A4-0403/97

Resolution on transatlantic trade and economic relations

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Transatlantic Declaration on EC-US relations of 22 November 1990 ((Bulletin of the European Communities 11-1990, point 1.5.3.)),

- having regard to the New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA) adopted in Madrid on 3 December 1995, and to the accompanying Joint EU-US Action Plan,

- having regard to the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) Chicago Declaration (9 November 1996) and to the results of the TABD Conference in Rome on 6-7 November 1997,

- having regard to the results of the EU/US Summits of 16 December 1996, 28 May and 5 December 1997 and to the preceding Senior Level Group reports,

- having regard to the results of the NTA Conference entitled 'Bridging the Atlantic: People to people links¨ held in Washington on 5-6 May 1997,

- having regard to the WTO Singapore declaration of 13 December 1996,

- having regard to its resolutions of 20 November 1997 on the New Transatlantic Agenda (EU-US relations) ((Minutes of that sitting, Part II, Item 4.)), 15 May 1997 on the suspension of the WTO dispute settlement procedure as regards the Helms-Burton Act ((OJ C 167, 2.6.1997, p. 150.)) and 18 September 1997 on the negotiations between the Commission and the US Administration on the Helms-Burton Act ((OJ C 304, 16.10.1997, p. 116.)),

- having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report by the Committee on External Economic Relations and the opinion of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media (A4-0403/97),

A. whereas relations between the EU and the US should be based on common interests in the economic, political and security fields, and in the fields of environmentally sustainable development and social cohesion, as well as a common perception of world-wide responsibilities, dependencies and needs,

B. whereas the EU and the US share common values, ranging from democracy, human rights, economic philosophy, social stability to environmental concerns and cultural sovereignty, as well as a common security policy,

C. whereas the transatlantic relationship is one of the most open and independent in the world, and constitutes, for both partners, the most important economic link in terms of trade, investment and technology exchanges,

D. whereas these are factors that make it necessary for the EU and the US, despite the change in world conditions and the shift in trade flows and economic activities from the Atlantic area to Asia, to continue to maintain close links with each other in the future,

E. whereas cooperation in research and technology is of crucial importance for the development of trade and investments both in the United States and in the European Union,

F. whereas, due to the increased complexity and uncertainty of the security environment and to the changes in global and regional trade and investment patterns, this link can no longer be taken for granted, and has to be actively enhanced,

G. whereas the automatic identification of the US with the interests of western Europe is a thing of the past, and whereas post-cold-war US trade policy has been characterised by a harder attitude and is based more than before on principles such as fair trade, reciprocity, regionalism and unilateralism,

H. whereas transatlantic cooperation has to take place between equal partners and take due account of the political, cultural, social and economic specificities of both sides,

I. whereas the main goals of transatlantic cooperation should be to enhance global security and to deliver economic advantages not only for enterprises, but also for workers and consumers in a healthy environment,

J. whereas, considering that the new international economic agenda embraces trade liberalization, there is an essential need for a coherent EU trade policy of a visionary and humane character, in order to improve transatlantic relations even more efficiently,

In general

1. Believes that the economic power of the EU and the US gives them a special responsibility in the world, particularly with regard to the safeguarding and development of essential rules regarding basic human rights and the protection of the environment, compliance with international law and the strengthening and democratization of international institutions and the participation of the developing countries in the world economic system;

2. Believes that EU/US relations have a major impact on the life of citizens - particularly as regards employment - but also in terms of the quality of life and culture, and that the parliamentary bodies that represent the citizens as a whole should play a major role in determining the orientation of these initiatives;

3. Welcomes the adoption of the New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA) which, by identifying priorities for a joint work programme in the main areas of cooperation, has to put transatlantic relations on a more structured basis and to concentrate efforts on a pragmatic agenda;

4. Remarks that the NTA is a living document, allowing for continuous monitoring of progress and update of priorities; supports the Joint EU/US Action Plan, containing the principles and instruments for attaining NTA objectives;

5. Remarks that the commitments and joint actions of the New Transatlantic Partnership must produce in the coming year a real benefit for the citizens in both Europe and the United States. So far, the pace of accomplishment has been uneven;

6. Welcomes the fact that the NTA covers a broad range of ongoing political, social and economic initiatives and sees a strength in its comprehensive approach to the EU-US transatlantic space;

