EU, US emphasise unity

The leaders of the United States and the European Union yesterday agreed on a series of steps to increase transatlantic trade, investment and co-operation on cyber-security when they met at their annual summit yesterday

The brief, two-hour meeting between US President Barack Obama and Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, took place in Lisbon at the end of a two-day summit of NATO leaders.

“This summit was not as exciting as other summits because we basically agree on everything,” Obama told a press conference, while Barroso said “there was a great sense of convergence” on priorities.

Tensions between governments on both sides of the Atlantic and in the broader global economy were, nonetheless, evident in the summit’s conclusions, which called on leaders of developed and emerging economies to “avoid competitive devaluation or exchange-rate policies that do not reflect underlying economic fundamentals”.

This, and Obama’s statement that both sides re-affirmed the “need for currencies that are market-driven”, appeared to refer to divisions between the US and China, which manages its currency, that were on display at last week’s G20 summit in Seoul, and to divisions between Europe and the US. There is concern in Europe that the US Federal Reserve’s decision to inject capital into the US capital will weaken the dollar and give the US a competitive advantage on export markets.

The meeting was also held against a backdrop of concern at a sense of drift in co-operation between Washington and Brussels, despite the strengthened role given EU institutions over foreign policy by the Lisbon treaty. This was the first transatlantic summit since the treaty came into effect last December.

Van Rompuy suggested there was a need for a step-change in the relationship. “It is not enough to simply use expressions like transatlantic dialogue or strategic partnership; we need to put things in motion,” he said.

The next steps to bolster economic co-operation will, the leaders indicated, come next month, when US and European ministers will meet at the Transatlantic Economic Council to focus on streamlining trade regulations.

Van Rompuy announced the launch of an EU-US working group on cyber-security. “Both our societies are built on the free flow of people, goods, and information. The networks these flows require face threats of a new kind: terrorism, market disruption, and cyber-attacks,” he said.

The working group is to report back to EU and US leaders within a year.

While the talks centred on economic matters, the two sides also discussed Iran’s nuclear programme and a meeting that is scheduled to take place on 5 December between Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator.

The possible division of Sudan also featured on the agenda. The three leaders agreed on the need for a referendum on independence for southern Sudan in January to “reflect the will of the populations concerned”, Van Rompuy said.