The Streit Council Guide
to the 2007 US-EU Summit

US President George W. Bush, EU Austrian Presidency's Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel & European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, 2006 EU/US Summit, June 21, 2006, Vienna, Austria.

U.S.-EU summits are held annually; the next one is scheduled for April 30, 2007, in Washington, DC. President Bush, leading the U.S. side, will meet with Chancellor. Angela Merkel of Germany , which currently holds the EU’s rotating six-month presidency, and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, among others from the EU side. As in previous years, the summit declaration is likely to highlight U.S.-EU foreign policy cooperation on a wide range of global challenges, from Kosovo to Afghanistan to Darfur. Summit deliverables are expected to include measures to deepen transatlantic economic ties and the signing of a U.S.-EU air transport agreement. Other key issues in U.S.-EU relations that may figure prominently in summit discussions are the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations; energy security and climate change; the Middle East , including Iran ; counterterrorism and human rights concerns; and the U.S. visa waiver program.

The Streit Council supports all efforts for transatlantic integration. We believe the 2007 summit is the the most important in recent history and could be the turning point for efforts to bring the world's developed democracies closer together.

On the Agenda:

Transatlantic Market
Much debate is expected before and at the Summit on what new steps to take and new institutions to establish in regards to forging a single transatlantic market. On both the U.S. and EU sides, many policymakers are likely to have reservations regarding any new arrangements or steps that appear to replace informal dialogues among regulators with binding agreements. Agreement may be more likely on the need to better understand the types and costs of regulatory barriers that exist today industry-by-industry. On the basis of this information, there should be initiative to lay out the next steps and possible deadlines to move regulatory cooperation forward. But transatlantic differences in public values over issues such as health, safety and environmental protection remain large.

The Open Skies Agreement
The Open Skies Agreement between the United States and EU is expected to be signed at the April 30 summit. The agreement, which has been under negotiation for four years, will substantially liberalize the transatlantic air services market. In its current form, congressional approval will not be required. The agreement will allow U.S. and EU airlines to fly between any city in the EU and any city in the United States with no restrictions on the number of flights, routes, or prices. It also will open to competition London ’s Heathrow Airport , where landing rights have been restricted to two British and two U.S. carriers. In addition, the agreement provides some “enhancements” or additional foreign direct investment opportunities in each other’s airlines. Many Europeans argue that it is not balanced because it does not give European carriers the right to fly between U.S. cities and maintains limits on EU ownership of U.S. airlines. Although most U.S. airlines support the agreement, the major U.S. unions representing pilots, machinists, flight attendants, and baggage handlers oppose it on the grounds that it will lead to further erosion of jobs, benefits, and wages.

Doha Round
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations has been suspended since July 2006. The round, which seeks to liberalize world trade flows and provide a boost to development and the world economy, has been stymied by persistent differences among the United States , the EU, and developing countries on major issues such as agriculture and services. Agreement between the EU and U.S. has been key to the conclusion of previous multilateral trade rounds. Accordingly, an effort could be made at the Summit to get the two economic superpowers to pledge best efforts to resolve their differences and bring the Doha Round to a successful conclusion by early 2008. However, trade negotiators from the two sides face a much more complicated task today in getting the rest of the world to accept any agreement the United States and the EU might reach. Developing countries in particular are much more vociferous in their expectations and demands than they were in previous multilateral trade talks.

Energy Security and Climate Change
At their March 2007 summit meeting, European leaders agreed to implement an EU energy policy focused largely on slowing global climate change. In addition to establishing binding targets for the use of renewable energy and biofuels, EU members committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% compared to 1990 levels by 2020. Building on this agreement, European officials are reportedly seeking U.S. support for an international treaty regulating greenhouse gas emissions after 2012, when the U.N. Kyoto Protocol is set to expire, and for an international market-based carbon emissions credit trading system. The United States is not party to the Kyoto Protocol, and U.S. officials appear reluctant to commit to global regulation; instead, they advocate transatlantic cooperation to promote alternative and clean energy technology. In light of the differences on global climate change regulation, the United States and EU are expected to use the April 2007 summit to launch initiatives jointly promoting technological advances in biofuels, energy efficiency, methane recovery, and clean coal and carbon capture and storage. Although European officials agree with the United States that these technologies should help to improve transatlantic energy security and to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, they are reportedly disappointed with a perceived U.S. reluctance to pursue international emissions and energy efficiency targets.

