Debate: The outcome of the US presidential elections
Date: WEDNESDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2020
Speaker: Josep Borrell Fontelles
Language: EN

Unfortunately, we will not have a lot of time today to discuss this, but I’m sure that we will have other opportunities to come back to this issue soon and to examine our transatlantic relationship in depth.  Indeed, last week the whole world was following, with a lot of attention and suspense, the elections in the US. And I want to congratulate the American people for the largest participation in US electoral history, which shows clearly that the American citizens were very much aware of the importance of these elections. Americans demonstrated the importance and capacity of democratic institutions and civic engagement and I want to congratulate warmly President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for their historic victory.  We are now looking at the opportunities to advance our strategic partnership. This morning at the college, the Commission took a first look at this opportunity and how we are going to manage this new era of our relationship with the US. All the Commissioners participated in this debate and I am happy that the Parliament also wants to advance a first approach to this issue.  I don’t have to explain that we have had a very significant bilateral relationship globally. We have a common history, shared values and we adhere to democratic principles. This partnership reflects how cross all economic fields underpinned by broad cooperation.  It’s not a secret either that in the past four years things have become complicated in our relations. I am looking forward to getting back to a frank dialogue. Well, the dialogue has always been frank and wherever possible we have formulated joint strategies and put in the necessary resources to make them possible.  First of all, I think that we have to welcome the clear commitment of President-elect Biden to restore unity and respect for democratic norms and institutions and work with allies based on true partnership. We are a partner and a capable and strategic approach to the European Union-United States relationship has to build on this idea of partnership.  For this reason, we have to proceed with our work to enhance what we call Europe’s strategic autonomy, a word that will be very much in use, I hope, in the near future, because this means our ability to act and to defend ourselves effectively and at the same time work together with the US in many frameworks, including defence frameworks and others.  Let me take a quick look at the wider spectrum of global challenges that will be at the heart of our transatlantic agenda. I think that there are some priorities that they want to highlight: to re-energise cooperation for multilateral fora, in particular the United Nations; we are continuing to work towards promoting respect for human rights; to address the difficulties of the World Trade Organization, especially the dispute settlement mechanism; to cooperate in fighting COVID-19, including strengthening the workings of the World Health Organization and the capacity of the global health systems, starting with preparedness and response to emergencies; to accelerate ambitious global climate action and to invest in harnessing that in a logical transformation; to look at China and Iran and our neighbourhood, and we will try to reach a common approach with the US. We already started with the previous administration over the last few weeks but for sure it should now be easier. We also need to become a stronger global player for a stronger transatlantic partnership that benefits NATO. It’s a busy agenda and our capacity for developing digital strategy partnerships will be more effective if both partners are strong and committed, and of course here in Europe we speak with one voice when we engage with the new President, the new administration and the new Congress.  We need to invest at all levels and talk to our American friends across the aisle. For sure the Parliament will also have an important role to play through the transatlantic legislators’ dialogue and other contexts.  From our end we will also step up people-to-people programmes – a priority that was supported by this Parliament as well and one I hope will continue. All in all, the European Union and the United States are, and will remain, key strategic partners of first resort in critically difficult moments, such as the one that we are currently experiencing. A strong transatlantic partnership is of key importance and you can rest assured that we are ready to engage quickly with the new administration, although for that we still have to wait until 20 January, because as you very well know there is quite a long transition ahead. Let’s hope it’s not going to be a bumpy transition.