on the EU and US to deal with these areas where improvement is needed.

2.6

The opinion will not cover all aspects of transatlantic relations. It will not cover Canada and will focus on a few EU-US issues such as multilateralism, trade, transatlantic economic cooperation, global climate change and the involvement of stakeholders. The EU relations with Canada should be examined in a separate new EESC opinion.

3.1

Differing approaches to multilateral institutions has been a feature of EU-US relations in recent years. There is strong reason to believe that the new US Administration will pursue a policy of more vigorous engagement both with allied partners and international organisations. The EESC encourages EU policymakers to seize the opportunity and push, in agreement and in cooperation with the US, for the necessary reforms to strengthen the UN system, including the ILO, the International Criminal Court of Justice, WIPO, G8, G20, the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF, to make these institutions more effective in solving the long-term challenges that stem from a globalised world and from the current global financial crisis. The EESC supports the proposal, most recently voiced by Chancellor Merkel in Paris in January, that an Economic and Social Security Council be introduced in the UN system. This should be at a par with the Security Council.

3.2

One of the lessons learned from the past years of EU-US relations is that whenever the EU-US are not able to reach consensus, large global problems cannot be resolved. To improve this situation with the new Administration, the EU and US should work closely to define their common strategies on many world security and human rights questions.

3.3

Transatlantic governance is not an alternative but a complement to multilateral relationships for both the EU and the US. They remain the two most important players on the world stage, and thus they need to collaborate if they wish to move an issue forward in any international arena, be it managed trade liberalisation or greater respect for certain labour and environmental protection policies.

3.4

Full compliance with and implementation of multilateral agreements is vital to the EU and US’ ability to show leadership at a global level. As a start, the EU, its Member States and the U.S. should ratify and implement all ILO Conventions (12) and WTO rulings.

4.1.1

As the world faces the deepest financial crisis and most difficult economic climate in decades, transatlantic economic cooperation must be intensified. As a starting point, this means that the monetary and fiscal measures taken on both sides must happen in a coordinated fashion to ensure their effectiveness in our interconnected economies. The EESC is concerned that this has so far been insufficient. The EU and US must improve their engagement on these issues, particularly through the G20 in cooperation with other major economic players to move our economies forward. The American Recovery and Re-investment Plan agreed in February 2009 and the European Economic and Recovery Plan adopted by the European Council in December 2008 bear striking similarities although the European plan suffers from insufficient unity of purpose. They should be pursued with the aim of complementing each other and avoiding protectionist measures.

4.1.2

The second step to recovery is the development of a new common approach to ensure effective and efficient regulation of the global financial system so that the economy is never again threatened by excessive risk-taking. Both sides deliver regulatory measures, and close coordination is necessary to avoid unnecessary divergences. For this reason the TEC and the 2007 Framework it implements are ever more important.

4.2.1

The goal of the Framework for Advancing Transatlantic Economic Cooperation is to achieve ‘deeper transatlantic economic integration and growth [which] will benefit our citizens and the competitiveness of our economies’. This is to be achieved under the supervision of the TEC, which meets at least once a year and has a mandate to ‘oversee the efforts outlined in [the] Framework, with the goal of accelerating progress’ as well as to set interim goals and facilitate joint action. Such a mandate gives the TEC considerable authority to drive transatlantic economic integration, particularly at a time of crisis.

4.2.2

At the core of the Framework is the idea of regulatory cooperation. The EU and the US have much in common in the values which underpin our approaches to regulating our economies. We share the view that the aim of regulation is to guarantee high standards to protect the environment, human and animal health and safety as well as economic and legal safety. We also believe that regulation should achieve these results in the most efficient possible manner causing the least disruption to economic activity and be based on the highest quality expertise. True, there are differences, as evidenced by cases taken to the WTO, and some of these are the result of different attitudes among citizens. However, in many cases the EU and the US take different approaches simply because of insufficient consultation – between regulators and civil society. Regulatory cooperation implies working together, including through civil society contact, to seek joint identification of social, environmental and economic problems and their solutions.

4.2.3

One area that could benefit from increased civil society contact is food safety. EU-US relations have long been disrupted by a range of differences in this area including regulations regarding hormones in beef, anti-microbial treatments for chicken. In these cases the EU has not been prepared to accept US standards. Wider points of contention have arisen over the use of genetically modified organisms in food.