The Middle East
Over the last few years, the United States and many EU members have differed sharply on policies toward Iraq , Iran , the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and democracy promotion in the Middle East . Recently, however, the two sides seem to have found more common ground on some of these issues. EU officials continue to urge the Bush Administration to “do more” to get Israeli-Palestinian negotiations back on track, but appear encouraged by renewed U.S. diplomatic initiatives and note that Washington has backed Germany’s efforts, as part of its EU presidency, to revitalize the largely stalled “road map” for a two state solution. The United States and the EU continue to provide foreign assistance directly to the Palestinian people, rather than giving it through the coalition government; but some analysts question how long the United States and the EU will remain in lock step, suggesting that the EU may be inclined to resume direct aid to the new government sooner than the United States. As for Iran , the United States has intensified cooperation with France , Germany , and the UK (the “EU3”) to curtail Iran ’s suspected nuclear weapons program. In December 2006, and again in March 2007, the EU3 and the United States gained U.N. Security Council approval for limited sanctions on Iran related to its nuclear work. U.S. officials have been urging EU countries to go even further by cutting off bank lending and other financial interactions; EU states have so far responded tepidly to such calls. Some Europeans still worry that Washington may ultimately conclude that diplomacy has failed to address the Iranian threat and that a military option should be considered.

The United States and the EU have generally cooperated in providing humanitarian relief and reconstruction assistance to Lebanon , following fighting in July-August 2006 between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah. One key sticking point, however, is that the EU does not recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Also, some analysts suggest that U.S.-EU policies toward Syria could be diverging. Like the United States , the EU has called on Syria to end all interference in internal Lebanese affairs and has sought to isolate the Syrian regime since the 2005 assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, in which Syrian involvement is suspected. Others argue that any gap between the United States and the EU on Syria is not that wide, noting that Solana has stressed that improved relations are contingent on Syria playing a more constructive role in the region and that some in the United States advocate more engagement with Syria.

Countering Terrorism
The EU and the United States have concluded several new agreements on police information-sharing, extradition, mutual legal assistance, container security, and exchanging airline passenger data. Nevertheless, some challenges remain. Many Europeans fear that the United States is losing the battle for Muslim “hearts and minds” as a result of the war with Iraq and some U.S. practices in combating terrorism. For example, EU officials have expressed a strong desire to see the detention center at Guantánamo Bay closed as soon as possible because they believe it degrades shared values regarding human rights and disregards international accords on the treatment of prisoners. President Bush has acknowledged such concerns and has expressed a desire to work with other countries to facilitate closing the detention center. In addition, Europeans have concerns about U.S. rendition policy and a CIA program to detain and question suspected terrorists outside of the United States . In February 2007, the European Parliament (EP) approved a committee report that cited a dozen European countries for involvement in U.S. rendition efforts. U.S. officials have criticized the EP’s report as unbalanced and inaccurate, noting that 256 of Parliament’s 785 members voted against approving the report; they also charge that allegations of U.S. wrongdoing and ongoing criminal proceedings against CIA officials in some EU member states may put counterterrorism cooperation between U.S. and European intelligence agencies at risk.

Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
The EU would like the U.S. VWP, which permits short-term visa free travel for business or pleasure to the United States from certain countries, to be applied to all EU members. Currently, 12 EU members (mostly newer ones from central and eastern Europe ) do not qualify for the VWP due to problems meeting the program’s statutory requirements. EU officials are expected to continue to press the United States to treat all 27 member states equally under the VWP.