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The annual EU-US Summit at the White House in Washington, DC on Monday 30 April will mark the adoption of a new framework for promoting transatlantic economic integration. The two-hour Summit, followed by a working lunch, will also deal with a full agenda of other issues such as Kosovo, working together to support the Middle East peace process, tackling climate change, and boosting energy security through the search for sustainable new resources and credible energy efficiency measures. The EU side will be asking the US to extend its Visa Waiver Programme to citizens of all Member States so that EU citizens, like American ones, can cross the Atlantic freely.
The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, Vice-Presidents Günter Verheugen (Enterprise and Industry) and Jacques Barrot (Transport) and Commissioners Benita Ferrero-Waldner (External Relations) and Peter Mandelson (Trade) will represent the Commission at the Summit, which is hosted by US President George W. Bush. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will represent the EU Presidency, assisted by the Secretary-General/High Representative Javier Solana.
Before departing for the United States, President Barroso commented: “Our political relationship with the US is as close as ever, based on deep ties of kinship. With the international role of the US economy as powerful as ever and with the EU now firmly back on the growth and jobs path, this is the right time to deepen our economic partnership and to further strengthen the transatlantic economy. This agreement will allow us to demolish existing, unnecessary barriers posed by divergent regulations and nip new ones in the bud. With the necessary political commitment and follow up on all sides, the new framework will deliver lower costs for businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic."
Regulatory cooperation under the new transatlantic economic framework will concentrate first on key sectors such as automotive industries, medical services and pharmaceuticals and on cross-cutting areas like investment, trade security and intellectual property right enforcement. President Barroso will call for the mutual recognition of accounting standards by 2009 and for swift progress on mutual recognition of the rules governing securities markets.
In a practical demonstration of EU-US commitment to the aims of a genuine transatlantic market, the EU-US first stage Air Transport Agreement will be signed. Analysts believe that the agreement could bring up to €12 billion in economic benefits and as many as 80,000 new jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.
Joint EU-US efforts to unleash the full potential of the transatlantic economy will be accompanied by a concerted effort to bring to fruition the Doha trade round.
Background facts and figures
Collectively, the European Union and the US register more than $3 trillion of commercial sales annually. Bilateral trade between the EU and the US accounts for 40% of all global trade. Our combined GDP accounts for 60% of world GDP.
In 2005, Americans invested four times as much in Belgium as they did in China last year.
US affiliates in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic – population 58 million – earned almost one and a half times more in 2005 than US affiliates in India – population 1,200 million.
Europe accounts for almost 70% of total US inward investment stock, and owns
75% of all foreign-owned assets. European affiliates employ nearly 300,000
people in New York alone.
More statistics can be found in today's Eurostat
press release STAT
07/57
