MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION

5.1.2005

to wind up the debate on statements by the Council and Commission
pursuant to Rule 103(2) of the Rules of Procedure
by Elmar Brok, José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra and James Elles
on behalf of the PPE-DE Group
on transatlantic relations

B6‑0028/2005

European Parliament resolution on transatlantic relations

The European Parliament,

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

–  having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 22 April 2004 on the state of the Transatlantic Partnership on the eve of the EU-US summit on 25-26 June 2004 in Dublin,

–  having regard to the results of the EU-US summit on 25-26 June 2004 in Dublin,

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

A.  whereas the last EU-US summit in Dublin took place following a period of several differences in the transatlantic partnership,

B.  whereas the EU-US summit in Dublin led to important agreements to give new impetus to the strengthening of economic partnership, for example with steps to promote progress in the area of financial markets and negotiations for a transatlantic Open Aviation Area agreement, and, in joint statements, addressed the situation in the broader Middle East as well as aspects of the fight against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,

C.  whereas the New Transatlantic Agenda of December 1995 needs to be revised urgently to take account of current realities,

1.  Recalls that there are more factors which unite Europe and the US in the political, economic and security spheres than divide them, despite the existence of obvious difficulties in the transatlantic partnership in recent years;

2.  Welcomes the progress achieved at the last EU-US summit on 26 June 2004 in Ireland in strengthening the transatlantic partnership; considers the readiness to take joint actions in a wide range of fields as a good indicator of the promising future of the partnership, realising that working together is better than going in different directions;

3.  Proposes to build a transatlantic 'community of action' for regional and global cooperation and challenges, focusing in particular on the following three joint actions:

• (a)the development of a peace initiative in the Middle East in agreement with the governments and peoples of the area, with the aim of contributing to a solution to the existing conflicts, including encouraging democracy in Palestine and Iraq;
• (b)the search for global security, which should be tackled with the following priorities in mind:
  • -the fight against international terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
  • -the need to address the sources of terrorism, through, for example, coordination in the area of development assistance and support for emerging democratic processes on the basis of full respect for human rights, international law and the role of the UN with structural reforms in place;
  • -the need for an effective response - on the shared basis of the Millennium development goals - to new global challenges which cut across national boundaries, notably poverty reduction, communicable diseases and degradation of the environment, in particular by promoting dialogues on climate protection and transport emissions;
• (c)a new impetus to the strengthening of the economic partnership, by focusing on specific ideas to further transatlantic economic integration to the fullest, working towards a comprehensive Transatlantic Aviation Agreement and accelerating the Financial Market Regulatory Dialogue to promote a vibrant and open transatlantic capital market; considers that such a dialogue could be used as a model in other sectors to make progress towards the objective of completing the transatlantic market by 2015;

4.  Considers that the above-mentioned initiatives should lead, by December 2005, to agreement between the transatlantic partners to update the 1995 New Transatlantic Agenda, replacing it with a 'Transatlantic Partnership Agreement' to be implemented from 2007;

5.  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.