U.S.-EU Cooperation

“EU will be a strong partner 'with' the US,” says Tánaiste: June 13, 2004

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney, today (13 June) delivered a keynote address at the opening of a seminar of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in advance of EU-US Summit.

The German Marshall Fund (GMF) is an American public policy and grant making institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between the United States and Europe. The GMF was founded on the principle that its policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.

Addressing the delegates at Farmleigh House in Dublin, the Tánaiste said:

"We are at the beginning of a new era in Europe in transatlantic relations, and in global politics. In no other era have the roots of stability and co-operation run so deep or so wide. Policies and paradigms of the past should now be confined to the past. We should build on positive achievements from the 20th century, for example, the UN and other multilateral institutions, economic openness, free trade and aid, international law and courts, effective peace keeping and humanitarian intervention.

By the same token we should discard what is irrelevant or outdated - an East-West rivalry, an EU with no political or security voice, an arms race, or a closed trade bloc mentality.

The EU will be a strong partner 'with' the US. All the conditions are in place for a partnership for prosperity, freedom, and peace. Based on our values and our strong foundations, it will be a partnership that benefits our neighbours and the world as a whole. The developing countries of the world will do best if we open up more opportunities for free and fair trade.

It will be a partnership for open societies and an open world…I am convinced we can make our unique political organisation of the European Union work well as an effective partner.

What will be necessary for the EU…will be to develop capabilities, in our own way, to address strategic questions of global economic development, human security and political relations. A real EU-US partnership will require both sides to be able to understand and act in these areas. It requires each of us to achieve healthy, growing economies.

We need open and free economies - open to people and to ideas, with freedom to innovate, trade and invest. But we don't need the same economies. We need lots of diverse competitive strengths within our economies and between our economies. We certainly do need to continue deep integration with each other in trade and investment. Foreign investment is the backbone of the transatlantic economy.

So at this historic point, I am confident and optimistic that the new EU will be a strong partner with the United States, and with Russia and with states in our European neighbourhood."

The EU-US Summit takes place in Dromoland Castle, Co. Clare, Ireland on the 25th and 26th June.