Strengthening the Transatlantic Partnership Beyond TTIP: A strategic vision for the EU and US

European Commission

[Check Against Delivery]

Michel BARNIER

Member of the European Commission, responsible for Internal Market and Services

Strengthening the Transatlantic Partnership Beyond TTIP: A strategic vision for the EU and US

Speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Washington, 12 June 2014

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting me to speak at the CSIS today.

I'm very happy to be here today, in front of an American audience because it is of the utmost importance to continue the dialogue today with our American friends.

I was in Brussels last March when President Obama spoke to young Europeans.

And I can tell you, sometimes it's good to be reminded of our shared values, as we were on the beaches of Normandy a few days ago too.

The reason why I am here with you today is precisely because I would like to share with you how we want to defend those values, together with you.

1 - The world has changed since the end of the cold war; our relationship should be deepened.

On both sides of the Atlantic, we have faced the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.

America took important steps: it implemented a strong recovery plan and bold monetary policy.

And it is well on its way towards energy independence; an objective that would have seemed totally unrealistic only a few years ago.

In Europe also, we have taken great strides:

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  to save the euro;

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  to regulate financial markets;

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  establish the banking union;

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  consolidate public finances;

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  improve our competitiveness;

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  and put in place new systems of economic and fiscal governance.

I am confident that both the US and Europe will emerge stronger from the crisis.

But that won't be enough.

Since the end of the Cold War, the world in which we live has become smaller, faster, more complex and more interconnected. New actors, new interdependences and new threats have emerged. Inequalities, depletion of resources, climate change and demography remain sources of instability in too many parts of the world.

Nations outside of the US and Europe have entered the global scene as big industrial, economic, sometimes military powers: China, India and Brazil to name a few.

Defending their own interests in their sphere of influence, taking stronger positions in the UN Security Council.

All this leads to turbulence and unrest in more and more places around the world:

In the Sahel, so painfully brought home to us by the kidnapping of those school girls in Nigeria.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Throughout the Middle East, where the Syrian crisis shows little sign of easing. And the increasing pressure of fundamentalists in Iraq.

Closer to home, Ukraine where the national army and separatists are now openly fighting each other in the Slaviansk region,

And we should not forget the simmering tensions in the South China Sea.

Everywhere we see that regional crises can turn into violent conflicts. And that violence can come from both state and non-state actors. Terrorists can strike anyone, anywhere.

A car bomb in Kabul. Or a Kalashnikov at a Brussels Jewish museum a few days ago.

Weapons of mass destruction are still within reach for a number of countries.

Cyber-attacks can target all of us: governments, banks, telecom companies or hospitals.

In this new international order - or disorder - the economic, military, political and even moral leadership of the West is increasingly challenged.

If the US and the EU want to be in a position to influence this new world, we need to be actors, not spectators. We need to act together.

In the midst of such turbulence, it's vital to know who your friends are.

Be able to count on a reliable partner.

And I want to stress that point to you today: Europe is that reliable partner for the US. And we are determined to act together with you to defend our common values and interests.

To do so - and this is my second point - as natural allies and close friends, we need to be able to redesign our relationship and develop it further.

I hardly need recall the long and special partnership we have built together.

The US intervened twice in the last century to help defend democracy in Europe against dictatorship and tyranny.

It helped to rebuild Europe with the Marshall Plan.

Together we withstood the spread of communism in the cold war age; saw the collapse of the Iron Curtain and reunified the European family.

And, more recently, we have been partners in fighting terrorism, particularly in Afghanistan.

Today, the negotiations towards a free and fair TTIP that were started last year offer a unique opportunity to strengthen and redesign the transatlantic partnership.

To grow both our economies without sacrificing the values that we hold dear.

Be at the forefront of global rules and standards.

And shape the global business environment for years to come.

We need to be ambitious and build a real transatlantic marketplace.

Trade between us does not stumble over import tariffs, already quite low at around 4%.

It is the "behind the border" issues where the real potential for improvement lies.

And that is where we have to focus our energies.

President Obama has said that the Treaty must be “free and fair”. I agree. And we are not there yet.

However, ladies and gentlemen, important though the TTIP may be, the relationship between the US and Europe cannot and must not be reduced to that of only a free trade area.

It has to be a stronger political relationship.

2 - If we Europeans want to remain your best allies on the world stage, we have to act also as a security provider.

We cannot leave the US alone being the World’s only policeman. As President Obama put it in West Point two weeks ago: The US can only use its military might when its own core interests are under threat. Allies and partners have to be mobilised to take collective action.

The President also said rightly: the US military is still the biggest hammer in the world. But not every problem is a nail.

Taken together, these two assumptions should be the foundation of a renewed transatlantic security partnership.

