The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe,

–  having regard to the Transatlantic Declaration on EU-US relations of 1990 and the New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA) of 1995,

–  having regard to the European Council declaration on Transatlantic Relations annexed to the Presidency Conclusions of the European Council meeting in Brussels on 12-13 December 2003,

–  having regard to the results of the last EU-US Summit, which took place during the Irish Presidency on 26 June 2004,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on the state of the transatlantic partnership (19 June 2003 and 22 April 2004),

–  having regard to Rule 103(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  reaffirming its commitment to the democratic values which are the foundation of both the transatlantic community and solidarity: freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights,

B.  whereas balanced EU-US relations are important to global peace and stability based on international law and to strengthening international institutions in order to provide a multilateral framework and improve global governance,

C.  whereas multilateralism remains the best way to identify and meet threats and to achieve global peace and security, and whereas there is therefore a common interest in enhancing the effectiveness of multilateral institutions,

D.   whereas by acting together Europe and the United States could develop solutions to global challenges such as the environment, natural and human disasters, poverty, migration, development, terrorism, international crime, and social and ethnic conflicts,

E.  whereas the long-lasting situation in Guantanamo Bay is hindering EU-US transatlantic relations, since the EU cannot accept legal and judicial irregularities which undermine the most fundamental values of the rule of law,

F.  deeply concerned at the continued existence of the death penalty in many US states,

G.  having regard to the persistence of many trade disputes between the EU and the US,

1.  Stresses the importance of a comprehensive dialogue, including political, economic, defence and security cooperation, between the two partners as a fundamental basis for the transatlantic relationship; considers that, in spite of certain well-known differences, there are still more factors uniting Europe and the United States than there are dividing them;

2.  Underlines that a European Union adequately supported by an enhanced CFSP is a precondition for a well-balanced partnership based on complementarity, which is attainable through a better balance in the division of tasks in order to promote better regional and global burden-sharing, with the ultimate aim of enhancing overall security;

3.  Recommends making the pursuit of common global interests the central defining political purpose of the transatlantic partnership: spreading democracy, modern governance, open societies and markets, sustainable economies, freedom of expression, fundamental human rights and respect for the rule of law around the world;

4.  Expresses the view that the economic foundations for a strengthened EU-US partnership are strong but should be improved, that the defence and security foundations need to be developed, placing conflict prevention at their core, and that the institutional mechanism of the partnership should be reassessed;

5.  Reaffirms its requests concerning the development of a European Security Strategy which would define the Union's values and interests in the field of promoting worldwide stability, conflict prevention and crisis management, and set out the Union's approach to making the world a safer place; believes that a comprehensive European Strategy must include a long-term strategic focus for the transatlantic partnership, given that the issue-by-issue approach can only be successful if an overall framework is embedded in this strategy and that the experiences of the last decade show that under the existing mechanisms new questions arise faster than old ones are resolved;

6.  Urges an effective reshaping of a genuine and well-balanced in-depth dialogue with the United States with a view to developing action better suited to today's world situation, based on respect for international law and the principles of the UN Charter;

7.  Underlines the importance of a close linkage between political, economic and defence and security cooperation as a fundamental basis for the transatlantic relationship;

8.  Suggests that the partnership continue to be shifted progressively from a transatlantic community of values to an effective transatlantic community of action, by developing collaborative strategy and action in contexts such as: post-conflict cooperation and nation-building in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran; relations with the Arab world; the Middle East peace process; North Korea; infectious diseases; the proliferation of WMD (weapons of mass destruction); and the advancement of good governance, democracy and respect for human rights;

9.  Calls for cooperation in actions aimed at restriction of arms sales to dictatorial and oppressive regimes;

10.  Calls on the EU Presidency, the Council and the Commission to work, after the Palestinian elections, in collaboration with the US administration and the governments of the neighbouring countries, in order to achieve a sustainable peace in the Middle East;

11.  Calls for a comprehensive dialogue between the transatlantic partners on Iran, including the country's nuclear ambitions and the best ways of countering them, the dismal human rights situation in Iran, and the lack of democratic governance;

12.  Calls again on the transatlantic partners actively to support and strengthen the international institutions and to reaffirm the value of international law, avoiding unilateral approaches and reverting to multilateralism and the UN framework in order to develop global governance, and also to work together to define a common agenda for reform, particularly of the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions, in order to strengthen their effectiveness, credibility and democratic legitimacy;

13.  Regrets that the US has not acceded, or does not fully adhere, to major international instruments of international human and humanitarian law such as those protecting the rights of the child, abolishing the death penalty, and safeguarding the treatment of prisoners of war in the wake of the recent conflicts; in particular, urges the US to accede to the Statute of the International Criminal Court;

14.  Welcomes the high-level report on reforming the United Nations, and invites the US to cooperate with the EU with a view to advancing effectively with the urgently-needed reforms of the UN system;

15.  Calls on the Council and Commission to envisage, in the framework of the transatlantic partnership, a system of cooperation aimed at managing natural and humanitarian disasters, as well as civilian crises worldwide;

16.  Proposes the launching of an action plan aimed at deepening and broadening the transatlantic market, as well as the transatlantic economy and monetary cooperation, with the goal of a barrier-free transatlantic market by 2015;

17.  Asks the forthcoming EU-US Summit to set up a body of experts to draw up specific proposals to this end;

18.  Recommends intensifying practical cooperation at both state and federal levels on energy and climate change with regard, in particular, to the Kyoto Protocol, building on the agreement on R&D cooperation for the hydrogen economy;

19.  Reiterates that NATO remains the fundamental guarantee of transatlantic stability and security and an essential framework for coalition operations, as well as being a forum for political dialogue and debate on major security issues, and that it is in the interests of the transatlantic partnership and the world's stability to strengthen both NATO's and the EU's capabilities; stresses that military interventions should be mandated by the UN;

20.  Reaffirms its interpretation of the ESDP as a policy to be developed to complement NATO and strengthen its European pillar, which will make a decisive contribution to the interlinking of the police and economic operators with the field of external security;

21.  Calls on the transatlantic partners to jointly reassess the EU and US development aid and humanitarian assistance strategies and instruments (including the Bretton Woods institutions), focusing in particular on performance and complementarity;

22.  Considers that the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue (TLD) should be fully activated, that an early warning system should immediately be put in place between the two sides, and that the existing interparliamentary exchange should be gradually transformed into a de facto 'Transatlantic Assembly';

23.  Reaffirms that the annual EU-US Summit should be restructured in order to provide strategic direction and impetus to the transatlantic agenda;

24.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Parliaments of the Member States, and the President and Congress of the United States of America.