EU And USA
What does a coherent and unified European community (now known as the
European
Union) mean to the United States? Is it a threat, a competitor,
or a partner? Or
is it the three combined together? I think it is the three
combined together.
Depending on the situation, whether economically,
politically, or military, the
European Union has acted as a threat,
competitor or a partner to the United
States. This could be demonstrated
using different economic, political and
military examples. First, lets look
at the role and involvement of the United
States in the Formation of the
European Union. The United States has maintained
diplomatic relations with
the European Union since 1953, when the first US
Observers to the
European Defense Community and the European Coal and Steel
Community were
nominated. In 1961, the US Mission to the European Communities -
now the
European Union - was established. The European Commission is represented
in
the United States by a Delegation in Washington, which was established
in
1954. In 1971 the Washington office became a Delegation with full
diplomatic
privileges and immunities. The Delegation represents the European
Commission in
its dealings with the US government. It reports on US
developments to
headquarters in Brussels and acts as a liaison with other
international
institutions in Washington, DC. The European Union and the
United States hold
twice-yearly presidential summits to assess and develop
transatlantic
cooperation. The EU-US summits bring together the President of
the United States
and the President of the European Commission. The EU-US
Presidential Summits
started as a result of the November 1990 Transatlantic
Declaration. In December
1995, a step forward in the relations was taken
at the EU-US Summit in Madrid,
when the European Union and the United States
adopted the New Transatlantic
Agenda. Both sides pledged to work together
to promote peace, democracy and
stability, foster economic growth and
liberalization worldwide, meet global
challenges such as terrorism and
environmental degradation, and to build
stronger non-governmental links
between the people of Europe and the United
States. Thus, the New
Transatlantic Agenda launched an era of cooperation on a
wide range of
political and economic issues. This led in 1998 to a further
deepening of the
framework for economic relations, when the London Summit of May
1998
launched the Transatlantic Economic Partnership. I would now like to
raise
the question " why is the US so keen on its relationship with the
European
Union, why is there a great deal of involvement and cooperation
between them? I
think the answer to this question goes back to the fact
stated in the beginning:
the European Union is a potential threat, competitor
or partner to the US. By
keeping a strong relationship with the European
Union, the US is trying to
eliminate the threat and competition and
strengthen the partnership. The
creation of a single European market has
boosted cross-border business, creating
economies of scale, increasing
Europe's competitiveness and leverage on world
markets, and providing new
opportunities for US exporters and investors.
Nowadays, the European
Union and the United States are the two largest economies
in the world. They
account together for about half the entire world economy.
They also have
the biggest bilateral trading and investment relationship. Both
realized that
by working together, they could promote their common goals and
interests in
the world much more effectively. Although, the EU and US have a
strong and
long-standing economic relationship, it is only more recently that
the EU as
such has emerged as a potential partner in foreign policy for the
US.
Because of the EU's importance as an international donor and, in
particular
since the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty on European
Union, and its
increasingly influential role in international diplomacy, the
EU-US partnership
now covers the full range of foreign policy issues. The EU
and the US are also
linked by close security ties and a similar set of
values, belief in democratic
government, human rights and market economics.
They share a common concern in
handling effectively a wide variety of
political and security issues across the
world. Even if transatlantic
achievements in the area of foreign policy are less
visible and numerous than
in the trade policy field, it is becoming increasingly
evident that, in
politics as in economics, where they have common interests the
EU and the
US can achieve more by acting together than when they act
separately.
This could be seen through the example of Kosovo and the
Middle East peace
process. There are other areas, however, where EU-US
cooperation still has a
good deal of scope for improvement. In some cases,
co-operation has been held
back by internal political factors: in the case of
the EU this sometimes
reflects the difficulty of achieving consensus between
all Member States. On the
US side, lack of support in Congress for
multilateral commitments (such as in
the case of UN financing, the
Anti-Landmines Convention and the ratification of
Chemical Weapons
Convention) can sometimes be problematic. Different policy
approaches also
exist towards certain "countries of concern", and in
particular Iran and
Cuba. Whilst the EU fully shares the US's determination to
ensure
international security and full respect of human rights and
democratic
principles, the EU does not share the US's political strategy of
isolating these
countries. In conclusion, I would like to say that diversity
of Amercian society
owes much to successive waves of immigration from
practically every European
country during the course of the past five hundred
years, and this accounts for
the extent to which Europeans and Americans
share common values and maintain
close cultural, economic, social and
political ties. Both the US and the
European Union understand that the
basis for their cooperation is the respect
which each partner has for the
other's positions and the recognition that,
whatever the difficulties, they
are stronger acting together than acting
separately. Work sited Curtis,
Michael. " Introduction to Comparative
Government". HarperCollins Collage
Publishers, New York, 1993
Bibliography
Curtis, Michael. "
Introduction to Comparative Government".
HarperCollins Collage
Publishers, New York, 1993