4.2.4

To date the TEC has met three times, most recently in Washington DC on 12 December 2008. Despite its short lifetime, the TEC has delivered major steps forward in key areas for the economic community:

4.2.5

Looking forward the TEC has important work to do and the opportunity to enhance its functioning.

4.2.6

To achieve these and other goals, it is crucial that the TEC process be continued and expanded under the US Administration as well as the new EU Commission and Parliament. The EESC expects the Administration to move swiftly to appoint a new US Co-Chair of the TEC so that its important work may continue.

4.3.1

The current economic challenges would be severely exacerbated by any return to protectionism around the globe, as occurred during the economic depression of the 1930s. The EESC encourages the EU and the US to work closely together to fulfil the pledges made by G20 summit leaders to this end on 15 November 2008 and do all they can to strive to reach an early and successful conclusion of the Doha Round, as well as prevent the creation of new barriers to trade or investment. The EU and US will need to work together to enforce existing trade commitments in key trading partners as the temptation to protect domestic companies is exacerbated, and especially to set an example for others to discourage them from resorting to policies that may restrict access to investment or procurement markets, unlike the outcome of recent discussions in the US Congress. We also look to the EU and US to address the issue of how to reinvigorate world trade so as to enhance global trade negotiations by incorporating sustainable development considerations and social standards.

4.3.2

The new US Administration’s views in this area will benefit from greater clarification for its trading partners, but at this early stage appear to include a greater emphasis on trade related environmental and social issues combined with an open approach to trade.

4.3.3

The EESC very much welcomes such an approach to international trade and recommends that the EU support any drive to advance trade agreements that improve both the supply of and demand for good governance at national and international level and address labour rights and environmental protection.

5.1

European countries have long been at the forefront on climate policies. They have been waiting for the US to join them with ambitious initiatives. The new US administration has promised to put tremendous efforts into tackling global climate change. The EESC looks forward to new and strengthened US policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to planning to implement a cap-and-trade system that limits carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from big industries, the OBAMA Administration is likely to increase investment in renewables. Action to relaunch growth should – on a global scale – be used as an opportunity to create green jobs and redirect investment and innovation in this direction.

5.2

The EESC welcomes the US plans to invest in efficient and clean technologies at home while using US assistance policies and export promotions to help developing countries leapfrog the carbon-energy-intensive stage of development; the EESC also welcomes the demands to have binding and enforceable commitments to reducing emissions.

5.3

The EESC encourages the US to come to the UN Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 with a strong and clear negotiating position that would bring the US and the EU views closer together in preparation for a new post-Kyoto protocol international framework on limiting emissions. The EU is expecting deep commitment to and support for the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations.

5.4

On the EU side, to reach a more coherent approach to achieving the EU climate goals the EESC calls on member states to reach a consensus on overcoming the tensions between economic competitiveness and deeper sacrifices for the environment, and not to reduce investment in new research initiatives into new greener technologies amid the global economic crises.

5.5

The EESC calls on both the EU Commission and the new US administration to actively involve environmental NGOs and networks as well as business and trade union stakeholders in preparations for the UN Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, as well as to re-establish the Transatlantic Environment Dialogue (TAED), which could act as the coordinating body for the environmental stakeholders and as a partner in these preparations.

6.1

The involvement of stakeholders in political decision-making has different traditions in the EU and US. The New Transatlantic Agenda committed the EU and the US to systematic cooperation in, among other areas, building ‘people-to-people’ bridges across the Atlantic. As a result a number of civil-society dialogues were set up between labour, consumer and environmental groups.

The Transatlantic Dialogues established in the second half of the 1990s have been unequally active and unequally involved in the EU-US cooperation structures, especially in the EU-US Summits, which had a unilateral focus on Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD). Furthermore, the Group of Advisors for the Transatlantic Economic Council only includes the TABD, the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) and the Transatlantic Legislators Dialogue (TLD). The two other dialogues – the Transatlantic Labour Dialogue (TALD) and the Transatlantic Environment Dialogue (TAED) were excluded without consultation with the stakeholders involved.

