Jim Higgins
Ceist:97 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on the status of EU-US relations. [18178/99]
Written Answers. - EU-US Relations.
Ireland attaches the highest degree of importance to promoting and maintaining close relations between the European Union and the United States and we have worked consistently with our partners in the EU to strengthen and enhance the various frameworks through which those relations – both political and economic – are conducted.
The EU and the US hold regular summit meetings at six-monthly intervals involving the US Presidency, the Head of State or Government of the EU Presidency and the Commission President. The summits provide an opportunity to review relations and any difficulties which may have arisen, or any issues which either side fears might give rise to any difficulty, are discussed. The most recent summit was held in Bonn on 21 June 1999.
At the summit which was held in London in May 1998, the EU and the US agreed to establish a Transatlantic Economic Partnership, "the TEP". This is a significant initiative, aimed at promoting economic growth, principally through the reduction of regulatory and other non-tariff barriers to trade in goods and services between the EU and US. The partnership calls for close dialogue and co-operation to achieve substantial further trade liberalization within the framework of the World Trade Organization negotiations. In that connection, I agree with the view expressed by the President of the Commission, Mr. Romano Prodi, at the European Parliament on 14 September 1999 that the opportunity which the forthcoming World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, to be held in Seattle from 30 November to 3 December 1999, offers to both the EU and the US to build a reinforced transatlantic partnership, capable of showing real joint leadership, should be fully seized.
The Transatlantic Economic Partnership also provides for cooperation in a number of important sectors such agriculture, services, manufactured products, industrial customs duties, global e-commerce, trade related aspects of intellectual property rights, or "TRIPS", investments, public procurement and competition. Ireland played a constructive role in the TEP negotiations. At the summit held in Washington in December 1998, both sides committed themselves to the full implementation of the partnership notwithstanding ongoing trade disputes.
The most recent summit in Bonn on 21 June 1999 considered a number of ongoing trade disputes between the EU and the EU, including the dispute which has arisen over the EU's banana import regime and the ban on imports into the EU of hormone-treated beef. It should be borne in mind that these difficult and complex disputes account for only a small fraction of EU-US overall trade, which otherwise tends to flow without undue problems. It is worth noting in the context of the spirit of partnership which exists between the two sides that the Bonn Summit also adopted an agreed declaration on Early Warning and Problem Prevention. The declaration amounts to an ambitious approach to the early identification and resolution of bilateral disagreements before they become major trade disputes and provides that any issue which might have an impact on EU-US relations may be raised. It calls for better co-ordination by each side, both internally and bilaterally and sets out agreed procedures for dealing with potentially problematic issues. The overall objective is to improve the capacity of each side to take the other side's interests into account at an early stage when formulating policy, legislative, or regulatory decisions, without thereby limiting each side's existing decision-making authority.
Political aspects of EU-US relations are dealt with at a number of different levels including the six-monthly summit meetings. Foreign Ministers of the EU and US meet annually at the United Nations, most recently on 22 September in New York. On that occasion, they discussed the Stability Pact for South East Europe, the new dynamic in the Middle East Peace Process, UN action on East Timor, Turkey, human rights, trade issues and US arrears to the UN. There are also frequent EU-US meetings at official level.