The European Parliament,

–   having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas many global challenges in the field of foreign policy, security, development and the environment are asking for joint action and transatlantic cooperation; but whereas the current economic crisis has jumped to the fore as the main challenge to be addressed today;

B.  whereas together the EU and the US account for half of the global economy, and with their 4.28 trillion dollar partnership are the largest, most integrated, and longest lasting economic relationship in the world and a key driver of global economic prosperity;

C. whereas the ongoing financial and economic crises, both in Europe and in the United States, are threatening the stability and prosperity of our economies and the welfare of our citizens, and whereas in order to combat these crises, the need for closer economic cooperation between Europe and the United States has never been more timely and necessary;

Jobs and growth

1.  Welcomes the conclusions of the G20 Summit in Cannes on 3-4 November 2011, notably in regard to the Action Plan for Growth and Jobs, reform to strengthen the International Monetary System, continued efforts on financial regulation and commitments to boost multilateral trade and avoid protectionism; considers necessary that at the EU-US Summit both partners should take the leading role in the implementation of the G20 commitments;

2.  Calls therefore upon the EU and US Administrations to develop and launch a joint transatlantic initiative for jobs and growth, including a roadmap for the removal of remaining non-tariff barriers to trade and investment and free trade with zero tariff levels for manufactured goods;

3.  Calls on the Commission and the US government to commit themselves in both bilateral and multilateral fora to fight the global trend towards protectionism; calls for the EU and US to put in place an early warning mechanism to detect and deter protectionism in bilateral relations; calls on the TEC to work towards a more coordinated approach and a joint strategy on new free trade agreements, with a view to standardising provisions thereof; stresses that this is especially important in view of the major difficulties in the DDA negotiations;

4.  Urges the EU and US to further develop existing cooperation mechanisms as part of TEC which should step up joint work in the area of regulatory dialogue, tariff elimination, removal of unjustified non-tariff barriers (NTBs), and creation of common standards lifting up technical barriers to open and fair trade;

5.  Emphasises the need for strengthening the TEC process in order to achieve these objectives, in particular the development of common standards for new regulatory areas, such as nanotechnology, or upcoming economic sectors, such as electric-vehicle technology;

6.  Recalls the significance for transatlantic trade of open procurement markets that provide equal access to suppliers, in particular to small and medium-sized businesses; stresses the importance of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) in ensuring such an open and balanced access to both markets;

7.  Stresses the need to promote cooperation on resource efficiency and to work towards adoption and implementation of a joint EU-US Raw Materials Roadmap with a focus on rare earth, and to foster cooperation on innovation in extraction and recycling technologies for raw materials;

8.  Emphasises the importance of cooperation in the promotion of energy efficiency, renewables and high nuclear safety standards worldwide, and welcomes the continued coordination of energy-efficient labelling programmes for office equipment and cooperation on the development of energy technologies (new Energy Star EU-US agreement);

9.  Calls on the Commission to push forward the negotiations with the US in the area of product safety and welcomes the introduction of a legal base for the US Consumer Product Safety Committee for negotiating with EU on an agreement, which should improve the exchange of information on dangerous products, injuries and corrective actions taken both in the EU Member States and the US;

Foreign Affairs, Freedom and Security

10. Stresses the importance that the EU and the US should take advantage of this Summit to strengthen cooperation and coordination to address global challenges such as the current economic crisis, climate change, development, energy security, as well as regional conflicts and security threats such as terrorism, nuclear proliferation and organised crime;

11. Recognises that all flows of passengers and goods in the transatlantic market area should be secured by proper and proportional security measures;

12. Calls in that respect upon the United States to move away from broad general restrictions like 100% container scanning or the banning of liquids on board of aircraft towards more targeted and risk based approaches like secure operator schemes and scanning of liquids;

13. Welcomes in this context the opening of negotiations in March 2011 on the EU-US agreement on the protection of personal data and underlines that the envisaged EU-US PNR Agreement should be in line with EP’s requirements as set out in its 5 May 2010 resolution on the launch of negotiations for Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreements;

14. Reiterates its view that the EU must continue to raise with the US, both at political and technical level, the importance it assigns to the admission of the four remaining EU Member States to the visa waiver programme as soon as possible;

15. Stresses the need to ensure the protection of the integrity of the global internet and freedom of communication by avoiding unilateral measures to revoke IP addresses or domain names;

16. Recalls that the best guarantee for global security is provided by the development of free and open democracies promoting peace and stability, and calls therefore upon the EU and the US to further promote peace, in particular in the Middle East, and to support emerging democracies in North Africa;

17. Calls on the US and the EU to mobilise all efforts in a coordinated approach to persuade Israel and Palestine of the urgency of further peace negotiations; underlines that the negotiations should lead to a two-state solution with a secure State of Israel and an independent, democratic and viable State of Palestine, living peacefully side by side within secure and internationally recognised borders in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions; calls on both parties to avoid any step that may undermine the perspective of a two-state solution;

18. Emphasises that together, the EU and the US manage 90% of global development assistance in the area of health and 80% of overall aid; welcomes the re-launch of the EU-US Development Dialogue in September 2011, because there are only five years remaining to achieve the Millennium Development Goals;

19. Underlines that the Summit should also be used towards exchanging points of view and reinforcing coordination with regard to third countries, in particular the BRICs;

20. Calls on the EU-US Summit to take into account issues such as climate protection, resource scarcity and efficiency, energy security, innovation and competitiveness in discussions on the economy; reiterates that internationally coordinated action helps to address the carbon leakage concerns of relevant sectors concerned in particular the energy intensive sectors;

21. Emphasises that climate change is a global concern and calls on the Commission to look for an ambitious US commitment to the forthcoming Durban Conference; is in this respect concerned about Bill 2594 recently adopted by the US House of Representatives calling for prohibition of US airlines to participate in the EU Emission Trading Scheme; calls on the US Senate not to adopt this Bill, and calls for a constructive dialogue on this topic;

22. Calls for an agreement to ensure an international level-playing field for carbon intensive industries and calls on the EU to convince its partners worldwide, including China and the USA, that emission reductions are feasible without losing competitiveness and jobs in particular if performed collectively;

23. Takes into account the concrete proposals of different European Parliament committees and asks the European Parliament delegation in the TLD to make use of their input;

24. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the US Congress, the co-chairs of the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue, and the co-chairs and secretariat of the Transatlantic Economic Council.