7. Indicates that the EU and the US have a responsibility to make their economic strength work to the benefit of other peoples and nations, and that the new bilateral agenda must be a contribution to the stability and growth of the multilateral system; urges all parties, including the US Congress, to take up this challenge seriously;

8. Considers that priority setting in the NTA process should be sharpened, in particular by drawing up schedules for its initiatives, thus making it possible for interested parties to make timely contributions to the process;

9. Remarks that the negotiating processes, including negotiation of 'administrative arrangements¨ and the like, have to be closely monitored by parliamentary bodies; recognizes that issues of democratic accountability will become crucial as economic interdependence and regulatory convergence between both sides of the Atlantic is developed to its true potential; considers that, if a 'Common Transatlantic Area¨ should be set up, it must be preceded by parliamentary assent;

10. Asks the Commission to forward to it a report which gives an overview of the ongoing different agreements and actions in the NTA environment on a yearly basis;

11. Recognises the important role the bodies of the European Parliament and the US Congress, in particular Parliament's Delegation for Relations with the United States and the delegation from the US House of Representatives, are playing in increasing the cooperation between both sides and refers to the declaration by the chairmen of the 47th interparliamentary meeting of the two delegations held in Washington DC on 22 and 23 September 1997, which stated that there was agreement on the following issues:

(a) Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD);

(b) international crime, drugs and terrorism;

(c) NATO and EU enlargement;

(d) analysis of costs and benefits before the imposition of economic sanctions and embargoes;

(e) public procurement;

(f) competition and anti-trust legislation;

(g) 'people-to-people links¨;

12. Recognizes the 'pioneering¨ role played by the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) in defining the concept of the New Transatlantic Partnership;

13. Welcomes warmly the important role the different Dialogues, the Transatlantic Small Business Initiative (TASBI), the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), the Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogue (TACD) and the Transatlantic Labour Dialogue (TLD) are playing in this field;

14. Stresses especially the importance of the TABD as a driving force behind progress in transatlantic relations, having contributed successfully to such agreements as, for example, the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) concluded at the G7 Summit in Denver in 1997;

15. Points out that agreements which have been discussed in the general context of the New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA), including the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), the Transatlantic Small Business Initiative (TASBI), the Transatlantic Labour Dialogue (TLD), the Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogue (TACD) and Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs), must not adversely affect the legislative preparation of trade laws, agreements and rules and parliamentary consultations in this respect;

16. Welcomes the joint statements issued at the EU-US summit on 5 December 1997 on the following subjects:

(a) electronic commerce, in which the importance of electronic commerce as an important engine for growth and new opportunities is recognized, and which encourages an open dialogue between governments and the private sector world-wide in order to set up a predictable legal and commercial environment for the conduct of business on the Internet; and which furthermore contains an agreement to work towards the ratification and implementation, as soon as possible, of the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, as well as towards ensuring the effective protection of privacy with regard to the processing of personal data on global information networks; and towards the creation of a global market-based system of registration, allocation and governance of Internet domain names,

(b) Ukraine, in which the parties recognize that the development of Ukraine as a prosperous democracy is a key component of European stability and security,

(c) regulatory cooperation, in which the parties agree to enhance, whenever possible, cooperation in the areas of consultation in the early stages of drafting resolutions, of greater reliance on each other's technical resources and expertise, and of harmonization of regulatory requirements or mutual recognition;

17. Reserves the right to add to the abovementioned subjects with a view to the agenda for the next EU-US summit;

Bilateral issues

18. Considers that the EU and the US should aim for the constitution of a Transatlantic Economic Space, ensuring progress towards effective market access on both sides of the Atlantic; the New Transatlantic Market-Place (NTMP), to be implemented within the NTA, should be geared to the highest standards of environment and consumer protection, and take account of the social dimension involved; recalls in this connection the fact that both sides should honour their commitments and transpose the 1977 OECD Guidelines on Multilateral Labour and Environment Standards;

19. In the light of the differences between the US and the EU over, inter alia, imports of American hormone-treated meat, poultrymeat and genetically modified maize, points to the need for agreement between the US and the EU on food regulations;

20. Stresses, in addition, the need to reach agreement on reducing the high tariffs applying to woollen fabrics and clothing, since they are a substantial obstacle to imports of Community textile products;

21. Stresses the importance of a comprehensive vision, framework, road map, timetable and target date for completion of 'The New Transatlantic Market- place¨ including a mechanism for political consultation with the European Parliament;