In today’s world, security can hardly ever be achieved only by military means. What we need is a comprehensive approach, based on a broad spectrum of mostly civil instruments. This is the traditional EU security approach and the main feature of its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).

However, in many cases, it is indispensable to back up those civil instruments with the capacity to use military firepower. Otherwise, diplomacy remains toothless. A credible CFSDP therefore needs a strong CSDP (Common Security and Defence Policy).

Europe can only become a credible security provider if it also has the military means to act. And to be able to act without always depending on support from the US.

Unfortunately, this is not the reality today. For many years, European nations have constantly reduced their defence expenditure and, to make things even worse, they did so in an uncoordinated way. This has led to important capability shortfalls that limit Europe’s capacity to act.

To overcome these shortfalls and build up a capacity to act, Europe has only one option: cooperation and integration.

As Arnaud Danjean, Chair of the Security and Defence Committee in the European Parliament put it well recently: "None of our Member States, not even France or the UK, the two strongest military powers, is in a position alone to face today's security challenges and threats in Europe;

None of our Member States, not even Germany, the strongest economic power, is in a position alone to ensure the competitiveness of its national industrial basis;

None of our Member States, not even the most Atlanticist ones, is in a position to rest for ever on only the protection of the US."

To put it in a nutshell: The US need a strong Europe. And only a united Europe has the potential to be strong. A CFSP not a single CFSP. A united, not uniform Europe.

In the EU today, there is a growing awareness of the necessity to rise to this challenge.

Last December, for the first time since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, European leaders come together to discuss defence at the highest political level. And they clearly committed to stepping up the Common Security and Defence Policy. How?:

First, increasing the effectiveness of the CSDP (in particular by strengthening the comprehensive security approach which combines civil and military means),

Second, enhancing the development of defence capabilities (with a focus on the most critical capability shortfalls),

And third, strengthening Europe’s defence industry (in particular by deepening the EU internal market for defence and boosting innovation).

To achieve these objectives, they tasked Member States and the European institutions to take more than 30 concrete steps.

This catalogue covers a broad spectrum of measures, ranging from preparing a Maritime Security Strategy to developing an Air-to-air refuelling capacity and developing a comprehensive security of supply regime.

The message was clear: Member States and all EU institutions; the External Action Service, under the leadership of Cathy Ashton, the European Defence Agency and the European Commission have to deliver and report progress to Heads of State and Government by June 2015.

We know that cooperation in defence is never easy since it touches upon national sovereignty.

And that European countries have strong national traditions, which remain strong obstacles to any common approach.

That is one of the reasons why I believe the European Commission has a role to play and can bring real added value. Of course defence remains mainly a domain for Member States. However, the Commission has always been the driver for European integration, and it can do so also in the defence sector. I know that the Commission’s competences in this area are limited, but it can make an important contribution with its policies, like the internal market, industry, research, energy and space.

We will not reach these objectives overnight. However, they are necessary, and I am convinced that the next Commission will keep security and defence high on its political agenda.

But we have to do more.

As a politician and based on recent developments, I see three main developments:

First, the situation in Crimea made it clear that we lack a rapid and efficient sanction regime.

Because we don't have a shared understanding or overview of the investments and assets held by Russian companies and citizens in the EU, we took too long to react.

I have long called for a monitoring system of foreign investments to be implemented, especially those in critical technologies or defence industries.

Second, the threat to Europe's gas supply gives us a unique opportunity to start a reflection on energy in Europe, just as you did here a number of years ago with shale gas. This is as much a matter of independence as it is of competitiveness.

And third, I think it is of the utmost importance to open a broad debate about Europe's strategic priorities.

Based on the existing Security Strategy, we need to develop a new strategic concept. One that defines our common interests, the threats we face, and the capabilities we need to tackle these threats.

We need such a concept in particular to orchestrate our policies better in our neighbourhood; Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the Maghreb and Africa.

For how can we pretend to act on the world stage if we are not able to play an active part with our nearest neighbours?

By setting out this strategic concept, we would also be able to better define how we would share the burden of security and defence of our common interests with the US.

Once we have a strategic concept, we should be able to make better progress with EU countries on planning and training;

on cooperating to develop new technologies and capabilities;

on exchanging information and intelligence;

And - why not - on developing a range of common capabilities operated directly by the EU.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the world order of the 21st century, the US and Europe need each other more than ever before.

The US needs a strong Europe. And Europe can only be strong if it is united, if the EU develops a powerful common defence policy based on far-reaching cooperation and integration.

When Europe steps up its military and technological capabilities it will be better placed to intervene where and when the US does not wish to do so, such as in Africa.

And a much more capable partner in joint actions like in Libya.

Europe and the US are a good team.

We have shown it in the past.

We will prove it in the future.

Employing every tool in the armoury to build our partnership.

And rising to the challenges of an ever-changing world.

Thank you.