6.2

In this context the European Parliament in its resolution of 8 May 2008 on the Transatlantic Economic Council called for the chairs of the TALD and the TAED to be included in the Group of Advisers. The EESC strongly supports this call by the European Parliament and calls on the TEC to revise its Working Arrangements, which were adopted by the TEC co-Chairs in Berlin on 28 June 2007.

6.3

The new Working Arrangements must also include better arrangements for transparency and coordination with Advisers, including delivery of access to documents and meeting notifications in sufficient time.

6.4

The EESC endorses the new call of the European Parliament in its Draft Report on the state of transatlantic relations in the aftermath of the US elections for a deeper understanding of the parties’ civil societies (13). The EESC must play a role in this process.

6.5

The various interest groups involved in the dialogues all have prior experience in building transnational networks. The initiatives taken by the US and the EU in the 1990s to reflect the new realities of European integration also created new opportunities for transatlantic civil society organisations (14).

6.6

The four dialogues mentioned above started their activities with varying success and support from political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. The TACD is functioning well and is very active in its preparations for the EU-US summits and in the work of the TEC.

6.7

Unfortunately the TAED, after a relatively successful start, was suspended after two years of activity. There is a strong case for its re-constitution to provide input in to the TEC and EU-US Summits. The EESC strongly recommends setting up sufficient funding mechanisms for the dialogues and including the TALD and TAED (the latter after its re-establishment) into the Group of Advisors for the TEC.

6.8

The EESC appreciates that bilateral transatlantic relations many not necessarily be the most natural way for transnational cooperation for some civil society organisations. For trade union and environmental groups the transatlantic forum has to compete not only with domestic issues but also with global concerns, such as climate change or the right to organise in developing countries. Nevertheless, involving a wider array of stakeholders in bilateral EU-US relations lends popular support and democratic legitimacy to the whole process. The EESC encourages the EU and the US to increase the accessibility and openness of the transatlantic dialogue process and to increase the involvement of civil society stakeholders.

6.9

The EESC calls on the European Commission to organise, in the near future, a meeting with all stakeholders involved in transatlantic relations in order to take stock of the new situation and to exchange views and to co-ordinate actions on the new initiatives to be taken. The EESC offers active involvement in such an initiative as far as participation of civil society is concerned.

6.10

In its Communication of 18 June 2005 (COM(2005) 196) the Commission made some interesting suggestions, one of which was the promotion of dialogue between representatives of the social partners from the EU and the US, including a tripartite conference in the field of industrial relations. Those suggestions, which were never acted upon, should be revisited – exchanges between the EU and US social partners would be particularly useful in the context of proposals in the US to introduce an Employee Free Choice Act.

6.11

The EESC will initiate contacts with the US economic and social partners (business, trade unions, farmers, consumers etc,) to ascertain their interest in organising a dialogue on one or two specific issues, such as climate change or trade and sustainable development, which would be of mutual interest on both sides of the Atlantic. The aim of such a dialogue is to involve all the different stakeholders all at the same time, unlike the existing dialogues that work within their own remit and member organisations. The EESC will take contact with the European Commission and the US Administration to get their support and to identify their interest.

6.12

The EESC will closely follow the set up of advisory groups within the administration to identify possible counterparts on various topics. The EESC will also reflect on how to better promote exchange of knowledge and experiences with US civil society stakeholders on issues of common interest. In this context, it is proposed that the External Relations Section set up an informal contact group, on an interim basis, to oversee the EESC activity in the transatlantic relations field. Should this experience prove to be successful, the contact group could then be set up on a permanent and formal basis.

6.13

In its Draft Report the European Parliament insists on the need to replace the existing NTA of 1995 with a new Transatlantic Partnership Agreement, providing a more stable and up-to-date basis for the relationship (15). The EESC strongly supports such a call and hopes that when such a new instrument is negotiated the relevant communities of interest from American and European civil society will be included from the very beginning of the process. The inclusion of organised civil society actors would only strengthen and improve the institutional structures.

6.14

A reinforced dialogue would activate civil society on both sides of the Atlantic, thus fostering effective networks and promoting an exchange of views within and between transatlantic civil society networks, including the Dialogues; it would provide high-level access to government and foster relations between these networks and Dialogues and government/administration.