22. Considers it important that the current joint study on trade barriers should be extended in order to explore, on the basis of economic models, the possible impact of the New Transatlantic Market-place, but expresses its concern at the fact that (beyond declarations of principle) the US is in fact maintaining trade barriers in virtually all sectors of the economy, as has been shown again by the Commission in its 13th report on the obstacles set up by the US to trade and investment published in July 1997;

23. Stresses the importance of the Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) initialled on 20 June 1997 as an essential instrument to revitalise bilateral trade, presses for an early ratification of the agreements, including consultation of the European Parliament, and emphasizes the need to expand general cooperation on regulatory issues;

24. Observes that the MRAs are only one instrument for the improvement of transatlantic trade, and that the whole range of possibilities should be used to this end; MRAs should be implemented rapidly, and this process should be carefully monitored and made transparent; regular progress reports on this process should be submitted by the Commission to the European Parliament;

25. Considers that closer EU/US political and economic cooperation with development of common approaches to both economic policy and regulatory problems will require the setting up of a comprehensive institutional framework (e.g. a treaty) between the two partners, involving greater interparliamentary cooperation;

26. Considers that the NTA (and especially the TABD and TABSI) are the appropriate fora for exploring solutions to specific trade and investment barriers; new initiatives should be taken in that context, in the areas which will prove crucial in the future, such as the information society, intellectual property rights, electronic commerce, data protection, media investments, rules for new services (such as e.g. encryption technologies); initiatives should also be adopted for the industrial protection of textile designs and models, so as to ensure compliance with the WTO's TRIPS agreement in the field of the registration and examination of designs and models;

27. Observes that communications, the Internet, information technology and cyberspace are changing our world, the ways in which we trade and deal, and the ways in which we work and live; calls for Universal Access to become part of the bilateral/multilateral agenda, and considers that citizens will be able to benefit fully from the information society only if Universal Access is guaranteed;

28. Strongly disapproves of the extraterritorial effects of the US Helms- Burton and D'Amato legislation and supports the WTO dispute settlement procedure started by the EU; if the 'understanding¨ entered into by the EU and the US on 11 April 1997 does not lead to a solution, the EU will have to resume the WTO panel procedure;

29. Considers that positive measures must be taken in order to facilitate access to the US market for European audio-visual products; notes that the American market in audio-visual products is self-contained and only consumes 3% of non-American products, and expresses its concern at the lack of balance in US/EU audio-visual trade, the root causes of which are structural reasons and de facto barriers; believes that this lack of balance constitutes a threat to European culture and to pluralism in the US and the EU and that this problem must become a key item in the negotiations between the parties;

30. Believes that, in their trade with countries against whom UN sanctions have been taken, the US and the EU should as far as possible follow the same line in order to prevent these countries exploiting their differences, thus jeopardizing international security and creating unequal opportunities for US and EU business;

31. Stresses that problems in bilateral relations, and in particular trade frictions, do not particularly affect the overall impressive development of economic relations, and should be solved by direct negotiations and, as a last resort, by the WTO dispute settlement procedure, with both parties undertaking to respect fully the decisions of the WTO;

32. Supports the efforts to combat international crime, terrorism and drug trafficking through new procedures to prosecute fugitives from justice, to improve extradition agreements and to seize assets obtained through crime; these procedures should respect the principles set out in the European Convention on Human Rights;

Multilateral issues

33. Recalls that the EU/US economic and trade relationship is crucial for the efficient functioning and further development of the open, multilateral, rules-based trading system as embodied in the WTO;

34. Stresses the fundamental importance, for both the EU and the US, of future WTO activities, including full implementation of the Uruguay Round and the built-in agenda, as well as substantive progress on the 'new subjects¨ (trade and competition/investments/environment/core labour standards) and considers that the EU and the US should try to a develop a common approach to these issues;

35. Indicates that the relationship between trade/investments and national security/economic sanctions should also be discussed within the WTO with a view to exploring possibilities for multilateral approaches; a study on this subject should be elaborated within the WTO and also, possibly, within the OECD;

36. Considers that public opinion (both in the EU and the US) needs to be much better informed on WTO activities, and that transparency and democratic accountability would be greatly served by the setting up of a WTO consultative Parliamentary Assembly;

37. Believes that the European and American authorities should make joint proposals regarding human rights at the workplace at international meetings under the aegis of the WTO and the ILO;

