BRUSSELS – The European Union and United States will hold a summit in Portugal in November offering an opportunity to rebuild ties strained by the cancellation of their last meeting.
The summit will take place in Lisbon on November 20th, on the sidelines of a Nato gathering. It will involve US president Barack Obama, European Council president Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission president José Manuel Barroso.
The agenda is expected to focus on economic issues, including efforts to co-ordinate policies as both look to move on from the financial crisis, as well as on trade, security, nuclear non-proliferation and climate change.
“The transatlantic relationship is vital to global prosperity, and both sides are committed to co-operate in order to promote growth and jobs in their economies,” an EU statement said.
The White House emphasised the economic relationship between the 27-nation EU and the United States, valued at more than €3 trillion, and said that both sides were keen to promote “strong and sustained growth”.
“The United States has no stronger partner than Europe in advancing security and prosperity around the world,” it said.
EU leaders will be particularly pleased that a summit date has now been fixed as the last scheduled meeting, in Spain in May, was cancelled after Mr Obama said he would not be attending, dealing a blow to EU pride.
EU diplomats said at the time that Mr Obama had appeared unimpressed by a previous meeting with EU leaders, feeling it had not been particularly productive and that there was little point in meeting unless there were issues to tackle.
The cancellation of the May summit came at an unfortunate time for the EU as it had just reshaped its leadership structure, creating Mr Van Rompuy’s position, which was supposed to give the bloc more global influence.
While the EU and the US share many foreign policy goals – from preventing Iran developing nuclear weapons to tackling climate change – they have not always seen eye-to-eye on economic affairs. The sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone, sparked by fears that Greece could default on its debts, prompted US concerns about how long it was taking for the EU to come up with a bailout mechanism for Greece and other troubled member states.
There are also differences between the two over financial regulation, with the EU pushing to impose tighter restrictions on hedge funds and private equity groups, as well as creating new regulators for banks and insurance companies, all of which could have repercussions for US firms operating in Europe. – (Reuters)