38. Recalls that global security and trade policy are becoming more closely linked, and that EU/US partnership, involving both these dimensions, should explore new compromises and mutual agreements which could then inspire multilateral arrangements;

39. Considers that concluding EU/US preferential economic agreements would risk undermining the open multilateral system and the WTO, and that the EU should encourage the US to favour multilateral approaches over regionalism;

40. Considers that the US and the EU should promote a multilateral conference on regional trade agreements and preferential arrangements in general;

41. Points to the information technology and basic telecom services agreements as good examples of joint EU/US leadership in securing favourable outcomes at multilateral level;

42. Calls for the clarification of WTO disciplines in the field of free-trade areas and rules of origin;

43. Stresses that good governance in our new world of independent citizens will take a new shape in the future; the NTA must therefore follow developments closely and act to optimise governance, (especially rules for fair and adequate representation) in states and international institutions;

44. Recalls that, in the new world order, with more and more closely linked economies and security frameworks, responsible policies for Least- Developed Countries become a crucial tool for world stability and for enhancing mutual economic growth, and that therefore multilateral agreements need to take these structural differences into account;

45. Indicates that ensuring involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has become an essential part of our social accountability; decision-making in the WTO must therefore be sufficiently transparent to facilitate their watchdog function;

46. Recalls that, while agricultural policies have been, traditionally, the single most difficult sector in transatlantic relations, a more harmonious relationship seems to have developed following the completion of the Uruguay Round and the CAP reforms of the last few years; contentious issues are however building up once again in this sector, and it is therefore necessary to start work in preparation for the new negotiations within the WTO, scheduled for 1999;

47. Calls for a joint EU/US initiative with a view to a new WTO round of negotiations;

Building bridges

48. Draws attention to the concept of 'Building Bridges across the Atlantic¨ which lays down the principles for deepening social, cultural, scientific, educational and commercial ties among the people in order to build bridges between the different components of the Transatlantic community;

49. Recognizes the invaluable contribution by the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) in making concrete recommendations for dealing with obstacles to transatlantic trade and investment alike. It has established a new climate of cooperation within the transatlantic business community by focusing on specific issues;

50. Recognizes the important role of the Transatlantic Small Business Initiative (TASBI) in creating a cooperative environment for SMEs, who represent the largest source of employment creation;

51. Recognizes the important role of the Transatlantic Labour Dialogue ((TLD) in monitoring actively the follow-up work of the NTA on employment and social issues related to the expansion of trade, investment and job opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic;

52. Recognizes the initiation of the Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogue (TACD) and its commitment to bring citizens' associations and foundations from the EU and the US together on economic and social projects for the common good;

53. Recognizes the important role of the Transatlantic Information Exchange Service (TIES) in developing and maintaining a Website gathering information on EU-US partnerships and projects at citizen level;

54. Is in favour of joint action to foster political and social development in Central and Eastern European countries as declared at the 1995 EU/US summit;

55. Stresses the fact that the information society is having a great impact on transatlantic links in business, social and academic spheres; these effects are compounded by the results of negotiations such as the information technology and basic telecom services agreements. Freedom of information should remain the core principle in this area, but a coherent EU/US approach should be worked out where regulatory measures are needed;

56. Stresses the need to reinforce EU/US parliamentary links, building on the existing parliamentary relationship and confirms its resolution of 17 September 1992 on EC-US economic and trade relations ((OJ C 284, 2.11.1992, p. 134.)), which pointed to the need 'to improve contacts between organs and institutions involved in the legislative process (..) Such a dialogue should also provide for adequate contacts at specialist committee level¨; the setting up of a 'Transatlantic Parliamentary home page¨ might be an initial step in this direction, as well as the setting-up of an internship programme between the US Congress on the one hand and European Parliament staff and political group staff on the other;

57. Considers that Transatlantic economic issues should be considered within a common Parliamentary Assembly in the WTO; such an Assembly would introduce an additional degree of democracy into the WTO process;

58. Underlines that, within the further development of the information society, cooperation in research and development has a crucial role to play; welcomes therefore the signing of the Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the EU and the US on the occasion of the EU-US Summit on 5 December 1997 in Washington;

59. Points out that is has created a new budget line B7-6602 from which the measures outlined in this resolution shall be financed;

60. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the governments of the Member States and the United States Congress and Administration.